Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care

Primer on Conducting Research in Primary Care

Course overview

This certificate course will provide you with the foundation for conducting health research in primary care. It will be taught by professoriate staff at University of Hong Kong’s Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care with supplementary guest lectures from international distinguished professors in Family Medicine. This 10-week course is focused on practical application in place of theoretical frameworks. We will equip you with the skills necessary to begin to conduct health services research, epidemiological and etiological research, and quality improvement programs. It will also help clinicians understand, critique and discuss health research in the course of continuing medical education.

Admission Eligibility

This course is open to health care professionals (e.g., physicians, nurses, and other allied healthcare workers) who are interested in conducting scholarly work to improve clinical impact at both the bedside and at the population level.

This course will be conducted in English.

Assessment and Certification Methods

A certificate of attendance will be awarded to participants who have attended at least 80% (8/10) of the sessions.

Course Fees and Payment Information

Fee: $7,500

Payment Method:

By cheque only

Please make your cheque payable to: "The University of Hong Kong"

Kindly write your full name and contact number on the back of the cheque before submission.

Please send the cheque to the following address:

Attn. Ms. Melanie CHAN Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care

3/F, Ap Lei Chau Clinic

161 Main Street

Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Delays in fee payment may slow the processing of your application. If you have submitted an application but fail to pay the fees by August 1, 2025, we reserve the right to release your place to applicants on the waiting list. Confirmation of registration will be sent to you in writing. Please note that fees are non-refundable, except in the event that the course is cancelled.

Application Procedures

To register for the course please fill in this form: https://forms.office.com/r/nXkFjTijZu
Application period will close on August 1st 2025.
As space is limited, registration is on a first come, first served basis.

Course Structure and Schedule

We will host a 2-hour session every Thursday over 10 weeks (10 sessions in total). It will be held at a University of Hong Kong seminar room in the Academic Building at 3 Sassoon Road. In-person attendance is highly encouraged but a Zoom link for each session are available upon request.

The sessions will be held between 6PM and 8PM on the following dates:

11th September 2025
18th September 2025
25th September 2025
2nd October 2025
9th October 2025
16th October 2025
23rd October 2025
30th October 2025
6th November 2025
13th November 2025

Course Content

Session	Date	Topic	Speaker
1	11 Sept 2025 (Thu)	Course introduction Study Designs: - Overview of descriptive, analytical, and qualitative study designs - Basic concepts of predictive analytics	Prof. Peter Tanuseputro
2	18 Sept 2025 (Thu)	Establishing evidence in medicine: - Causality and causal criteria - Basic concepts of confounding, effect modification and mediation - Precautionary principle in making decisions in the face of incomplete evidence	Prof. Peter Tanuseputro
3	25 Sept 2025 (Thu)	Building a research program: - Conducting big data research – building new programs of research - Knowledge translation tools and techniques (e.g., nomograms, web-enabled tools, engagement of policy makers, engagement of media and the public, etc.)	Prof. Peter Tanuseputro
4	2 Oct 2025 (Thu)	Practical guide on how to start effective grant applications and research projects	Prof. Peter Tanuseputro Prof. Amy Pui Pui Ng
5	9 Oct 2025 (Thu)	Conducting literature reviews: scoping reviews, narrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses	Dr. Ivy Mak
6	16 Oct 2025 (Thu)	Introduction to Biostatistics for health studies I	Prof. Francisco T.T. Lai
7	23 Oct 2025 (Thu)	Conducting research in vulnerable populations	Prof. William Wong
8	30 Oct 2025 (Thu)	Conducting health services research to enable continuous quality improvement and learning health systems	TBD
9	6 Nov 2025 (Thu)	Introduction to Biostatistics for health studies II	Prof. Eric Yuk Fai Wan
10	13 Nov 2025 (Thu)	Primer on artificial intelligence and machine learning in medicine – from education to research	Prof. Jiandong Zhou Dr. Diana Dan Wu

