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Professor SINGH Gill Harinder Harry

Prof Harry Gill

Clinical Associate Professor

  • MBBS (HK), PDipID (HKU), MD (HK), MRCP (UK), FRCP (Edin, Glasg, Lond), FRCPath, FHKCP, FHKAM (Medicine)
email gillhsh@hku.hk
email 2255-5859
email ORCID
Biography
Dr. Gill Harinder Singh Harry is currently Clinical Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, the University of Hong Kong. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 2006 and joined the Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital in July 2007. He joined the University of Hong Kong as Clinical Assistant Professor in July 2014 and completed his training in Haematology and Haematological Oncology, and Advanced Internal Medicine in 2013 and 2014, respectively. He also underwent training in Haematopathology at the Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital from 2017 to 2019 and was conferred Fellow of The Royal College of Pathologists in February 2019. He completed his doctorate degree in 2019 focusing on the genomics of myeloproliferative neoplasms. He was conferred First Fellow in Genetics and Genomics (Medicine) by the Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2023. He has published extensively in esteemed peer-reviewed journals, including Blood, Blood Advances, Haematologica, British Journal of Haematology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Annals of Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer and Science Translational Medicine. He is the service-lead for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) in Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.

One of his key research areas since 2010 is the application of oral arsenic trioxide in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) and other haematological malignancies. Important practice-changing observations were made. He showed that a second complete remission rate of 100% and 10-year overall survival of more than 80% can be achieved in relapsed APL with oral arsenic trioxide-based regimen without hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). His work on frontline oral arsenic trioxide, all-trans-retinoic acid, ascorbic acid-based induction in newly diagnosed APL has also shown 100% complete remission rate with a 5-year leukaemia-free and overall survival of 100%, showing that a universal cure is achieved with the frontline oral arsenic trioxide-based regimen in APL. This is also the first study employing arsenic trioxide in its oral formulation worldwide. In another ongoing multicentre study, a completely chemotherapy-free and oral regimen for APL is being evaluated. He steered the research and development, and the clinical use of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) grade oral arsenic trioxide (Arsenol ®), the first GMP grade oral formulation of arsenic trioxide worldwide. Based on his research findings, oral arsenic trioxide was granted orphan drug designation (ODD) by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December 2024 and Investigational New Drug (IND) designation by the US FDA in January 2025 

Dr. Gill also leads research on MDS and MPN with specific focus on molecular alterations and novel therapeutics in these disorders. He is currently leading studies on the genomics of clonal haematopoiesis, MDS, secondary AML and MPN. He is also one of the key investigators of several global phase 2 and 3 studies evaluating the use of novel therapies in MDS and MPN.

He is one of the founding members and directors of the Asian Myeloid Working Group leading key regional studies on myeloid malignancies in Asia including the Asian MDS Genomics Registry, the APL Asian Consortium Study, and the Asian MPN Registry.

Research Profile
  1. Acute promyelocytic leukaemia
  2. Acute myeloid leukaemia
  3. Myelodysplastic Syndrome
  4. Myeloproliferative Neoplasm
  5. Next-generation sequencing, long-read sequencing and single-cell sequencing platforms
  6. Applications of oral arsenic trioxide
  7. Clonal haematopoiesis
  8. Germline predisposition to myeloid malignancies

