A professor at Hong Kong’s oldest medical school has been suspended from clinical work and face-to-face teaching after the university discovered he was temporarily disqualified from practising in Canada following past sexual harassment allegations.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) confirmed on Monday that Peter Tanuseputro, a clinical professor in the department of family medicine and primary care, was asked to work from home after the university became aware of a professional misconduct ruling against him.
“After learning of the incident, HKU’s faculty of medicine immediately suspended all of the professor’s clinical work and face-to-face teaching activities, and arranged for him to work from home,” the university said in response to an inquiry from the South China Morning Post following a whistle-blower’s complaint.
Tanuseputro, who obtained his medical practice certificate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 2010 and joined HKU in 2024, was found by the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal on April 8 to have “constituted conduct that was disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional and conduct unbecoming a physician”.
He was reprimanded, and his certificate of registration in Canada was suspended for eight months from April 9. He was also ordered to pay C$6,000 (US$4,335) in costs to the college.
The tribunal heard that in 2018, while working for the University of Ottawa and holding two research positions at hospitals, Tanuseputro made sexual comments to a female research assistant after a social gathering and engaged in unwanted touching.