Professor Ignatius Tak Sun YU (余德新教授)

MBBS(HKU), MPH(Texas), FAFOEM, FHKCCM, FHKAM (Community Medicine), MErgS, FACOEM, FFPH, FHKES, FHKIOEH (Hon.). Specialist in Occupational Medicine.
 
Professor, School of Public Health and Primary Care
Associate Director (Graduate Studies), School of Public Health and Primary Care
Head, Division of Occupational & Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Primary Care
Co-Director, Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health Studies

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Dr. Ignatius Yu is a Professor in the School of Public Health and Primary Care of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Visiting Professor of the School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, and an Advisory Professor of the Fudan University School of Public Health, China.

He obtained his medical degree from The University of Hong Kong and the Master of Public Health degree in the US. He is a fellow of the following professional institutions: Hong Kong College of Community Medicine, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Public Health of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom, Hong Kong Ergonomics Society, Hong Kong Institute of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (Hon.), and a Registered Member of the Ergonomics Society, UK.

His major research interest is in occupational and environmental epidemiology, especially occupational and environment causes of lung cancer and respiratory diseases. He has over 200 academic publications, including around 130 papers in refereed journals and 16 books or book chapters.

In 2003, his team applied conventional epidemiological methods together with computational fluid dynamics to study the largest community outbreak and the largest nosocomial outbreak of a new infectious disease that emerged in 2003, and shed light on the probable airborne transmission of SARS. The results were published in a landmark paper in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004 and a major article in Clinical Infectious Disease in 2005.

He is also heading the Hong Kong Cancer Epidemiology Research Group (HKCERG), which consists of researchers from the School of Public Health and Primary Care of CUHK, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Oncology) and Cancer Registry of the Hospital Authority and the Pneumoconiosis Clinic of the Department of Health. A landmark paper on “Dose-Response Relationship between Cooking Fumes Exposures and Lung Cancer among Chinese Nonsmoking Women” was published in Cancer Research in June 2006, which was considered by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as the premier study providing human evidence on the carcinogenicity of emissions from high temperature frying. He was also invited to serve as an expert cancer epidemiologist in the IARC Monograph Working Group for evaluating the carcinogenicity of indoor air pollutants (solid fuels and cooking oil fumes) [Volume 95] held in Lyon, 10-17 October 2006.

He serves in the editorial board of a number of medical journals and is an Executive Editor of the Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health and a Senior Editor of the Hong Kong Medical Journal.

He has been serving as an examiner in the Fellowship Examinations of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians since 2005, and an examiner for the Occupational Medicine Subspecialty of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine since 1995.

He is the key advisor to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority for developing the occupational medicine care service (return to work rehabilitation program for employees injured on duty), and has been Honorary Consultant in Hospitals under the New Territories East Cluster since 2005. He has been appointed as Consultant in Occupational Medicine by the Hospital Authority since February 2008 to help further develop occupational medicine as a new specialty clinical service, and as a trainer for trainees seeking specialization and certificating in Occupational Medicine. 

MB, ChB
• Community Medicine and Occupational Medicine
• Life Long Learning Skills
• Health and Society

BSc in Public Health

Master of Public Health
• PBH 7004 - Environmental Health Sciences

Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Medicine (Director)
• OHS5001 - Fundamentals in Occupational Health
• OMD5002 - Principles and Practice of Occupational Medicine
• OMD5003 - Practical and Project Work in Occupational Medicine

Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Hygiene (Director)
• OHS5001 - Fundamentals in Occupational Health
• OHY5002 - Principles and Practice of Occupational Hygiene
• OHY5003 - Practical and Project Work in Occupational Hygiene

Tse Lap Ah (2003): Silicosis and Lung Cancer: A Mortality Study of a Cohort of Silicotic Workers in Hong Kong

Sun Yehuan (2004): Unintentional Injuries among Primary and Middle School Students and a Randomized Controlled Intervention Study on Prevention in a Midsize City of Eastern China

Chiu Yuk Lan (2005) Female Lung Cancer and Cooking Practice – A Case-control Study in Hong Kong

Gao Yang (2006, co-supervision): Ambient Air Pollution and School Children Respiratory Health, Lung Functions and Cardiopulmonary Fitness in Hong Kong: A Cross-sectional Study

He Qiqiang (2008, co-supervision): Long-term Exposure to Air Pollution and School Children’s Respiratory Health and Lung Function Growth: A 2-year Prospective Cohort Study in Guangzhou, China

Fu Zhenming (2009): Family Cancer History and Other Risk Factors of Lung Cancer and Their Interactions – A Case-control Study of Male Lung Cancer in Hong Kong

Yu Wenzhou (current): Evaluating the Effectiveness of Participatory Training for Occupational Safety and Health Improvements

Fung Kit Ching, Cecilia (current): Wheeze during the First 18 Months of Life: Associations with Indoor Nitrogen Dioxide and Formaldehyde and Family History of Asthma

