The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) has appointed Prof. Guokai CHEN as its Associate Dean (Teaching). Prof. Chen had been the Interim Associate Dean (Teaching) and Assistant Dean (Student Affairs) from 2019 to 2020 and from 2016 to 2020 respectively, through which Prof. Chen has garnered rich experience in management.
Prof. Guokai CHEN has been dedicating to enhance the curriculum in response to a change in international standard and industry needs. Prof. Chen was also determined to ameliorate the joint study programmes and foster the collaboration with other prestigious universities, allowing FHS students to enrich international experience in learning and research while pursuing two degrees. “We will strive to optimize our courses so that our students can continuously improve themselves in keeping pace with the world-class standard.”
Prof. Chen commented that FHS was facing great challenges and pressure under the epidemic. He conducted a survey to have a better understanding of the students’ study problems during the epidemic. “The findings are very useful. I will work out with all the faculty members to improve the teaching quality and enhance communication pathways for staff and students.” Prof. Chen also envisioned the future of FHS. “I will consider the views of different parties in and out of FHS, and refine our education to make the faculty impactful locally and internationally.”
After receiving the doctoral degree from Baylor College of Medicine, Prof. Guokai CHEN worked in Baylor College of Medicine and University of Wisconsin. Before joining FHS, he established iPSC and Genome Engineering Core Facility in National Institutes of Health (NIH) and served as the director. At UM, he received FHS’ Best Teacher Award (excellence in teaching) in 2018 and FHS’s Best Teacher Award (excellence in service) in 2019, both of which well affirm his excellence in these aspects.
Prof. Chen’s main research interest is the molecular regulation of growth factors and nutritional factors that affect the maintenance and the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and induce pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). His research team devotes to developing novel technologies that facilitate stem cell applications in basic and translational research. Multiple of his previous inventions have been successfully launched in commercial production for stem cell research in the field. He is currently the president of executive committee of Macau Society for Stem Cell Research and member of Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America.
Prof. Guokai CHEN