Biography:

Dr. Thomas Leung aims to translate science into health service. He is the first interventional neurologist in Hong Kong, and a neuro-sonologist certified by the American Society of Neuroimaging. On an international level, Dr. Leung is a co-chair of the Global Executive Committee of MT 2020, a global initiative of the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) based in the US for improving access of emergency thrombectomy for ischemic stroke. He is also the national coordinator for Safe Implementation of Treatment in Stroke (SITS). Countrywide, Dr. Leung is a council member in the National Endovascular Treatment for Stroke Committee, and Stroke Prevention and Risk Factor Control Committee, China. Locally, Dr. Leung is the President of the Hong Kong Neurological Society. As the Chief of Stroke Service in the Prince of Wales Hospital, Dr. Leung performed the first intracranial Wingspan stenting in Asia, pioneered drug-eluting stents in cervical steno-occlusions and was the first in the region to apply retrievable stents and suction device in emergency thrombectomy for hyperacute ischemic strokes. Dr. Leung is a trainer for clinical neurology and endovascular treatment for ischemic strokes, and plays an active role in the Central Committee (Stroke), the Hospital Authority that implements intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular thrombectomy services for the whole territory of Hong Kong. As the stroke service leader, Dr. Leung and his stroke team in the Prince of Wales Hospital won the ‘Outstanding Team Award 2019’ selected by the Hospital Authority among all public hospital services in Hong Kong.

Dr. Leung focused on intracranial atherosclerosis, stroke imaging, treatment and outcome. He has published as the first or corresponding author in high-impact specialty journals including Annals of Neurology, Neurology, Stroke, JAMA Neurology, and Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (JNNP). He is an assistant editor for Stroke (official journal of American Heart Association), an associate editor for International Journal of Stroke (official journal of World Stroke Organization), a guest associate editor for Frontiers of Neurology, and a reviewer for journals including The Lancet, Annals of Neurology, Neurology, Stroke, JNNP, Hypertension, American Journal of Neuroradiology, European Journal of Neurology, and International Journal of Stroke. Dr. Leung has obtained 8 competitive grants as principal investigator, and another 19 GRF/HMRF grants as co-investigator. Internationally, Dr. Leung was an expert witness at the hearing of the US Food and Drug Administration, and had lectured in conferences organized by World Federation of Neurology, World Stroke Organization, American Stroke Association, European Stroke Organization, International Stroke Genetics Consortium, and the Ministry of Health, China. Dr. Leung has solicited private donations over US$ 3.85 million for CUHK, facilitating the establishment of Kwok Tak Seng Center for Stroke Research and Intervention in 2013 and the CUHK Biobank and Bioresource for Cerebrovascular Diseases in 2015, the first of its kind in Hong Kong. Dr. Leung is currently the Director for these two facilities.

Dr. Leung currently serves as the Assistant Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK. He has been consistently above 80% centile in the teaching evaluation score since 2012. He was the recipient of ‘The Teacher of The Year Award’ in 2019 by the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK. He supervised 10 PhD students and 3 research assistant professors. He was the course director for Master of Science in Stroke and Clinical Neurosciences, CUHK, and the western medicine program, the School of Chinese Medicine.

Dr. Leung is a Fellow of Royal College of Physicians (FRCP (Lond) and FRCP (Edin)), American Heart association (FAHA), European Stroke Organization (FESO) and European Academy of Neurology (FEAN). He received an endowed professorship as Lee Quo Wei Associate Professor of Neurology in 2013; the orator for Professor G. Arjundas Oration, Madras Institute of Neurology, Madras Medical College, India in 2008; the Second Prize in Medical Technology by the Chinese Medical Association in 2011 for ‘Angioplasty and stenting for intracranial stenosis in Chinese’; the prestigious First Class Award of the 2011 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award (Science and Technology) by the Ministry of Health, China, for ‘Intracranial Large Artery Atherosclerotic Stroke: Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Pathogenesis, Imaging and Treatment’; the HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Health Award 2013 (Asia-Pacific Region) for his pioneering work in telemedicine; and the Second Prize in the State of Scientific and Technological Progress Award, China in 2014 for ‘Strategies in cerebral revascularization’. As the stroke team leader in the Prince of Wales Hospital, Dr. Leung and his team was the winner of the ‘Outstanding Team Award 2019’ selected by the Hospital Authority among all public hospital services in Hong Kong.

Specialised Research Area(s):

• Stroke imaging
• Cerebral re-vascularization therapy
• Intracranial atherosclerosis

1. Bonaventure Ip YM, Lau KK, Ko H, Lau L, Yao A, Lai-Hung Wong G, Cheuk-Fung Yip T, Leng X, Chan H, Chan H, Mok V, Soo YOY, Seiffge D, Leung TW (corresponding author). Association of Alternative Anticoagulation Strategies and Outcomes in Patients With Ischemic Stroke While Taking a Direct Oral Anticoagulant. Neurology. 2023 May 24:10.1212/WNL.0000000000207422. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207422. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37225430.

 2. Shi M, Leng X, Li Y, Chen Z, Cao Y, Chung T, Ip BY, Ip VH, Soo YO, Fan FS, Ma SH, Ma K, Chan AYY, Au LW, Leung H, Lau AY, Mok VC, Choy KW, Dong Z, Leung TW (corresponding author). Genome sequencing reveals the role of rare genomic variants in Chinese patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Stroke and Vascular Neurology. 2021 Dec 8:svn-2021-001157. doi: 10.1136/svn-2021-001157. 