So Ming Loi, Eric (current): Will Exercise Training Prevent / Retard the Progress from Impaired Glucose Tolerance to Type II Diabetes Mellitus in Sedentary Workers

Fan Dorothy (current): Vision Screening among Preschoolers in Hong Kong

Song Qinkun (current, co-supervision): Study on Main Dietary Factors for Esophageal Cancer in a High-Incidence Area of China

Qiu Hong (current): [Joint health effects of air pollutants]

Xie Shaohua (current): [Epidemiology of nasopharyngeal carcinoma]

Hossain, Sarah Rafat (current): [Effects of air pollution on pregnancy outcomes]

MPhil

Leung Kwok Fai (1997): Factors Affecting the Vocational Outcomes of Occupational Accident Victims

Lee Nga Lan (1998): Neurological Symptoms among Printing Workers Exposed to Organic Solvents in Hong Kong

Chiu Yuk Lan (1998): Standardized Proportional Mortality Study among Food-Service Workers in Hong Kong

Song Hong (2000): The Neurobehavioral Effects of Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents in Hong Kong Printing Workers

Yu Kai Shing, Jimmy (current, co-supervision): Impacts Of Comorbidities On Survival of Patients With Primary Lung Cancer

• Cancer epidemiology, especially occupational and environmental risk factors for cancers
• Occupational and environmental epidemiology
• Epidemiology of SARS and other respiratory infections
• Air pollution and health
• Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders
• Methodological studies in epidemiology
• Clinical epidemiology
• Injury epidemiology

Cancer Epidemiology
Chiu YL, Yu ITS, Wong TW. Time trends of female lung cancer in Hong Kong – age, period and birth cohort analysis. International Journal of Cancer 2004; 111:424-430.

Yu ITS, Tse LA, Wong TW, Leung CC, Tam CM, Chan ACK. Further Evidence for a Link between Silica Dust and Esophageal Cancer. International Journal of Cancer 2005; 114:479-483. 

Yu ITS, Chiu YL, Au JSK, Wong TW, Tang JL. Dose-response relationship between cooking fumes exposures and lung cancer among Chinese non-smoking women. Cancer Research 2006; 66(9):4961-4967. 

Tse LA, Yu ITS, Mang OWK, Wong SL. Incidence rate trends of histological subtypes of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Hong Kong. British Journal of Cancer 2006; 95:1269-73.

Yu ITS, Tse LA. Exploring the joint effects of silicosis and smoking on lung cancer risks. Int J Cancer 2007; 120:133-9. 

Tse LA, Yu ITS, Mang OWK. Time trends of esophageal cancer in Hong Kong: age, period and birth cohort analyses. Int J Cancer 2007;120:853-858.

Yu ITS, Tse LA, Leung CC, Wong TW, Tam CM, Chan ACK. Lung cancer mortality among silicotic workers in Hong Kong - No evidence for a Link. Annals of Oncology 2007; 18:1056-1063.

Wang XR, Chiu YL, Qiu H, Au JSK, Yu ITS. The roles of smoking and cooking emissions in lung cancer risk among Chinese women in Hong Kong. Annals of Oncology 2009; 20:746-751.

Tse LA, Yu ITS, JSK Au, Yu KS, Kwok KP, Qiu H, Wong TW. Environmental tobacco smoke and lung cancer among Chinese nonsmoking males: Might adenocarcinoma be the culprit? American Journal of Epidemiology 2009; 169:533–541

Wang XR, Yu ITS, Chiu YL, Qiu H, Fu ZM, Goggins W, Au JSK, Tse LA, Wong TW. Previous pulmonary disease and family cancer history increase the risk of lung cancer among Hong Kong women. Cancer Causes and Control 2009; 20:757-763.

Tse LA, Mang OWK, Yu ITS, Wu F, JSK Au, Law SCK. Cigarette smoking and changing trends of lung cancer incidence by histological subtype among Chinese male population. Lung Cancer 2009; 66:22-27.

SARS Epidemiology
Yu ITS, Li YG, Wong TW, Tam W, Chan AT, Lee HW, Leung DYC, Ho T. Evidence of airborne transmission of the sever acute respiratory syndrome virus. New England Journal of Medicine 2004; 350:1731-1739.

Yu ITS, Sung JJY. The epidemiology of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong – what we do know and what we don’t know. Epidemiology and Infection 2004; 132:781-786.

Li Y, Yu ITS, Xu PC, Lee JHW, Wong TW, Ooi PL, Sleigh A. Predicting super spreading events during the 2003 SARS epidemics in Hong Kong and Singapore. Am J Epidemiol 2004; 160:719-728.

Wong TW, Lee CK, Tam W, Lau JTF, Yu TS, Lui SF, Chan PKS, Li YG, Bresee JS, Sung JJY, Parashar UD. A cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome among medical students exposed to a single patient in Hong Kong. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2004;10:269-276.

Yu ITS, Wong TW, Chiu YL, Lee N, Li Y. Temporal-spatial analysis of severe acute respiratory syndrome among hospital inpatients. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 40:1237-1243. 

