Brian Tomlinson

BSc, MBBS, MD, MRCP(UK), FHKCP, FRCP, FRCP(E), FRCP(G), FHKAM(Med), FCP, FACP.

Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics

Department of Medicine and Therapeutics

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong SAR

Brian Tomlinson graduated from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London, and completed training in internal medicine at University College Hospital, London, where he specialized in Clinical Pharmacology and completed his MD. He joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1990 as Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology and was subsequently promoted to Reader and then Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics. He is head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the CUHK and is an honorary consultant physician at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. He is medical director of the Clinical Pharmacology Studies Unit at CUHK and is responsible for conducting clinical trials at all stages of drug development.

His research interests include the pathogenesis and treatment of hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome and their complications, the clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenetics of cardiovascular drugs and the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines. He is an author of over 250 publications and over 400 conference abstracts and has given numerous invited lectures. Brian Tomlinson is a member of numerous national and international societies, including the International Society of Hypertension and the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy and the Asian-Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis & Vascular Diseases, of which he has been a council member since February 1998 and Secretary General since 2003. He is currently President of the Hong Kong Atherosclerosis Society and President of the Hong Kong Pharmacology Society. He has been involved with the organization of numerous scientific meetings and was Chairman of the Scientific Committee for the Satellite Symposium of the International Atherosclerosis Society Meeting held in Hong Kong in October 2003, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Combined 6th Congress of the Asian-Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Diseases and 10th Hong Kong Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk Factors - East meets West Symposium in Hong Kong on 25-28 September 2008, and Co-Chairman of the 2009 International Conference on Personalized Medicine held in Hong Kong on 19-20 September 2009.

Statement on how I plan to advance the Society

APSAVD has established an important role in the dissemination and exchange of information and expert knowledge in the region under the excellent leadership of the previous Presidents of the Society. My intention would be to continue in the same manner, holding the major Congress every two years and to have meetings in intervening years in association with one of the National Societies’ Meetings. This has been done in the past, particularly with the Thai Atherosclerosis Society and the Hong Kong Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk Factor Meeting.

I think it is very important to encourage new membership of the Society and to try to establish more active participation from some of the countries in the region such as China and Vietnam. These targets may be best achieved through personal contacts with Opinion Leaders in each country. It is also important to obtain financial support from pharmaceutical companies and this also seems most effective when the companies are approached by the local Key Opinion Leaders in each country. Identification of research publications relevant to the region would be useful, and this information could be provided through the Society website in much the same way that the IAS provides a regular update on important publications in the field. It has been difficult to establish any multi-centre research study from within the Society and this may not be feasible unless a considerable increase in finding could be obtained. However, increased awareness of the research activities in each of the countries involved in APSAVD should help to promote greater collaboration between members and help to advance the knowledge and expertise in this region.