Rate My Professor Amy Chow

Professor Amy Chow is the Head of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, where she also holds the position of Si Yuan Professor in Health and Social Work. She earned her PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Hong Kong, with a thesis on the bereavement experience of Chinese persons in Hong Kong, an MSSc in Social Work from the same university, passed with distinction, and a BSSc in Social Work with a minor in Psychology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her career began as a medical social worker at Caritas Medical Centre from 1989 to 1992, followed by roles as field instructor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong. She served as Centre Director of the Jessie and Thomas Tam Centre at the Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care from 1997 to 2001. Joining the University of Hong Kong's Department of Social Work and Social Administration as Assistant Professor in 2005, she advanced to Associate Professor in 2011 and full Professor in 2020. Additional appointments include Master of HKU New College since 2018, Director of the Jockey Club End-of-Life Community Care Project since 2019, Associate Director of the Sau Po Centre on Ageing since 2009, and Honorary Fellow at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention since 2003.

Professor Chow's research specializations encompass bereavement counselling, thanatology, end-of-life care, grief intervention, mental health in bereavement, community-based care for widowed older adults, and cultural competence in death and bereavement. She has secured major grants, including over HK$29 million from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for the End-of-Life Community Care Project and General Research Fund awards totaling millions for studies on pre-death bereavement care and psychosocial interventions. Key publications include 'Death, Dying and Bereavement: A Hong Kong Chinese Experience' (2006), 'Grief literacy: A call to action for compassionate communities' (2022, Death Studies), 'Guilt in bereavement: A review and conceptual framework' (2014, Death Studies), and 'Dual-process bereavement group intervention (DPBGI) for widowed older adults' (2019, Gerontologist). Her contributions have earned awards such as the Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Hong Kong (2014), Outstanding Research Output Awards from the Faculty of Social Sciences (2010-2020), the 24th Outstanding Social Worker Award from the Hong Kong Social Workers’ Association (2017), Research Recognition Award from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (2020), and Cross-Cultural Award from ADEC (2005). As a pioneer, she founded Hong Kong's first community-based bereavement counselling centre and chairs the International Workgroup on Death, Dying and Bereavement, the Steering Committee of the Hong Kong Academy of Social Work, and serves on the Social Workers Registration Board.