In 1999, Leung joined the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Faculty of Medicine (now the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine) as an assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine (now part of the School of Public Health), and became an associate professor when the School of Public Health was formed in 2004.[19][20] During the SARS outbreak, he established and directed the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group.[21]
He was a Takemi Fellow at Harvard University from 2004 to 2005,[22][23] and, after returning to Hong Kong, expanded the Children of 1997 study together with Catherine Mary Schooling,[24] which followed "the majority of all babies born in Hong Kong during April and May 1997",[15] into a life-course epidemiological study.[24]
Leung was promoted to full professor in 2006 at the age of 33,[19] one of the youngest in HKU's history.[21] He also served as the vice president and censor in public health medicine at the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine from 2006 to 2008.[1]
When his term at the government ended, Leung returned to HKU in 2012 as the head of the Department of Community Medicine until 2013, when the department was incorporated into the School of Public Health, and the inaugural master of Chi Sun College.[19] He was also the acting director of the School of Public Health during this period.[1][20]
In 2013, Leung was appointed as the 40th dean of the HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine and chair professor of public health. At the age of 40, he was the second youngest dean ever appointed at the HKU medical faculty.[27]
During his deanship, the Faculty of Medicine launched the Springboard Scholarships and Second Chance Scholarship schemes to recruit students from more diverse backgrounds.[28][29] A number of major changes to the faculty as a whole also took place under Leung's watch, including:
Establishment of the Jockey Club Centre for Clinical Innovation and Discovery and the Jockey Club Institute of Cancer Care at the redeveloped Grantham Hospital, supported by a HKD 1.24 billion donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club (expected to open in 2025)
Redevelopment of the Sassoon Road Medical Campus (expected to be completed in 2027).[35]
In 2017, it was reported that Leung, together with Zhang Xiang from the University of California, Berkeley, were the final two candidates for the next HKU president. The Council of HKU, however, eventually selected Zhang.[36]
Leung's tenure as dean was renewed in 2018 for a five-year term until 2023.[37]
Leung became the interim director of the School of Public Health,[38] after the former director, Keiji Fukuda, retired in 2021.[39]
Leung resigned as dean in November 2021 to succeed Leong Cheung at the Hong Kong Jockey Club as the executive director (charities and community). He joined the Hong Kong Jockey Club on 1 August 2022.[40][41]
Outside HKU, Leung was the founding chair of the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems Policies from 2010 to 2014, an elected council member of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine from 2012 to 2019, the founding co-director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control from 2014 to 2018, a member of the University Grants Committee from 2014 to 2019,[1] a member of the Hospital Authority Board from 2013 to 2022,[42] and a member of the Youth Development Commission of the Government of Hong Kong from 2018 to 2022.[43][44] He is currently serving on the Steering Committee on Primary Healthcare Development of the Government of Hong Kong since 2017,[45][46] the board of directors of the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health at the Hong Kong Science Park since 2020,[1][47] the board of governors of the Wellcome Trust since 2021,[48] and the Global Health Risk Framework Commission.[49]
Leung founded and led the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group during the SARS outbreak.[21]
Leung's research involves several large-scale longitudinal studies, including Children of 1997, FAMILY and the Department of Health Elderly Health Service cohort.[24][38][57]
Leung's move to the government in 2008 was controversial as HKU retained his professorship,[67] and he held Canadian citizenship at the time. All principal officials of Hong Kong, including the secretaries for the Bureaux, must be filled by Chinese citizens without the right of abode in foreign countries.[68] Although undersecretaries for the Bureaux were[clarification needed] not principal officials, they may[clarification needed] serve as acting secretaries when the secretaries were unable to hold office. He eventually renounced his Canadian citizenship.[69][70]
On a press conference about the COVID-19 pandemic on 25 January 2020, Leung and attending government officials asked the public to wear face masks but did not do so themselves. When asked why he did not wear a face mask, he claimed it would make him unable to speak.[71] He was criticised and apologised the following day.[72]
^"Overview and History". Department of Emergency Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
^"About Us". HKU Health System, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
^"Enrichment Year: the Journey Begins". Medical Faculty News. Vol. 23, no. 2. Hong Kong: Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. November 2018. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
^"Building for the Future". Medical Faculty News. Vol. 26, no. 2. Hong Kong: Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. December 2021. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
^ ab"Leung, Gabriel M". School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on February 25, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
^"2012 Honours List" (Press release). Government of Hong Kong. 30 June 2012. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
