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Policy-Relevant Timing
The hub is built for Hong Kong’s current reform moment: formulary updates, IMACE, and the wider need for transparent health economic evidence.
Health Technology Assessment Collaboration Hub
Hong Kong’s academic home for value-based health technology decisions.
HTAHUB connects health economics, public health, clinical science, epidemiology, patient perspectives, pharmacology, ethics, governance, and policy expertise to support better decisions on medicines, diagnostics, devices, digital health, and models of care.
Why Now
Hong Kong needs a dedicated academic reference point for HTA.
Population ageing, rising health expenditure, high-cost medicines, new diagnostics, medical devices, and digital health technologies are increasing pressure on the sustainability and fairness of the health system.
- Hong Kong is strengthening evidence-informed decision-making through formulary reform, IMACE, and health economic guidelines.
- No dedicated academic hub, institute, or centre for Health Technology Assessment currently exists in Hong Kong.
- HTAHUB fills this gap through independent research, professional training, public-facing education, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Why HTAHUB
A strong HTA partner to connect Hong Kong with global leaders in the field.
For collaborators, the value of HTAHUB is practical: one credible academic platform that can connect methods, policy, clinical expertise, patient perspectives, and implementation science for Hong Kong.
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Interdisciplinary Approach
HTA is more than economics, combining clinical evidence, public health, patient-reported outcomes, governance, ethics, and real-world implementation.
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HKU Ecosystem
The platform connects expertise across HKU academic units spanning public health, pharmacology and pharmacy, medicine, governance and policy, and health innovation.
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International Positioning
Advancing Hong Kong’s international visibility and influence while positioning HKU within global HTA networks.
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Capacity Building
Short courses, workshops, videos, postgraduate engagement, and annual events help build the next generation of HTA practitioners.
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Collaboration Ready
Partners can work with the hub on evidence generation, technology adoption, reimbursement, training, patient engagement, and regional knowledge exchange.
Three Pillars
Research, education, and collaboration in one platform.
HTAHUB is designed to be a collaborative platform that connects stakeholders and harnesses expertise across HKU and Hong Kong to advance health technology assessment.
R
Research
Methodological and applied HTA research, including economic evaluation, modelling, real-world evidence, thresholds, equity, reimbursement, and early HTA.
E
Education
Short courses, seminars, workshops, postgraduate engagement, and public-facing explainers for decision-makers, professionals, students, and the public.
C
Collaboration
Connections across HKU, government, Hospital Authority, industry, insurers, providers, patient groups, civil society, and international HTA networks.
Video Learning Hub
HTA helps decide what a health system should fund, adopt, or prioritise — and why.
This section is designed for people who are new to Health Technology Assessment. Short videos will explain the basic concepts, why HTA matters in Hong Kong, and how evidence can support fairer, more sustainable decisions.
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What Is HTA?
A short introduction to health technologies, value, evidence, and decision-making.
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Hong Kong HTA Landscape
Ageing, rising expenditure, high-cost technologies, formulary reform, and IMACE.
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Economic Evaluation
Cost-effectiveness, QALYs, thresholds, budget impact, uncertainty, and local data.
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Equity and Patient Engagement
Patient-reported outcomes, social values, quality of life, and distributional impacts.
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From Innovation to Adoption
Early HTA, evidence requirements, real-world evidence, implementation, and access.
Research
Evidence built for real health technology decisions.
HTAHUB builds on active and emerging research projects focused on Hong Kong’s policy and health-system needs.
01
HTA Methods for Hong Kong
Guidelines and toolkits for systematic incorporation of health economic methods into Hospital Authority and Health Bureau decisions.
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Economic Evaluation and Modelling
Long-term cost and outcome models for medicines, diagnostics, interventions, technologies, and care pathways relevant to Hong Kong.
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Cost-Effectiveness Thresholds
Locally grounded threshold evidence to support credible economic evaluation and interpretation in Hong Kong.
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Equity and Distributional Analysis
Methods that examine who benefits, who may be disadvantaged, and how health technologies affect fairness across populations.
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Early HTA for Innovation
Evidence planning for developers so promising innovations can be designed for successful health-system adoption.
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Real-World Evidence and Access
Comparative effectiveness, real-world evidence synthesis, pricing, reimbursement, market access, and value-based payment models.
Focus Areas
Priority topics for research, training, and collaboration.
HTAHUB focuses on themes where rigorous evidence can directly support policy, health-system adoption, and better allocation of resources in Hong Kong.
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Early HTA
Working with innovators and research teams earlier in the technology lifecycle to clarify evidence needs, adoption pathways, value propositions, and implementation risks.
