Guest Speaker – Professor Peter Mathieson From Kidneys to Museums

The University of Hong Kong Museum Society is delighted to present the new Vice Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, Professor Peter Mathieson. In this talk Professor Mathieson will from his medical and research background as a kidney doctor illustrate the importance and complexity of this organ system, the relatively common nature of kidney disease and the highlights of some major recent progress in kidney research. Professor Mathieson will contrast the university systems in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world and explain why the opportunity to lead the University of Hong Kong is such an exciting privilege for him. He will also tell the audience something about himself and about his wife Dr. Christina Mathieson, the new Patron of the Museum Society, and their family. A very good chance for members to meet HKU’s charming first couple.

Speaker
Professor Peter Mathieson was born and educated in the United Kingdom. He attended a state grammar school in Penzance, Cornwall, becoming Head Boy in 1977. He was awarded an unconditional offer of a place to read Medicine at the London Hospital Medical College in 1978 and qualified from the University of London with First Class Honours in 1983. After junior medical posts in London, he obtained a research training fellowship from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to study at the University of Cambridge. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Cambridge in 1992. He then became Director of Studies for Clinical Medicine at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

After a further MRC fellowship he moved to Bristol in 1995 as the Foundation Professor of Renal Medicine at the University of Bristol and Honorary Consultant Nephrologist, North Bristol NHS Trust. Professor Mathieson was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999. Between 2003 and 2007 he chaired the Research Grants Committee of Kidney Research UK. He was a member of the Renal Association Clinical Trials Committee from 1996 to 2007 and Chairman between 2000 and 2003. In 2007 he was elected as President of the Renal Association (the youngest ever!) in a competitive election by the membership and also became Head of the University Department of Clinical Science at North Bristol. In the same year he was appointed as Director of Research & Development for the North Bristol NHS Trust. He served the full three-year term as President of the Renal Association and remained a Trustee for a further two years as Immediate Past-President. In 2008 Professor Mathieson was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Bristol. Following the formation of Bristol Health Partners, he was appointed as the founding Director in May 2012, a role which he undertook alongside the role of Dean.

As of April 2014, Professor Mathieson has taken up the position of President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong.