Leo Poon 潘烈文

  • Senior Research Fellowship in 2017 at University of Hong Kong
  • Scholarship in 1996 at University of Oxford

Professor Leo Poon received his doctoral training in Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in University of Oxford (1999). He joined the University of Hong Kong in 2001. He currently serves as a Professor in the School of Public Health, HKU. He is a co-director of HKU-Pasteur Research Pole.

Professor Poon is a world-leading virologist and public health scientist. Over the years, he has published about >300 peer-reviewed articles and has been named as a Highly Cited Researcher since 2015. Thus far, his work has been cited about 43 thousand times and he has an H-index of 97.

Professor Poon studies emerging viruses for over 25 years. He studies both human and animal influenza and coronaviruses. In 2003, Professor Poon involved in the discovery of a novel coronavirus as the aetiological cause of SARS. He is one of the firsts who decoded the first SARS coronavirus sequence. These findings allowed him to develop several useful molecular tests for the diagnosis of SARS. He currently also actively involves in studies related to MERS coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses. In recognizing his contribution in combating emerging infectious diseases, he received a highly prestigious Louis Pasteur Bicentenary Prize from Institute Pasteur in 2023.

Professor Poon serves as an expert for several international organizations. He is an advisor in different task groups for infectious disease control in WHO, FAO and WOAH.