HKUMed to Offer 4-Year Graduate Entry Medical Track
HKUMed is poised to offer 25 places on a new Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Graduate Entry) track from September 2025, providing a four-year curriculum to graduates with a foundational knowledge in biosciences.
Aspiring doctors with eligible undergraduate degrees are invited to apply for the University of Hong Kong degree that opens a new route into the medical profession.
Year 1 of the pathway focuses on essential pre-clinical materials followed by Years 2 to 4 dedicated to clinical training. Year 4 comprises the Assistant Internship, which prepares students for clinical practice.
“The new track will open up a new pathway for those who aspire to pursue a career in medicine and further expand the pool of talent for the healthcare system and clinical research,” said Professor CS Lau, Dean of Medicine.
The new pathway is designed to help alleviate the challenges of Hong Kong’s ageing population by addressing the shortage of medical professionals in the territory, Professor Lau explained.
As the Faculty prepares to welcome this new cohort, we asked Dr Matthew Hsu, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) 2022, to share how HKUMed readied him for a career as a doctor and nurtured his interest in research.
For Dr Hsu, HKUMed offered a supportive environment and mentorship from leading clinicians, enabling him to publish his first scientific paper while still a medical student.
The early-career doctor found a friendly atmosphere at the Faculty from the outset with his peers in his Problem-Based Learning group.
“It was an environment that was very friendly, but at the same time there was a bit of benign competition,” he said. “Everyone wanted to do their best. We’d push each other to do a bit more and that led to good results.”
This group dynamic also helped him decide how to spend his Enrichment Year, the third year of his degree where students take charge of their learning options.
Encouraged by classmates who shared similar interests, the early-career doctor chose to pursue his fascination with the latest scientific developments through a Master of Research in Medicine (MRes[Med]).
“I’ve always been interested in looking at the most cutting-edge advancements in the field of medicine and science,” he said. “I like to read different journals, different review articles to see what’s the most up-to-date technologies and what’s the most up-to-date discoveries.”
Students enrolled on the graduate-entry pathway can opt to take the MRes[Med] programme, allowing them to complete two degrees in five years.
Dr Hsu’s interest combined with the fact that many of his teachers at HKUMed, such as Professor Gary Lau, had taken the degree, gave him the confidence that this path would benefit his career.
“The human factor was also important because I knew that Gary was also an MRes student in his MBBS days and he’s a very successful example of this MRes-MBBS breed of graduates,” he added.
Professor Lau, Assistant Dean (Education Innovations), acted as Dr Hsu’s supervisor during the programme.
The HKUMed graduate described Professor Lau as an active and supportive supervisor who organised regular meetings for students to discuss their work and the latest findings in their areas of research.
“During these meetings, he would always give ideas of what we can do and how we can improve on what others are doing,” Dr Hsu said.
Professor Lau said the MRes[Med] degree allows students to understand the broader role of research in alleviating disease in the community. The programme also helps train skills that will give graduates an edge in the age of generative artificial intelligence.
“As a supervisor, my goal is to cultivate a growth-oriented and inquisitive mindset in my students,” he said. “I strive to create an environment that fosters the development of core research skills, while also nurturing independence and excellence in analytical, problem-solving, social and communication skills.”
For his research thesis, Dr Hsu focused on gut microbiome, an area of medicine that is receiving greater and greater attention. He examined the link between gut microbiome and hypertension, publishing a paper in the journal Hypertension. Dr Hsu and his fellow authors also received awards from the American Heart Association for the paper.
Since graduating, he found the MRes[Med] degree has helped make his job applications stand out and has opened opportunities for his career.
“Having the MRes, equipped me with some important skills that help me to this day. One is bioinformatics and statistics, [because] to analyse such big data sets requires bioinformatics skills.”
Dr Hsu is now working as a Clinical Practitioner in the Department of Pathology studying the genetics and genomics of colorectal and gastric cancers.
