Our People

Prof. Roger Yat-nork CHUNG

鍾一諾教授

BA (Johns Hopkins), MHS (Johns Hopkins), PhD (HKU)

Assistant Professor

Email:

ORCID: 0000-0003-4407-8208

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• Associate Director, CUHK Institute of Health Equity

• Assistant Professor (by courtesy), CUHK Institute of Ageing

• International Health Policy Fellow, National Academy of Medicine (NAM), USA

Biography

Dr. Chung joined the School of Public Health and Primary Care (SPHPC) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2011. Using the lens of biomedical ethics and justice, his research aims to empirically inquire into the social determinants of health inequalities (including poverty and health, migrants’ health, rare diseases patients’ health), as well as aging‐related issues on multimorbidity and long‐term/end‐of‐life care, and to utilize such evidence to inform health services and policy, domestically and beyond.

Dr. Chung is the founding Associate Director of the CUHK Institute of Health Equity established in January 2020 under the co‐directorship of Sir Prof Michael Marmot, Prof Eng‐Kiong Yeoh, and Prof Jean Woo. He is also a founding member of the Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, a founding member of the Research Centre for Migration and Mobility, an executive member of the Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Centre for Quality of Life, and an Assistant Professor (by courtesy) at the CHUK Institute of Ageing.

On an international level, Dr. Chung is the Vice Chair of the Public Health Global Challenge Steering Group of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), spearheading the direction of research and collaboration in public health for 23 international research universities in the world. In September 2018, Dr. Chung was elected the Inaugural National Academy of Medicine (NAM) International Health Policy Fellow by the prestigious NAM in the US, studying social determinants of healthy longevity. Moreover, he has served in various official consultation committees of the Hong Kong Government, including the Domestic Health Accounts and Thematic Household Survey of the Food and Health Bureau, and has been involved in two Government commissioned projects on
elderly/end‐of‐life care and healthcare resource allocation exercise. He was a principal investigator of a Hospital Authority consultancy study on medical assistance programs and a commissioned study on rare diseases in Hong Kong. Dr. Chung’s research has also been featured as the cover story of CUHK Newsletter (Nov Issue #507). Dr. Chung has had numerous publications including 70+ academic articles in leading high‐impact peer‐reviewed journals, book chapters and consultation reports.

​Furthermore, he has been actively involved with University‐, College‐, Faculty‐ and School‐level services as well as external social services with considerable public impact – he is the Vice President of Hong Kong Life and Death Studies Association (香港生死學協會), a social enterprise integrating professional knowledge and ideas from a wide range of young professionals in innovating life and death education, advance care planning, longterm care and after‐death arrangements in Hong Kong; and he is a co‐host of the only “Life and Death
Education” Radio Program in Hong Kong. Apart from his academic life, he is also an award‐winning and celebrated recording artist/producer.

Dr. Chung obtained the Bachelor degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and Master of Health Science from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US in 2005. He further received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong in 2011, with his study on the impact of socioeconomic development on population health, from which he also won the Presidential Award for Best Oral Presentation from the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine.

• Health equity and social epidemiology

  • Social determinants of health

  • Disadvantage, social exclusion and vulnerable populations (Poverty and deprivation, socioeconomic disparity and gradient in health, migrants/ethnic minority, gender, and people with serious and chronic illness – rare diseases patients, terminally ill patients)

  • Public health ethics and justice

• Aging‐related research

  • End‐of‐life and long‐term care

  • Multimorbidity

• Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF):

  • Individual-level Income Poverty and Deprivation as Predictors of Health. A Longitudinal Cohort Study in Hong Kong, $1,156,984

  • Employment Conditions and Health among Female Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong. A Cross-sectional Quantitative Survey, $889,984

• Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (SIE) Fund Task Force and CUHK Committee on Knowledge Transfer (KTC):

  • ​​A Concept Musical Drama on End-of-Life Care and Death Attitudes in Hong Kong, $400,000

• Other grants:

  • The Institute of Health Equity (IHE) at CUHK in Collaboration with University College London Institute of Health Equity, 01/01/2020-31/12/2024, $29,968

