History

Public health has a long established tradition at The University of Hong Kong. It was first introduced into the medical curriculum at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (the forerunner of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong), which was established by Sir Patrick Manson¹, Sir James Cantlie and Sir Ho Kai in 1887. In 1891, Sun Yat-sen, one of the first students of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, sat the professional examination on public health. In 1950, the Department of Social Medicine was established. In 1970, the name was changed to the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, and to the Department of Community Medicine in 1974. 

In 2004, The University of Hong Kong approved the proposal to establish a School of Public Health², the Public Health Research Centre was established as one of the five research centres in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, and Master of Medical Science (Public Health) was transformed into our own postgraduate degree programme - the Master of Public Health. In 2005, the University Research Committee recognized public health as one of nineteen Strategic Research Themes for the University. In 2009, the inauguration of the School of Public Health was officiated by Professor Chen Zhu, Minister of Health for China.

In 2013, the School of Public Health formally incorporated the Department of Community Medicine and the Behavioural Sciences Unit.

In July 2016, the academic and research arms of the Institute of Human Performance were incorporated into the School of Public Health of Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine.

In 2019, the School introduced a ground-breaking Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Global Health and Development [BASc(GHD)] programme, the first of its kind in Asia, to train the next generation of leaders in global public health.