Selected Publications
  1. Gill H*, Raghupathy R, Hou HA, Tsai XCH, Tantiworawit A, Ooi MG, et al. Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Asian Consortium study of arsenic trioxide in newly-diagnosed patients: impact and outcome. Blood Adv. 2024 December.
  2. Gill H. Chemotherapy-free approaches to newly-diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukaemia: is oral-arsenic trioxide/all-trans retinoic acid/ascorbic acid the answer? Expert Review of Hematol. 2024 Oct 2;17(10):661-7.
  3. Gill H*, Leung GM, Kwong YL. Evolving landscape of JAK inhibition in myelofibrosis: monotherapy and combinations. Hematology. 2023;2023(1):667-75.
  4. Rienhoff Jr HY, Gill H*. Bomedemstat as an investigative treatment for myeloproliferative neoplasms. Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs. 2023;32(10):879-86.
  5. Li VW, Yim R, Lee P, Chin L, Au L, Leung GM, Sim J, Lie AK, Tse E, Kwong YL, Gill H*. Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis: prognostic indicators and the role of JAK2 V617F measurable-residual disease monitoring by droplet-digital polymerase chain reaction. Annals of Hematol. 2023 Sep;102(9):2517-27.
  6. Gill H*, Raghupathy R, Lee CY, Yung Y, Chu HT, Ni MY, et al. Acute promyelocytic leukaemia: population-based study of epidemiology and outcome with ATRA and oral-ATO from 1991 to 2021. BMC cancer. 2023; 23(1):141.
  7. Chin L, Wong CY, Gill H*. Targeting and monitoring acute myeloid leukaemia with nucleophosmin-1 (NPM1) mutation. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(4):3161.
  8. Gill H. Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1/KDM1A) inhibition as a target for disease modification in myelofibrosis. Cells. 2022;11(13):2107.
  9. Lee P, Yim R, Fung SH, Miu KK, Wang Z, Wu KC, Au L, Leung GMK, Lee VHF, Gill H*. Single-Nucleotide Variations, Insertions/Deletions and Copy Number Variations in Myelodysplastic Syndrome during Disease Progression Revealed by a Single-Cell DNA Sequencing Platform. Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(9):4647.
  10. Lee P, Yim R, Miu KK, Fung SH, Liao JJ, Wang Z, Li J, Yung Y, Chu H-T, Yip P-K, Lee E, Tse E, Kwong YL, Gill H*. Epigenetic Silencing of PTEN and Epi-Transcriptional Silencing of MDM2 Underlied Progression to Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Myelodysplastic Syndrome Treated with Hypomethylating Agents. Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(10):5670.
  11. Gill H*, Yung Y, Chu HT, Au WY, Yip PK, Lee E, Yim R, Lee P, Cheuk D, Ha SY, Leung RY. Characteristics and predictors of early hospital deaths in newly diagnosed APL: a 13-year population-wide study. Blood Adv, 2021;5(14):2829-38. 
  12. Gill H, Yim R, Kumana CR, Tse E, Kwong YL. Oral Arsenic Trioxide, ATRA and Ascorbic Acid (AAA) Maintenance Following First Complete Remission in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia - Long-Term Data and Unique Prognostic Indicators. Cancer, 2020; 126(14): 3244-3254. 
  13. Gill H, Yim R, Pang HH, Lee P, Chan TSY, Hwang YY, Leung GMK, Ip HW, Leung RYY, Yip SF, Kho B, Lee HKK, Mak V, Chan CC, Lau JSM, Lau CK, Lin SY, Wong RSM, Li W, Ma ESK, Li J, Panagiotou G, Sim JPY, Lie AKW, Kwong YL. Clofarabine, cytarabine, and mitoxantrone in refractory/relapsed acute myeloid leukemia: High response rates and effective bridge to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Cancer Med, 2020; 9(10): 3371-3382. 
  14. Gill H, Kumana CR, Yim R, Hwang YY, Chan TSY, Yip SF, Lee HKK, Mak V, Lau JSM, Chan CC, Kho B, Wong RSM, Li W, Lin SY, Lau CK, Ip HW, Leung RYY, Lam CCK, Kwong YL. Oral arsenic trioxide incorporation into frontline treatment with all-trans retinoic acid and chemotherapy in newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia: A 5-year prospective study. Cancer, 2019; 125(17): 3001-3012.
  15. Gill H, Ip HW, Yim R, Tang WF, Pang HH, Lee P, Leung GM, Li J, Tang K, So JC, Leung RY. Next-generation sequencing with a 54-gene panel identified unique mutational profile and prognostic markers in Chinese patients with myelofibrosis. Annals of Hematol. 2019;98:869-79.
  16. Gill H, Yim R, Lee HKK, Mak V, Lin SY, Kho B, Yip SF, Lau JSM, Li W, Ip HW, Hwang YY, Chan TSY, Tse E, Au WY, Kumana CR, Kwong YL. Long-term outcome of relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia treated with oral arsenic trioxide-based re-induction and maintenance regimens: A 15-year prospective study. Cancer, 2018; 124(11): 2316-26.
  17. Gill H, Leung GM, Lopes D, Kwong YL. The thrombopoietin mimetics eltrombopag and romiplostim in the treatment of refractory aplastic anaemia. Br J Haematol. 2016;176(6):991-4.
  18. Lam SS, Ho ES, He BL, Wong WW, Cher CY, Ng NK, Man CH, Gill H, Cheung AM, Ip HW, So CC. Homoharringtonine (omacetaxine mepesuccinate) as an adjunct for FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia. Science Trans Med. 2016;8(359):359ra129-.
  19. Gill H, Man CH, Ip AH, Choi WW, Chow HC, Kwong YL, Leung AY. Azacitidine as post-remission consolidation for sorafenib induced remission of Fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase-2 internal tandem duplication positive acute myeloid leukemia. Haematologica, 2015; 100(7):250-3.
  20. Seto WK, Chan TS, Hwang YY, Wong DK, Fung J, Liu KS, Gill H, Lam YF, Lie AK, Lai CL, Kwong YL, Yuen MF. Hepatitis B reactivation in patients with previous hepatitis B virus exposure undergoing rituximab-containing chemotherapy for lymphoma: a prospective study. J Clin Oncol, 2014; 32(33): 3736-43. 
  21. Gill H, Au WY, Cheung WW, Kwong YL. Oral arsenic trioxide based regimen as salvage treatment for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. Ann Oncol, 2014; 25(7): 1391-7.
  22. Man CH, Lam SS, Sun MK, Chow HC, Gill H, Kwong YL, Leung AY. A novel tescalcin-sodium/hydrogen exchange axis underlying sorafenib resistance in FLT3-ITD+ AML. Blood, 2014; 123 (16): 2530-9.

    *: corresponding author