  • Health Needs, Treatment Access and Quality of Life among Rare Disease Patients and Their Caregivers, $360,000

  • Provision of Consultancy Service on Means Test of Samaritan Fund and Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programmes, $1,480,000

Selected Publications

(* = corresponding author)​

Poverty, deprivation and socioeconomic disparity

1. Chung RY*, Chung GK, Gordon D, Mak JK, Zhang LF, Chan D, Lai FTT, Wong H, Wong SY. Housingaffordability effects on physical and mental health: household survey in a population with the world's greatest housing affordability stress. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2019 Nov 5.

2. Chung GK, Lai FT, Yeoh EK, Chung RY*. Educational inequality in physician‐diagnosed hypertension widened and persisted among women from 1999 to 2014 in Hong Kong. Scientific reports. 2019 Oct 7;9(1):1‐7

3. Chung RY*, Chan DCC, Chau NN, Huang S, Wong H, Wong SY. Poverty affects access to regular source of primary care among the general population in Hong Kong. Social Policy and Administration. 2019; 1– 18 (2018 JCR Social Science Edition: IF = 1.269; Ranking = 26/42 in Social Issues)

4. Wong SY, Chung RY, Chan D, Chung GK, Li J, Mak D, Lau M, Tang V, Gordon D, Wong H. What are the financial barriers to medical care among the poor, the sick and the disabled in the Special Administrative Region of China? PLoS One. 2018 Nov 14;13(11):e0205794.

5. Chung GK, Chung RY*, Chan DC, Lai FT, Wong H, Lau MK, Wong SY, Yeoh EK. The independent role of deprivation in abdominal obesity beyond income poverty. A population‐based household survey in Chinese adults. J Public Health (Oxf). 2018 Sep 12.

6. Chung RY*, Lai FTT, Chung GKK, Yip BHK, Wong SYS, Yeoh EK. Socioeconomic disparity in mortality risks widened across generations during rapid economic development in Hong Kong: an ageperiod‐ cohort analysis from 1976 to 2010. Ann Epidemiol. 2018 Jun 13 (published online).

7. Chung RY*, Gordon D, Wong SYS, Chan D, Chung KK, Lau M, Tang V, Wong H. Deprivation is associated with Worse Physical and Mental Health beyond Income Poverty. A Population‐based Household Survey among Chinese Adults. Qual Life Res. 2018 May 14.

8. Wu HF, Tam T, Jin L, Lao XQ, Chung RY, Su XF, Zee B. Age, gender, and socioeconomic gradients in metabolic syndrome: biomarker evidence from a large sample in Taiwan, 2005‐2013. Ann Epidemiol. 2017 May;27(5):315‐322.e2.

9. Lao XQ, Ma W, Chung RY, Zhang Y, Xu Y, Xu X, Nie S, Cai Q, Xia L, Su X, Jin L, Tam T, Zee BC. The diminishing socioeconomic disparity in obesity in a Chinese population with rapid economic development: analysis of serial cross‐sectional health survey data 2002‐2010. BMC Public Health. 2015 Dec 23;15(1):1282.

10. Chung RY*, Wong SYS. Health inequality in Hong Kong. China Review‐An Interdisciplinary Journal
    on Greater China 2015;15(2):91‐118.

11. Chung RY, Mercer S, Lai FT, Yip BH, Wong MC, Wong SY. Socioeconomic Determinants of Multimorbidity: A Population‐Based Household Survey of Hong Kong Chinese. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 9;10(10):e0140040.

12. Li H, Wei X, Ma A, Chung RY*. Inequalities in Health Status among Rural Residents: EQ‐5D Findings from Household Survey China. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2014;13:41

13. Wong CM, Ou CQ, Chan KP, Chau YK, Thach TQ, Yang L, Chung RY, Thomas GN, Peiris JSM, Wong TW, Hedley AJ, Lam TH. The effects of air pollution on mortality in socially deprived urban areas in Hong Kong, China. Environ Health Persp. 2008;116(9):1189‐1194.

