Focus On: Coronavirus

Asia Research News supports Asia's research community by increasing awareness of the research and innovation that is happening in the region.

With the new coronavirus outbreak happening now, we have prepared an abbreviated Focus On to help connect journalists with experts who are prepared to speak with international media as the situation unfolds.

All of the experts listed below have agreed to share their knowledge with journalists. We will continue to update the Focus on: Coronavirus list on our website as more researchers volunteer. Journalists are welcome to contact researchers directly, or contact us if you would like help finding a source. 

Updated 30 January 2020

Professor Wang Linfa

Programme Director
Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme
Duke-NUS Medical School
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: He is an international leader in the field of emerging zoonotic viruses and virus-host interaction, specialising in bat-borne viruses. He is a member of the WHO SARS Scientific Research Advisory Committee, and played a key role in identification of bats as the natural host of SARS-like viruses. He has recently been invited to come on board WHO International Health Regulations Committee regarding the new coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Mandarin
Listen to Professor Wang talk about the coronavirus on NPR. 

Assistant Professor Danielle Anderson

Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme
Duke-NUS Medical School
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Virus/host relationship of a diverse group of medically important viruses that includes Measles virus, Mumps virus and Nipah virus. Use of novel diagnostic platforms for the identification of new infectious viruses and other clinically relevant emerging infectious diseases, such as MERS and Zika virus.
Language comfortable speaking: English

Professor Gregory Gray

Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme
Duke-NUS Medical School
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Viral respiratory diseases, zoonotic diseases, occupational infectious disease, influenza viruses, adenoviruses, enteroviruses, coronaviruses, and evaluations of new infectious disease diagnostics
Language comfortable speaking: English

Professor Hitoshi Oshitani

Department of Virology
Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Virology, Epidemiology, Infectious Disease Control
Languages comfortable speaking: Japanese, English

Professor Dirk U. Pfeiffer 

Director of the Centre for Applied One Health Research and Policy Advice (OHRP)
Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health
City University of Hong Kong 
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Professor Pfeiffer has expertise in One Health approaches, with a specific focus on epidemiological aspects of animal disease control and prevention, including zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza and bovine tuberculosis and animal diseases such as African swine fever. He is the Chow Tak Fung Chair Professor of One Health.
Language comfortable speaking: English
Read Professor Pfeiffer's blog post about seeing the current crisis in context.

Professor Waiman Cheung

Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Transport, Logistics, Innovation and Technology
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese, Putonghua

Professor Terence Chong 

Department of Economics
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Economic impact on China and the rest of the world
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese, Putonghua

Professor Maggie Hu

School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Department of Finance
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Economics, Empirical Corporate Finance, International Finance, Real Estate Finance and Economics, Banking
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Putonghua

Professor Lisa Wan

School of Hotel and Tourism Management
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Tourism
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese, Putonghua

Professor Kalok Chan

Department of Finance
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Hong Kong and China financial markets
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese

Professor David Hui

Department of Medicine and Therapeutics
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected] 
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Respiratory medicine
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese

Mr. Simon Lee

School of Accountancy
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Economic, Real Estate or Housing, Tourism, Investment, Hong Kong and China Stock Markets
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese, Putonghua

Dr. Andrew Yuen

Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Economics, Transport and air transport
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese, Putonghua

Dr. Allan Au

School of Journalism and Communication
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected] 
Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Spread of accurate and inaccurate information
Languages comfortable speaking: English, Cantonese, Putonghua