"Following the success of previous years, we had the pleasure of once again welcoming two medical students from University of Toronto, as part of the yearly student placement at our Hong Kong Institute of Integrative Medicine (HKIIM) at CUHK. Students Yunlin Xue and Patricia Jiang started their elective attachment with a couple of weeks in our Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, before moving on to learn about integrative medicine practice and herbal pharmacy under the supervision of Dr Chan Kam Leung of our School of Chinese Medicine.

Through personalized teaching, they learnt about the basic concepts involved in Chinese medicine and got to observe its practical side during patient consultation sessions. Although our hospital setting is similar to what they are used to back home, they found it much busier here and were also surprised to witness the difference in the doctor-patient relationship, with doctors in Asia having seemingly a much more authoritative status.

“The programme is well structured and we feel well taken care of. Everyone is very friendly and it has been interesting to draw parallels between Chinese and Western medicines and see how they can be integrated in treatments.”

As one of the youngest institutions to be ranked among the world's top medical schools, the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK is reputable for being innovative and forward-thinking, having nurtured cohorts of new-generation healthcare professionals who have gained national and international recognition."