As part of the University Lecture Series, the University of Macau (UM) held a talk titled ‘The Impossible Quest from Academic Research to Entrepreneurship’. Francis Ka Leung Chan, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), was the speaker. The talk was well attended by UM faculty and students, scholars, representatives of government departments and private organisations, as well as members of the public.

Michael Hui, vice rector of UM, said in his speech that it was an honour of UM to have Chan, former dean of the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK, to give a talk at the university. He also highly praised Chan’s contributions to the field of gastroenterology and the international recognition he has earned.

During the talk, Chan recounted his childhood and journey of transforming from a scholar into an entrepreneur, where he overcame various challenges along the way. He also shared his research findings on cutting-edge topics such as microbiome and ‘Long COVID’. In addition, he talked about his entrepreneurship experience, such as how he utilised big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to predict diseases, and how he transformed research outcomes into commercial products. Chan encouraged students to learn from failure, and step out of their comfort zone. He also engaged in the Q&A and discussion session with the audience.