The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has been approved to establish the third medical school in Hong Kong. Professor Fok Tai-Fai, the senior adviser to the President of HKUST, member of the new medical school's preparatory committee, and co-chairman of the Medical Education Task Force said that the preparations are underway intensely with the personnel's great efforts in various aspects, including discussing the details of cooperation with the government, deliberating over the arrangements for teaching hospitals with the Hospital Authority, launching a large-scale global recruitment scheme, covering employing the founding dean, the academic management team, and carrying out the curriculum development, etc. Besides, the construction project for the complex in Clear Water Bay as the interim campus for the new medical school has also been put on schedule.
Professor Fok Tai-Fai, Photo source: reference image
In the eyes of Professor Fok, although HKUST lacks experience in running a medical school, the lack of experience can allow the school team to be "free from burdens" and break out of traditional constraints to seek innovation. As for the curriculum design, he said that the team has visited many places to learn from others. He emphasized that the primary emphases of doctor training should be having clinical strength, medical ethics and professional conduct, and being patient-oriented. Additionally, he added that future doctors ought to embrace technology and know how to use it in order to benefit the public.
HKUST
Professor Fok also said on a radio program that, before the confirmation of HKUST's establishment of the new medical school, dozens of professors had expressed interest in joining the team of HKUST. He believed that more and more local and overseas professors would be willing to participate in the project. As for the current, some renowned medical professors from all over the world have reached out to them proactively, which has given the team great encouragement. Professor Fok emphasized that when they recruit talents, not only academic achievements would be valued, but also medical ethics and personal character.
As for the future teaching hospital, Professor Fok pointed out that the team's discussions are coming to an end, and he hoped the chosen teaching hospital would not be too far from the interim campus in Clear Water Bay. He said that the school would not compel the recruited non-local students to stay and serve in Hong Kong, nor did he think there was such a need. Since the students would study and live in Hong Kong for a long period, during which they will come into contact with local patients, the chances for them to stay and serve in Hong Kong will be quite high. Nevertheless, the school will still respect their personal interests and choices.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects approximately one in every 100 children worldwide, yet many families face lengthy waits for professional assessment and intervention services, often missing the critical window for early support. To address this challenge, researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed "ASD Super Agent," Asia's first integrated AI platform for autism support. By integrating three core functions—early screening, personalized intervention, and continuous family follow-up—the HKUST team hopes this innovative research will help parents identify potential autism risks earlier, access evidence-based professional recommendations, and precisely seize the key timing for early intervention, providing families with immediate and comprehensive support.
HKUST research team has developed “ASD Super Agent”, Asia’s first integrated AI platform for autism support. Led by Prof. Kani CHEN (center), Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics at HKUST; CHEN Xingze (left), a postgraduate student from Individualized Interdisciplinary Program; and WANG Xianfei (right), a postgraduate student from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at HKUST. Photo source: HKUST
Led by Prof. Kani CHEN, Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics at HKUST, the research team visited special education institutions, child development centers, and psychiatric hospitals across Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area, and Beijing during the development of “ASD Super Agent”. The team also engaged with nearly 500 parents of children with autism. The researchers found that many families face lengthy assessment waiting times, high treatment costs, and fragmented information regarding intervention services. Consequently, the HKUST team developed “ASD Super Agent” specifically for parents and caregivers, transforming AI research into a practical autism support tool that offers one-stop assistance from risk assessment to home-based training recommendations.
Prof. Chen said, “Many families struggle to access timely assessment and sustained support for children with autism. Delays in diagnosis can mean missed opportunities during the most effective period for intervention. By leveraging HKUST's strengths in artificial intelligence, data science and interdisciplinary research, we hope ASD Super Agent can bridge this gap, empowering parents and caregivers with practical, evidence-based support and helping more children receive timely intervention.”
Early Screening Through Everyday Home Videos
Parents can use a smartphone or smart device to record short videos of a child’s daily activities, complete standardized questionnaires, and provide basic developmental information. “ASD Super Agent” then generates a risk assessment and analytical report that families can use as a reference when seeking professional evaluation. Photo source: HKUST
One of the platform's key features is AI-assisted early autism risk screening in natural, everyday settings. Parents can use a smartphone or smart device to record short videos of a child’s daily activities, complete standardized questionnaires, and provide basic developmental information. “ASD Super Agent” then generates a risk assessment and analytical report that families can use as a reference when seeking professional evaluation.
In preliminary testing, the system achieved an area under the curve (AUC) score of 0.92 (where values closer to 1 indicate stronger discriminative precision), demonstrating strong screening performance. As the platform remains under testing and development, further clinical studies and real-world validation will be conducted before deployment. To safeguard users’ privacy, the platform follows a strict data-minimization approach by prioritizing on-device posture feature-extraction and processing only essential information required for analysis.
Personalized Intervention Powered by the "20+1" Framework
Through “ASD Super Agent,” the HKUST team aims to empower parents to identify potential autism risks earlier and obtain evidence-based professional guidance, thereby enabling them to act at the most critical juncture for early intervention and delivering timely, comprehensive support to families. Photo source: HKUST
Beyond screening, “ASD Super Agent” provides tailored intervention recommendations based on each child's specific developmental needs. Parents can describe their child's specific challenges such as emotional regulation difficulties, limited eye contact, communications challenges, or repetitive behaviors and receive customized support suggestions.
The platform's distinctive "20+1" framework combines the strengths of established evidence-based intervention approaches with professional expertise from practitioners. The "20" refers to more than 20 internationally recognized autism intervention models embedded within the system, while the "+1" enables therapists, special education providers and organizations to incorporate their own proven intervention methods and practical experience into the platform's knowledge base.
By bringing together research-based methodologies and frontline professional expertise, “ASD Super Agent” can provide recommendations that are both scientifically grounded and responsive to the individual needs of children and their families.
The intervention approaches incorporated in the platform include Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI), TEACCH Structured Teaching, and the Localized BSR Model, among others.
Each recommendation can also be accompanied by relevant academic literature and background references, supporting more informed discussions between families and healthcare or educational professionals and helping children access timely intervention during the crucial developmental window.
Supporting Families While Advancing Autism Research
Parents can describe their child's specific challenges, such as emotional regulation difficulties, limited eye contact, communication challenges, or repetitive behaviors, and receive customized support suggestions. Photo source: HKUST
Recognizing that autism support is an ongoing journey, “ASD Super Agent” is designed to provide continuous follow-up rather than one-time guidance. By integrating text records, video assessments and developmental information provided by families and professionals, the platform builds a dynamic developmental profile for each child. It can help break long-term goals into manageable daily actions, track progress over time, and support informed discussions between families and professionals.
The platform currently supports voice interactions in Cantonese, Putonghua and English, making it accessible to a broad range of users.
Beyond family support, the research team has established a multimodal autism database containing video, posture and behavioral data that now exceeds 1.1 million records. This valuable resource provides a foundation for AI model development and autism research. Through continued data collection and analysis, the team aims to improve risk assessment accuracy, enhance the precision of intervention recommendations, and deepen understanding of autism development and support strategies.
Looking ahead, the researchers will continue to refine the platform's user experience, expand clinical validation studies, and further strengthen system performance. Their goal is to make high-quality autism support more accessible, inclusive and readily available to families in Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area and beyond.