02
HTA
Advancing applied assessment of medicines, diagnostics, devices, digital tools, public health interventions, and models of care for Hong Kong decision-making.
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Strategic Purchasing
Exploring how evidence, value, outcomes, incentives, and payment models can support more transparent and sustainable purchasing decisions.
- Modular short courses in HTA, health economic evaluation, and cost-effectiveness analysis.
- Targeted training for government, Hospital Authority staff, industry, insurers, providers, students, and early-career professionals.
- Workshops to share research findings and debate methodological challenges.
- Invited talks and workshops with leading international experts, including University of York scholars such as Prof Karl Claxton.
- An annual symposium to convene the Hong Kong HTA community.
Education
Building Hong Kong’s next generation of HTA practitioners.
HTAHUB will provide targeted education for decision-makers, healthcare professionals, researchers, industry, postgraduate students, and people new to the field.
Collaborate
Work with us to shape Hong Kong’s HTA ecosystem.
HTAHUB welcomes policy, academic, clinical, patient, industry, public-sector, and international collaborations.
Policymakers and Public Agencies
HTA guidelines, evidence requirements, cost-effectiveness, budget impact, priority-setting frameworks, and training.
Hospital Authority and Providers
Applied economic evaluation, chronic disease modelling, comparative effectiveness, patient outcomes, and service decisions.
Researchers and Innovators
Early HTA, grant development, health economic modelling, real-world evidence planning, and adoption pathways.
Industry, Insurers, and Private Providers
Independent evaluation, market access evidence, value-based payment, outcomes measurement, and methodological exchange.
Patient Groups and Civil Society
Patient-reported outcomes, preferences, lived experience, social values, public engagement, and equity-focused HTA.
International Partners
Joint seminars, visiting speakers, comparative HTA methods, international grants, and regional capacity-building.
Team
Interdisciplinary leadership across HKU.
The hub combines expertise in HTA, health economics, public health, behavioural science, infectious disease technologies, governance, policy, health systems, and international collaboration.
Prof Manuel Espinoza
Project Lead
Associate Professor in Health Economics, Policy and Management. Leads HTA methods, economic evaluation, value frameworks, and priority setting.
Official profile →
Prof Wendy Lam
Co-Lead
Associate Professor and Head of Behavioural Sciences. Brings patient-reported outcomes, psycho-oncology, survivorship, and quality-of-life expertise.
Official profile →
Prof Sophia Chan
Co-Lead
Senior Advisor to the President's Office, Professor and Director of HKU Primary Health Care Academy, and Professor in Community Medicine and Public Health Practice. Supports public health policy, primary health care, and government engagement.
Official profile →
Prof Tsan Yuk Tommy Lam
Co-Lead
Associate Professor in Public Health Laboratory Sciences. Supports infectious disease genomics, pathogen evolution, genomic epidemiology, and public health translation.
Official profile →
Prof David Bishai
Member
Clinical Professor and Division Head in Health Economics, Policy and Management. Brings health economics, vaccines, and global public health expertise.
Official profile →
Dr Luis Gabriel Bernal Pulido
Member
Principal Lecturer in Community Medicine and Public Health Practice. Supports health systems, primary care, and professional training.
Official profile →
Mrs Baikong Mamid-Sia
Member
Tutor and MPH practicum coordinator. Brings health communication, humanitarian experience, student engagement, and teaching support.
Official profile →
Prof Kenneth Wong
Member
Director of HKU School of Governance and Policy and Kerry Group Professor in Public Policy. Supports HTA governance and institutional design.
Official profile →
Prof Esther Chan
Member
Professor in Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Director of the Centre for Safe Medication Practice and Research, and Co-Director of the Centre for Health AI Research and Translation. Brings medication safety, big data, and pharmacoeconomics expertise.
Official profile →
Prof Shirley Li
Member
Assistant Professor at HKU with expertise in life-cycle HTA, HEOR, decision analytic modelling, real-world outcomes, and health policy evaluation; Project Coordinator of SCAN 2030.
Official profile →Researchers
Research team supporting the hub’s day-to-day work.
Researchers supporting the hub's activities.
Aidi Liu, MSc
HTAHUB Administrative Officer
Supports the hub's activities.
Zhengwei Huang, MPhil
Research Assistant
Supports the hub's activities.
Qiyu Yang, MPH
Research Assistant
Supports the hub's activities.
Shuhua Tan, MSc
Research Assistant
Supports the hub's activities.
Contact
Interested in HTA collaboration, training, or invited talks?
HTAHUB welcomes conversations with policymakers, public agencies, clinicians, researchers, students, industry, patient groups, civil society, and international academic partners.