Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are paying more attention to the possible diseases that can cause a global outbreak. Apart from coronavirus, there are many other possible bacteria and viruses that can be a potential threat to people’s health.

Award-winning director Janet Tobias, together with some of the world’s best experts in public health, explore some viruses that can create the next global pandemic on Unseen Enemy. The film focuses on three case studies: Ebola, influenza, and Zika - all local outbreaks that became widespread epidemics.

In the film, doctors, public health academics, and many people lives are shown to be deeply changed by the impact of the epidemic. From the Ebola epidemic in West Africa to the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the film investigates the reason why a virus can spread across people speedily. Back to Hong Kong, how can we learn from the pandemic that happened in this century to prevent a future possible outbreak?

Join us on July 2 for the film screening of Unseen Enemy, followed by a 30-minute Q&A session. Professor Leo Poon, Co-Director of HKU-Pasteur Research Pole and Professor in the HKU School of Public Health and Dr. Hui-ling Yen, Associate Professor at the Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences of the HKU School of Public Health, will discuss the insights and lessons learned from the global pandemic and answer questions from the public.

Professor Leo Poon received his doctoral degree from the University of Oxford in 1999. He joined HKU in 2001. He is now a professor in the School of Public Health, HKU. His work primarily focuses on emerging viruses, including influenza virus and coronavirus. He has published over 230 scientific publications. He is named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics. He is a founding member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences. Apart from serving as a faculty member in HKU, he serves as a voluntary expert in various international health care organizations (e.g. WHO and OIE) to develop infectious disease control policy. His division currently serves as a WHO reference laboratory for H5 influenza virus and COVID-19.

Dr. Hui-Ling Yen is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, HKU. She received her Ph.D. in Epidemiological Science from The University of Michigan and her postdoctoral training in Virology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN. Her main research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms that facilitate transmission of influenza and other emerging respiratory viruses within and between different reservoir hosts. She studies viral determinants of interspecies transmission and works with a multidisciplinary team to study the transmission modes of influenza and other respiratory viruses in the field and in the laboratory.

[Moderator] Professor Lau Chak Sing is Daniel CK Yu Professor in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. He now serves as Head and Chief of Service of the Department of Medicine at Queen Mary Hospital, and Immediate Past President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.

Between 2006 and 2008, Professor Lau was President of Asia Pacific League of Associations of Rheumatology. Currently, he is a member of the Programme Committee of the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Scientific Meeting.  Locally, Professor Lau founded the Hong Kong Arthritis & Rheumatism Foundation in 2001.

In December 2020, Professor Lau was appointed Convener of the Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines formed under the Prevention and Control Disease (use of vaccines) Regulation.

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Got Questions? Ask them here in advance (beginning June 26 ) or during the program:

https://app.sli.do/event/psb2aimo (code: # unseenenemy)