People

Name and Accreditation	Bio
Peter Tanuseputro, MHSc, MD, CCFP (Family Medicine), FRCPC (Public Health and Preventive Medicine) Clinical Professor	Prof. Tanuseputro completed his training as a Public Health and Family Medicine specialist at the University of Toronto. He joined as a Clinical Professor at the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care in 2024. He focuses on using linked big data to develop population perspectives on health care use and outcomes for frail, aging, and end-of-life populations. He has published over 300 PubMed papers including in many in high impact journals (e.g., JAMA, BMJ, NEJM, and JAMA).
William CW Wong MD MPH FRCGP FRCAGP (Family Medicine Specialist) Clinical professor and department chairperson.	Prof. Wong received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Edinburgh. He has extensive clinical experience from Australia, China, Hong Kong and the UK. Prof. Wong’s work has centered around infectious diseases in primary care - preventing their transmission and improving access. In 2014, he founded WONCA Health Equity Special Interest Group and Faculty of Travel Medicine, RCPS (UK); and was conferred Honorary Membership from Faculty of Public Health (UK) in 2015.
Prof. Amy Pui Pui Ng MD, CCFP, FCFP, FHKAM Clinical Assistant Professor	Porf. Ng obtained her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Toronto, Canada, and completed her Family Medicine Residency at North York General Hospital under the University of Toronto. Along with teaching, she is also an honorary resident of Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority, where she provides clinical services, and continues to serve as an Honorary Consultant at HKU-SZH. In 2024, she became a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine-Family Medicine and was awarded as a Distinguished Young Fellow.
Prof. Francisco T.T. Lai M.Phil, PhD. Assistant Professor	Prof. Lai is an Assistant Professor of Psychopharmacoepidemiology jointly appointed by the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy and the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care at HKU. He focuses on real-world evidence for psychotropic drugs, long-term safety of medications, and psychosomatic multimorbidity. The societal impact of his works on vaccine safety and pharmacovigilance during public health emergencies has been recognized by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Award in 2023.
Prof. Eric Yuk Fai Wan PhD, PStat, CStat Assistant Professor and Chief of Research	Prof. Wan is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, and the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy at HKU. Following his Ph.D. in family medicine and medical statistics, he worked as a medical statistician at the University of Oxford. He is an experienced epidemiologist and medical statistician and has expertise in using big data analytics in health and health service research.
Prof. Jiandong Zhou MSc, Ph.D., PostDoc Assistant Professor	Prof. Zhou received his post-doctoral training as a Medical Statistician at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford. He earned his Ph.D. in Data Science from School of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong. Prof Zhou has research interests in big data analytics, medical statistics, primary care and preventive health, case-control and cohort studies, predictive and decision analytics, pharmacoepidemiology and aetiology of chronic diseases. He is conducting machine learning analytics for illness trajectories and palliative care.
Dr. Diana Dan Wu MD, CCFP, PGDip Lecturer	Dr. Wu obtained her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Toronto and completed a Family Medicine Residency at the Toronto East General Hospital. She spent three years commuting between London UK and Toronto Canada doing a mixture of locum placements and telemedicine. Her areas of interest include telemedicine, digitalization of healthcare, dermatology, and medical teaching. As a researcher, she is interested in medical education and chronic-disease management in primary care.
Dr. Ivy Mak Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor	Dr. Makgraduated with a BSc in Nutritional Sciences with a specialization in Nutritional Biochemistry, and continued to pursue her PhD at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Her PhD research focused on the roles of nutrition and lifestyle behaviors on musculoskeletal health in childhood obesity. She is experienced in both clinical and pre-clinical studies, and have authored publications in international journals in various fields including nutrition, obesity, lipids and bone metabolism. Dr. Mak also has study interests in aging-related musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoporosis and sarcopenia. She is keen on integrating evidence-based research with practice, shaping better health policies and developing innovative strategies for the healthcare sector.

Any other relevant information (e.g., schedule, FAQs, testimonials)

Contact Information for Enquiries

For further information, please contact Melanie Chan (email: fmpctpg@hku.hk)