14. Ou CQ, Hedley AJ, Chung RY, Thach TQ, Chau YK, Chan KP, Yang L, Ho SY, Wong CM, Lam TH. Socioeconomic disparities in air pollution‐associated mortality. Environ Res. 2008;107(2):237‐244.

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​Migrants’ health

1. Griffiths SM, Dong D, Chung RY. Forgotten needs of children left behind by migration. Lancet. 2018 Dec 15;392(10164):2518‐2519.

2. Cheung JTK, Tsoi VWY, Wong KHK, Chung RY. Abuse and depression among Filipino foreign domestic helpers. A cross‐sectional survey in Hong Kong. Public Health. 2018 Nov 23;166:121‐127.

3. Chung RY, Griffiths SM. Migration and health in the world: a global public health perspective. Public Health. 2018 May;158:64‐65.

4. Diaz E, Ortiz‐Barreda G, Ben‐Shlomo Y, Holdsworth M, Salami B, Rammohan A, Chung RY, Padmadas SS, Krafft T. Interventions to improve immigrant health. A scoping review. Eur J Public Health. 2017 Jun 1;27(3):433‐439.

5. Li H, Chung RY*, Wei X, Mou J, Wong SY, Wong MC, Zhang D, Zhang Y, Griffiths S. Comparison of perceived quality amongst migrant and local patients using primary health care delivered by community health centres in Shenzhen, China. BMC Fam Pract. 2014 Apr 29;15(1):76.

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​Aging and people with serious and chronic illness

1. Lai FTT, Guthrie B, Wong SYS, Yip BHK, Chung GKK, Yeoh, EK, Chung RY*. Sex‐specific intergenerational trends in morbidity burden and multimorbidity status in Hong Kong community: an age‐period‐cohort analysis of repeated population surveys. BMJ Open. 2019 Jan 25;9.​

2. Lai FTT, Wong SYS, Yip BHK, Guthrie B, Mercer SW, Chung RY, Chung GKK, Chau PYK, Wong ELY, Woo J, Yeoh EK. Multimorbidity in middle age predicts more subsequent hospital admissions than in older age: A nine‐year retrospective cohort study of 121,188 discharged in‐patients. Eur J Intern Med. 2018 Dec 20.

3. Yeoh EK, Wong MCS, Wong ELY, Yam C, Poon CM, Chung RY, Chong M, Fang Y, Wang HHX, Liang M, Cheung WWL, Chan CH, Zee B, Coats AJS. Benefits and limitations of implementing Chronic Care Model (CCM) in primary care programs: A systematic review. Int J Cardiol. 2018 May 1;258:279‐288.

4. Lau JY, Wong EL, Chung RY, Law SCK, Threapleton D, Kiang N, Chau P, Wong SYS, Woo J, Yeoh EK. Collaborate across silos: Perceived barriers to integration of care for the elderly from the perspectives of service providers. Int J Health Plann Manage. 2018 Apr 27.

5. Threapleton DE, Chung RY, Wong SYS, Wong ELY, Kiang N, Chau PYK, Woo J, Chung VCH, Yeoh EK. Care Toward the End of Life in Older Populations and Its Implementation Facilitators and Barriers: A Scoping Review. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2017 Dec 1;18(12):1000‐1009.e4.

6. Wong SY, Zou D, Chung RY, Sit RW, Zhang D, Chan D, Yeoh EK, Woo JW. Regular Source of Care for the Elderly: A Cross‐National Comparative Study of Hong Kong With 11 Developed Countries. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2017 Sep 1;18(9):807.e1‐807.e8.

7. Threapleton DE, Chung RY, Wong SYS, Wong E, Chau P, Woo J, Chung VCH, Yeoh EK. Integrated care for older populations and its implementation facilitators and barriers: A rapid scoping review. Int J Qual Health Care. 2017 Jun 1;29(3):327‐334.