3. Leung TW, Wang L, Zou X, Soo YOY, Pu Y, Ip VHL, Chan AYY, AU LWC, Fan FSY, Ma SH, Ip B, Ma K, Lau AYL, Leung H, Hui KF, Li R, Li SH, Fu M, Fong WC, Liu J, Mok VCT, Wong LKS, Miao Z, Ma N, Yu SCH, Leng X. Plaque Morphology of Acute Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 2021;92:370–376. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2020-325027.

4. Lan L, Liu H, Ip V, Soo Y, Abrigo J, Fan F, Ma SH, Ma K, Ip B, Liu J, Fan Y, Zeng J, Mok V, Wong L, Liebeskind D, Leung T (corresponding author), Leng X. Regional high wall shear stress associated with regression of luminal stenosis in symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Stroke. 2020 Oct;51(10):3064-3073. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.120.030615.

5. Tang S, Xiong L, Fan Y, Mok VCT, Wong KS, Leung TW (corresponding author). Stroke outcome prediction by blood pressure variability, heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity. Stroke. 2020. Apr;51(4):1317-1320. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.027981.

6. Liu X, Dai Q, Ye R, Zi W, Liu Y, Wang H, Zhu W, Ma M, Yin Q, Li M, Fan X, Sun W, Han Y, Lv Q, Liu R, Yang D, Shi Z, Zheng D, Deng X, Wan Y, Wang Z, Geng Y, Chen X, Zhou Z, Liao G, Jin P, Liu Y, Liu X, Zhang M, Zhou F, Shi H, Zhang Y, Guo F, Yin C, Niu G, Zhang M, Cai X, Zhu Q, Chen Z, Liang Y, Li B, Lin M, Wang W, Xu H, Fu X, Liu W, Tian X, Gong Z, Shi H, Wang C, Lv P, Tao Z, Zhu L, Yang S, Hu W, Jiang P, Liebeskind DS, Pereira VM, Leung T, Yan B, Davis S, Xu G, Nogueira RG; BEST Trial Investigators. Endovascular treatment versus standard medical treatment for vertebrobasilar artery occlusion (BEST): an open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2020 Feb;19(2):115-122. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(19)30395-3. Epub 2019 Dec 9. PMID: 31831388.

7. Leng X, Lan L, Ip HL, Abrigo J, Scalzo F, Liu H, Feng X, Chan KL, Fan FSY, Ma SH, Fang H, Xu Y, Li J, Zhang B, Xu Y, Soo YOY, Mok VCT, Yu SCH, Liebeskind DS, Wong KS, Leung TW (corresponding author). Hemodynamics and Stroke Risk in Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease. Annals of Neurology. 2019 May; 85(5): 752-764. doi: 10.1002/ana.25456.

8. Feng X, Chan KL, Lan L, Abrigo J, Liu J, Fang H, Xu Y, Soo Y, Leng X, Leung TW (corresponding author). Stroke mechanisms in symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis disease. Stroke. 2019 Oct;50(10):2692-2699. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.025732.

9. Wilson D, Ambler G, Lee KJ, Lim JS, Shiozawa M, Koga M, Li L, Lovelock C, Chabriat H, Hennerici M, Wong YK, Mak HKF, Prats-Sánchez L, Martínez-Domeño A, Inamura S, Yoshifuji K, Arsava EM, Horstmann S, Purrucker J, Lam BYK, Wong A, Kim YD, Song TJ, Schrooten M, Lemmens R, Eppinger S, Gattringer T, Uysal E, Tanriverdi Z, Bornstein NM, Assayag EB, Hallevi H, Tanaka J, Hara H, Coutts SB, Hert L, Polymeris A, Seiffge DJ, Lyrer P, Algra A, Kappelle J, Al-Shahi Salman R, Jäger HR, Lip GYH, Mattle HP, Panos LD, Mas JL, Legrand L, Karayiannis C, Phan T, Gunkel S, Christ N, Abrigo J, Leung T, Chu W, Chappell F, Makin S, Hayden D, Williams DJ, Kooi ME, van Dam-Nolen DHK, Barbato C, Browning S, Wiegertjes K, Tuladhar AM, Maaijwee N, Guevarra C, Yatawara C, Mendyk AM, Delmaire C, Köhler S, van Oostenbrugge R, Zhou Y, Xu C, Hilal S, Gyanwali B, Chen C, Lou M, Staals J, Bordet R, Kandiah N, de Leeuw FE, Simister R, van der Lugt A, Kelly PJ, Wardlaw JM, Soo Y, Fluri F, Srikanth V, Calvet D, Jung S, Kwa VIH, Engelter ST, Peters N, Smith EE, Yakushiji Y, Orken DN, Fazekas F, Thijs V, Heo JH, Mok V, Veltkamp R, Ay H, Imaizumi T, Gomez-Anson B, Lau KK, Jouvent E, Rothwell PM, Toyoda K, Bae HJ, Marti-Fabregas J, Werring DJ; Microbleeds International Collaborative Network. Cerebral microbleeds and stroke risk after ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack: a pooled analysis of individual patient data from cohort studies. Lancet Neurol. 2019 Jul;18(7):653-665. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(19)30197-8.

10. Soo Y, Abrigo J, Leung KT, Tsang SF, Ip V, Ma SH, Ma K, Fong WC, Li SH, Li R, Ng PW, Wong KK, Liu W, Lam B, Wong L, Mok V, Chu W, Leung T (corresponding author). Risk of intracerebral haemorrhage in Chinese atrial fibrillation patients on warfarin with cerebral microbleeds. IPAAC-Warfarin Study. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 2019;90:428-435. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2018-319104.