Medical Research

Union Hospital supports researches aimed at improving the care of patients. We have an Ethics Committee with a multidisciplinary team of independent individuals appointed to review research protocols involving human beings to help ensure that the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of research participants are respected and protected. The Operating Procedure on Governance of Research in Union Hospital can be found here.

Union Hospital has also worked in close partnership with different research experts from tertiary educational institutions, eg the Chinese University of Hong Kong(CUHK), to carry out different researches. Below are the researches being undertaken within Union Hospital in 2023:

No. Ethics Committee Ref No. Application Date Approval Date Research Study Title Principal Investigator Affiliation
1 EC017 6/26/2019 11/12/2019 A prospective study of pregnant women with and without Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in order to better understand the patterns of bacterial transmission from the mother to the baby Prof NG Siew Chien Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK
2 EC022 10/28/2019 5/1/2020 Understanding the molecular diversity of breast cancer and its clinical implication Dr MK TSE Gary Department of Anatomical & Cellular Pathology, CUHK
3 EC023 7/31/2020 12/1/2020 Predicting future malignancy in benign breast lesions Dr MK TSE Gary Department of Anatomical & Cellular Pathology, CUHK
4 EC024 6/16/2021 7/26/2021 Fertility and pregnancy outcomes for patients with cervical insufficiency managed with progesterone, Arabin pessary and/or surgical cerclage: a retrospective cohort study in a tertiary obstetric unit in Hong Kong Dr HUI Shuk Yi Annie Department of O&G, CUHK
5 EC025 6/16/2021 7/26/2021 Ultrasound-guided manual vacuum aspiration (USG-MVA) Dr CHUNG Pui Wah Jacqueline Department of O&G, CUHK
6 EC026 6/22/2021 7/1/2021 Multicenter, double-blind, parallel-group, randomised, 48 weeks, dose-ranging, placebo-controlled phase II trial to evaluate efficacy, safety and tolerability of multiple subcutaneous (s.c.) doses of BI 456906 in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and fibrosis Prof WONG Wai Sun Vincent Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, CUHK
7 EC028 4/1/2022 6/21/2022 Whole genome sequencing study of idiopathic recurrent miscarriage couples and their abortuses Prof CHOY Kwong Wai Department of O&G, CUHK
8 EC029 11/22/2022 2/21/2023 Effectiveness of a complex exercise intervention to normalize blood pressure and its nocturnal dipping in patients with hypertension in primary care: a randomized-controlled trial Prof Eric Kam Pui LEE The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, CUHK

Research safety is of utmost importance to us. Union Hospital’s research activities are evaluated annually. There were no serious adverse events, negative feedback or complaints received in 2022. A research project by Ada SF Chan, Henry LY Chan, Bruno KL Yan and Mooris KC Lai called "Effectiveness of adenosine triphosphate to monitor manual cleaning and disinfection efficacy of flexible endoscopes in Hong Kong" was completed in 2022 and accepted for publication in the journal, JGH Open (An open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology), on 1 Jan 2023. Adenosine triphosphate bioluminescene assay use was adopted (in addition to the standard protocols of endoscope reprocessing) and found to be a rapid, practical and cost-effective surveillance tool for endoscope cleaning.