8. Chung RY*, Wong EL, Kiang N, Chau PY, Lau JYC, Wong SY, Yeoh EK, Woo JW. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Preferences of Advance Decisions, End‐of‐Life Care, and Place of Care and Death in Hong Kong. A Population‐Based Telephone Survey of 1067 Adults. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2017 Apr 1;18(4):367.e19‐367.e27.

9. Chung RY, Mercer SW, Yip BHK, Chan SWC, Lai FTT, Wang HHX, Wong MCS, Wong CKM, Sit RWS, Yeoh EK, Wong SYS. The association between types of regular primary care and hospitalization among people with and without multimorbidity. A household survey on 25,780 Chinese. Scientific Reports. 2016 Jul 20;6:29758.

10. Woo J, Chan YLH, Chong AMl, Zou M, Chung RY, Kwok CYT. Medical Ethical Principles May Drive Improvement of Quality of Dying in Hong Kong. Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine 2015;5(5):227‐232.

11. Wong MC, Liu J, Zhou S, Li S, Su X, Wang HH, Chung RY, Yip BH, Wong SY, Lau JT. The association between multimorbidity and poor adherence to cardiovascular medications. Int J Cardiol. 2014 Dec 15;177(2):477‐82.

12. Chung RY, Tin KYK, Cowling BJ, Chan KP, Chan WM, Lo SV, Leung GM. Long‐term care cost drivers and expenditure projection to 2036 in Hong Kong. BMC Health Serv Res. 2009 Sep 24;9:172.

​Miscellaneous – Social and lifecourse epidemiology

1. Chung RY*, Tsoi KKF, Kyaw MH, Lui AR, Lai FTT, Sung JJ. A population‐based age‐period‐cohort study of colorectal cancer incidence comparing Asia against the West. Cancer Epidemiology. 2019 Jan 16;59:29‐36.

2. Chung RY, Yip BH, Chan SS, Wong SY. Cohort effects of suicide mortality are sex specific in the rapidly developed Hong Kong Chinese population, 1976‐2010. Depress Anxiety. 2015 Sep 28.

3. Chung RY, Chan D, Woo J, Kwok T, Leung JC, Lai FT, Wong SY. Erectile Dysfunction is Associated with Subsequent Cardiovascular and Respiratory Mortality in Cohort of 1,436 Chinese Elderly Men. J Sex Med. 2015 Jul;12(7):1568‐76.

4. Chung RY, Leung JCS, Chan DCC, Woo J, Wong CKM, Wong SYS. Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) as a Risk Factor for Depressive Symptoms in Elderly Men: Results from a Large Prospective Study in Southern Chinese Men. PLoS One. 2013 Sep 30.

5. Chung RY, Leung GM, Cowling BJ, Schooling CM. Patterns of and hypotheses for infection‐related cancers in a Chinese population with rapid economic development. Epidemiol Infect. 2012 Oct;140(10):1904‐19.

6. Chung RY, Schooling CM, Cowling BJ, Leung GM. How does socioeconomic development affect risk of mortality? An age‐period‐cohort analysis from a recently transitioned population in China. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 Feb 1;171(3):345‐56.

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Book Chapters

1. Chung RY, Yeoh EK. “Chapter 3 – Policy Directions for End‐of‐Life Care in Hong Kong.” Innovation Impact. The Foundation of Community‐Based End‐of‐life Care in Hong Kong ed. by Chan IKN, Fong CHC, Wong EY, Lou VWQ and Chan CLW. JCECC; 2019.

2. Chung RY. “Silent Teachers – The Life and Death Education Behind Body Donation” [無言老師‐‐遺體捐贈背後的生死教育課] (eds. Chan SO, Ng P) Ming Pao Press [明報出版社] July 2018.

3. Chung RY, Wong SYS. "Health Inequality in Hong Kong". Poverty in a Rich Society ed. by Maggie KW Lau, David Gordon. Hong Kong: CUHK Press, 2017.

4. Chung RY and Kim JH. "Epidemiology: from Observation to Public Health Action". Routledge Handbook of Global Public Health in Asia ed. by Griffiths SM, Tang JL and Yeoh EK. pp.118–132. Routledge, London and New York; 2014.

Last Updated: 22 July 2020