The Science, Technology and Medicine Seminar (STMS) series, co-hosted by the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong, promotes cutting edge cross-disciplinary research that straddles the arts, sciences, and medicine. The aim is to provide a friendly forum to debate and test new ideas, papers, chapters, book projects and grant proposals, as well as topical issues and individual research.
If you are interested in joining, or participating in future seminars, please let us know. We welcome suggestions for future presentations and discussion topics.
For further information about STMS activities,
please contact Dr Ria Sinha at riasinha@hku.hk, or Dr Carol Tsang at cctsang1@hku.hk.
Upcoming seminar:
6 Nov 2025 (Thursday) | 2:00 pm | Arts Faculty Lounge (4/F Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus)
Title: Towards a Global History of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, 1911-1950
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Thomas Park, School of Public Health, HKUMed
Abstract:
This talk presents ongoing research into the history of public health at the University of Hong Kong during the years 1911-1950. It examines research, teaching, and practice as well as the actors and structures involved, and points to the tensions the university faced in being an imperial institution tied to global networks, which was also cognisant of its local higher education role. Continually stymied, attempts to raise the profile of public health at the university only came to fruition a few months before the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong scuppered everything. At the same time, university personnel – staff and students – also played remarkable public health roles during this conflict.
Interconnected to this history, the talk will contribute to the ongoing project on (1) the understanding of ‘mixed medicine’ in Hong Kong, and (2) will also elaborate the outlines of a new project on the role and activities of the Henry Lester Institute of Medical Research in Shanghai. Established by the bequest of a wealthy British businessman in Shanghai, the Henry Lester Institute was set-up and led for most of its active years by former HKU Professor, H.G. Earle. The Institute saw itself as the British riposte to the American-led Peking Union Medical College, and maintained a close relationship to the University of Hong Kong until the war. One major activity it undertook was the ‘scientific’ examination of what was called ‘ancient Chinese medicine,’ something which staff and students at the University of Hong Kong were aware of, and which constitutes part of their mixed perception of Chinese medicine as both a source of scientific inspiration, as well as a career threat.
Bio:
Dr. Andrew Thomas Park is a Lecturer in the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health and coordinator of the BASc Global Health and Development Programme’s field placement programme. His research and teaching interests include the history of international relations, central European history, multilateral organisations, and contemporary global health governance. His forthcoming book Sarah Wambaugh and the Plebiscite: The Turbulent History of a Democratic Alternative to War is being published with Cambridge University Press at the end of the year.