Yuen Kwok-yung

Yuen Kwok-yung is a Hong Kong microbiologist, physician and surgeon whose research centres on novel microbes and emerging infectious diseases. Born in 1956, he graduated in medicine from the University of Hong Kong in 1981, trained first as a surgeon, then as a physician, and finally as a clinical microbiologist. In 1997 he was the first to report in The Lancet the unusual severity of human infection in the Hong Kong H5N1 avian influenza outbreak. During the 2003 SARS outbreak he led the team that identified the SARS coronavirus and traced its origins to wild bats, work for which Time Asia named him one of its Asian heroes of the year. His group also discovered the human coronavirus HKU1 and several bat coronaviruses. He is Chair of Infectious Diseases in the University of Hong Kong's Department of Microbiology, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and advised the Hong Kong government during the COVID-19 pandemic.