UM presents teaching award to excellent faculty member

MACAU, May 28 - At the Congregation 2022 held today (28 May), the University of Macau (UM) presented the Teaching Excellence Award, which recognises faculty members with outstanding performance in teaching. The recipient in the 2021/2022 academic year is Professor Gary Wong in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS).

Every year, the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award is selected by a

selection committee from nominees, who are faculty-level teaching award recipients, through a rigorous process. Selection criteria include the following: teaching philosophy, depth of knowledge in the subject area, outstanding communication skills and teaching effectiveness, outstanding contributions to the quality of curriculum development, the ability to promote student learning by stimulating and sustaining the intellectual development of students, innovative approach to teaching and learning, and leadership in promoting teaching excellence within and outside the university.

Prof Wong thanks the university for the recognition of his work. He also credits his success to his teaching colleagues, whose assistance, advice, and encouragement have enabled him to make continuous progress in his educational journey. Prof Wong’s teaching philosophy highlights the use of modern methods in the classic pedagogy. According to him, traditional classroom teaching is no longer sufficient to provide students with a quality learning experience and that teaching should be student-centred. In his lectures, he not only uses advanced information technology and a variety of dynamic class activities to engage students in learning, but also employs assessment tools to monitor students’ learning progress and collect their feedback. Together these approaches can stimulate students’ interest in learning so that they will actively participate in classroom interaction. In addition, through the university's residential college system, Prof Wong serves in Choi Kai Yau College and Moon Chun Memorial College, where students can share with him their stories and emotions of their young lives, which in turn has brought him an invaluable asset – listening to the students. Among the master’s and PhD graduates he has taught, many of them are now studying or working in different parts of the world. Prof Wong remains in contact with them to foster a long-standing relationship of mentorship and companionship.

Prof Wong also expresses his gratitude to his late father. As his first teacher, his father not only taught him all the important things in life, but also set a good example for him through his words and actions, which has shaped him into the man he is today. He considers his father to be one of the best teachers in the world with a profound impact on his current mission of nurturing people.

Prof Wong joined UM in 2014 as a professor in the Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration of the FHS. He obtained his master’s and PhD degrees from North Carolina State University. After a post-doctoral period at the National Institutes of Health in the United States, he moved to Finland to serve at various research positions at the Academy of Finland and a professor at the University of Eastern Finland. His research interests include pharmacology, toxicology, neuroscience, molecular biology, genetics, and bioinformatics. He has published over 130 scientific papers and two textbooks. He currently serves as an associate editor of various top-tier journals, including Frontiers in Toxicogenomics, Frontiers in Predictive Toxicity, and Neurobiology of Disease.