Honorary University Fellows
Dr Laurence Hou Lee Tsun is Head of the Histopathology and Cytology Division at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. He received his MBBS degree from HKU in 1956 and his PhD from the University of Leeds in 1965.
Dr Hou is an Honorary Professor of the Department of Pathology at HKU and the Regius Permanent Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, which conferred on him an honorary doctorate in 1997. He is the Founder Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Pathologists and the co-founder, Director and Immediate Past Chairman of the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences.
Dr Hou’s father was Professor Hou Po-Chang, Chair of Pathology at HKU from 1948 to 1960, and his elder brother, Professor Hou Jiancun, also studied medicine at HKU and was made an Honorary University Fellow in 2005.
A loyal Morrisonian, Dr Hou was on the Steering Committee of the Morrison Rebuilding Campaign when in was launched in 1997, and has been a long-time Mentor to generations of HKU students. He established the Hou Pao-Chang Medical Memorial Fund in 2007 and the Professor Hou Pao-Chang Fund for Integrative Medicine in 2010 to support activities, programmes or projects which will promote mutual understanding, collaboration and the eventual integration of Chinese and Western Medicines.
Citation delivered by Professor Yu Lung LAU, Acting Dean of Medicine
Dr Laurence Hou Lee Tsun (侯勵存) is Head of the Histopathology and Cytology Division at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital and an Honorary Professor of the Department of Pathology at HKU.
From his time as a young medical student at Morrison Hall to the present day, Dr Hou’s dedication and loyal support to this University spans more than half a century.
It is perhaps especially fitting to say that the desire to help others runs in Dr Hou’s veins, hailing as he does from one of the Hong Kong’s most renowned and committed medical families.
His father, Professor Hou Po-Chang(侯寶璋), was Chair of Pathology at HKU from 1948 to 1960, and his elder brother, Professor Hou Jiancun(侯健存), who also studied medicine at HKU, and was made an Honorary University Fellow in 2005.
After graduating from HKU with an MBBS degree in 1956, Dr Laurence Hou received his PhD from the University of Leeds in 1965 and was conferred the Honorary Degree of LLD by the University of Aberdeen in 1997.
Even as a postgraduate student, Dr Hou’s pioneering spirit was already evident. He realized in 1961 the importance of frozen-section technique and diagnoses in helping surgeons during operations. Dr Hou perfected these procedures and introduced them first to Aberdeen University, and later to Hong Kong, when he set up the territory’s first histopathology diagnostic service at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital and other private hospitals.
In 1965, Dr Hou was appointed the Regius Permanent Lecturer at Aberdeen University by the Queen, the first ever Chinese Medical Doctor to receive this appointment in the United Kingdom.
Dr Hou’s commitment to medicine extends beyond both clinic and classroom. He is the co-founder, Director and Immediate Past Chairman of the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences.
Dr Hou is a devoted Morrisonian, is a member of the Morrison Hall Alumni Association, and was on the Steering Committee of the Morrison Rebuilding Campaign when it was launched in 1997.
And he has been nurturing generations of students as a Mentor with the HKU Mentorship Programme. Our mentees have been benefiting from his experience and guidance for the past 12 years.
In 2007, forty years after his father’s passing, Dr Hou launched the Hou Pao-Chang Medical Memorial Fund to support teaching and research in the HKU Department of Pathology.
In 2010, he established the Professor Hou Pao-Chang Fund for Integrative Medicine to support activities, programmes or projects which will promote mutual understanding, collaboration and the eventual integration of Chinese and Western Medicines.
Let me close with a quote from Dr Hou himself, describing his own approach to medical research:
“Be curious and inquisitive in nature, and make an effort to prove your theory with imagination, creativity and a well-designed experimental approach, keeping in mind that even a negative result can still be a good result.”
It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Dr Laurence Hou Lee Tsun for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.