CUHK Professor Yu Jun Elected Fellow of World Academy of Sciences
Yu Jun, a digestive-disease expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has been elected a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences for her pioneering research on gut microbiota and gastrointestinal cancers.
Yu Jun, a leading expert in digestive diseases at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), has been elected a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the institution announced on 9 November 2026. The honour recognises her pioneering work in gastrointestinal cancers, gut microbiota and early cancer detection.
Yu is Choh-Ming Li professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at CUHK's Faculty of Medicine, director of the Institute of Digestive Disease and director of the State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease. Her research has uncovered critical links between microbial species and the onset of gastric, colorectal and liver cancers, advancing global knowledge on cancer mechanisms, prevention and diagnosis.
A TWAS Fellowship is considered one of the highest accolades in global science, reserved for scholars whose work profoundly influences their field. Yu's election affirms her leadership in gut microbiota and gastrointestinal cancer research and highlights CUHK's strengths in biomedical and translational research, according to the university.
“I am deeply honored to be elected a Fellow of TWAS. I sincerely thank CUHK for its longstanding support of my research, as well as my research team and collaborators around the world for their dedication and partnership,” Yu said. “We will continue to advance frontier research on gut microbiota and cancer, and strive to translate our scientific discoveries into clinical applications that benefit patients worldwide.”
Yu's research has led to the development of non-invasive biomarkers and early detection technologies for gastrointestinal cancers, many of which have been implemented in clinical practice. With more than 600 scientific publications in top journals, she is also a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Academia Europaea, and a recipient of numerous awards including the State Natural Science Award and the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship.