• NEW FACES
• May 2023
• Bulletin

Welcome to HKU

Academic Staff Joins the Dental Family

The Faculty extends its warmest regards to newly joined academic staff and wishes them a great successful start to their academic careers at HKU.

Dr Zhou comes from Yunnan Province, China, a beautiful province also known as the "Kingdom of Plants" and "Kingdom of Flowers" due to its unique climate and geographic features. Dr Zhou received her Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Master’s degree of a three-year clinical training programme in Paediatric Dentistry from Kunming Medical University. She then pursued her PhD in The University of Hong Kong. Her dental specialty is paediatric dentistry. Before joining our Faculty, Dr Zhou served as an Assistant Professor and the Paedodontist-in-charge at Kunming Medical University’s Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Yunnan Key Laboratory of Stomatology.

Dr Zhou shares the same vision as the Faculty’s, which is to create outstanding innovations and apply them to benefit society. Her passion for paediatric dentistry is rooted in her desire to help families, particularly those with disadvantages, maintain the dental health of their children. Dr Zhou is committed to devoting her career to teaching, patient care, research, and knowledge exchange projects. She enjoys helping people and sharing her knowledge with others. Dr Zhou believes that working at the prestigious HKU Faculty of Dentistry, one of the best dental schools in the world, provides her with more opportunities to conduct multidisciplinary studies and access the latest paediatric dentistry knowledge.

Dr Zhou’s research focuses on oral health promotion for children with special healthcare needs (SHCN). She mentioned, “In order to better understand oral microbiota among children with SHCN, my short-term research plan is to collect the biological samples, such as saliva and dental plaque, to better understand the oral microbiota among children with SHCN. Additionally, she plans to document children’s developmental status and clinical data, such as caries status, treatment and follow-up outcomes. Machine learning models will be used for data mining of the biobank, with the aim to find a model to predict or monitor the progression of dental caries among children with SHCN. This research will contribute to personalised dental care for children with SHCN, improving their oral health outcomes and quality of life.”

While talking about her hobbies, Dr Zhou told us, “I like picking wild mushrooms while hiking in my hometown. I've been mushroom-picking for a while. We can hike together if you want to learn more about wild mushrooms. I also enjoy exploring the cultures and traditions of minority groups when travelling in Yunnan, where 26 different ethnic groups living together in harmony.”

Dr Zhou has spent several years working on projects with children from minority groups, children who were left behind, as well as children with disabilities. She wishes the entire community would show those children more compassion and love. She expressed, “I'm ready to collaborate with other researchers on multidisciplinary projects to enhance the psychological, physical, and dental health of those children.”

Dr Zhou has spent several years working on projects with children from minority groups, children who were left behind, as well as children with disabilities.