Li Y, Huang X, Yu ITS, Wong TW, Qian H. Role of air distribution in SARS transmission during the largest nosocomial outbreak in Hong Kong. Indoor Air 2005; 15:83-95.

Li Y, Duan S, Yu ITS, Wong TW. Multi-zone modeling of probable SARS virus transmission by airflow between flats in Block E, Amoy Gardens. Indoor Air 2005; 15:96-111.

Yu ITS, Xie ZH, Tsoi KK, Chiu YL, Lok SW, Tang XP, Hui DS, Lee N, Li YM, Huang ZT, Liu T, Wong TW, Zhong NS, Sung JJ. Why did outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome occur in some hospital wards but not others? Clin Infect Dis 2007; 44:1017-1025. 

Yip C, Chang WL, Yeung KH, Yu ITS. Possible meteorological influence on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) community outbreak at Amoy Gardens, Hong Kong. Journal of Environmental Health 2007; 70:39-46.

Lee N, Chan PKS, Yu IT, Tsoi KK, Lui G, Sung JJY, Cockram CS. Co-circulation of Human Metapneumovirus and SARS-associated Coronavirus during a major nosocomial SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. Journal of Clinical Virology 2007; 40:333-337.

Occupational Health
Yu ITS, Liu HJ, Hui K. A case-control study on eye injuries in the workplace in Hong Kong. Ophthalmology 2004; 111:70-74.

Yu ITS, Lee NL, Zhang XH, Chen WQ, Lam YT, WongTW. Occupationally exposure to mixtures of organic solvents increased the risk of neurological symptoms among printing workers in Hong Kong. J Occup Environ Med 2004; 46:323-330.

Yu ITS, Chiu YL, Wong TW, Tang JL. Deaths from nasopharyngeal cancer among waiters and waitresses in Chinese restaurants. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 2004; 77:499-504.

Yu ITS, Lee NL, Wong TW. The knowledge, attitude and practice regarding organic solvents among printing workers in Hong Kong. Journal of Occupational Health 2005;47:305-310.

Yeung SSM, Yu ITS, Hui KYL. Aircraft Cabin Cleaning – A Look from the Inside. Occup Environ Med 2005; 62:58-60.

Chen WQ, Yu ITS, Wong TW. Impacts of occupational stress and other psychosocial factors on musculoskeletal pain among Chinese offshore oil installation workers. Occup Environ Med 2005; 62:251-256.

Chow CY, Lee H, Lau J, Yu ITS. Transient risk factors for acute traumatic hand injuries: a case-crossover study in Hong Kong. Occup Environ Med 2007; 64:47-52.

Tse LA, Yu ITS, Leung CC, Tam W, Wong TW. Mortality from non-malignant respiratory diseases among silicotics in Hong Kong: exposure-response analyses with silica dust exposure. Occup Environ Med 2007; 64:87–92.

Tse LA, Li ZM, Wong TW, Fu ZM, Yu ITS High prevalence of accelerated silicosis among gold miners in Jiangxi, China. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 2007; 50(12):876-80.

Chen WQ, Wong TW, Yu ITS. Association of occupational stress and social support with health-related behaviors among Chinese offshore oil workers. Journal of Occupational Health 2008;  50:262-269.

Chen WQ, Wong TW, Yu ITS. Direct and Interactive Effects of Occupational Stress and Coping on Ulcer-Like Symptoms Among Chinese Male off-Shore Oil Workers. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 2009; 52:500–508.

Air Pollution and Health
Yu TSI, Liu HJ, Wong TW. Impact of air pollution on cardiopulmonary fitness in schoolchildren. J Occup Environ Med 2004; 46:946-952.

Yu TSI, Wong TW. Can schoolchildren provide valid answers about their respiratory health experiences in questionnaires? Implications for epidemiological studies. Pediatric Pulmonology 2004; 37:37-42.

Yu TS, Wong TW, Wei Li. Using child-reported respiratory symptoms to diagnose asthma in the community. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2004; 89:544-548.

Wong TW, Yu TS, Liu HJ, Wong AHS. Household gas cooking: a risk factor for respiratory illnesses in preschool children. Arch. Dis. Child. 2004;89 631-636.

Wong TW, Tam W, Yu ITS, Wong AHS, Wong CM. Association between Air Pollution and General Practitioner Visits for Respiratory Diseases in Hong Kong. Thorax 2006; 61: 585-591.

Tian LW, Koshland PC, Yano J, Yachandra KV, Yu ITS, Lee SC, Lucas D. Carbon-centered free radicals in particulate matter emissions from wood and coal combustion. Energy and Fuels 2009; 23:2523-2526.

Tian LW, Lan Q, Yang D, He XZ, Yu ITS, Hammond SK. Effect of chimneys on indoor air concentrations of PM10 and benzo[a]pyrene in Xuan Wei, China. Atmospheric Environment 2009; 43:3352-3355.