Dr York Yat Ngok Chow is an orthopaedic surgeon by profession, and graduated from HKU with an MBBS degree in 1971. Dr Chow continued with further advanced training at Tubingen, West Germany, Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, and held a Travelling Fellowship in Sports Injury & Advanced Orthopaedics at Mayo Clinic, Rochester and Boston, US.
Dr Chow has served as Chief Executive of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Mary Hospital, and the Hong Kong West Cluster of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. He served in the Hong Kong SAR government as Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, and then Secretary for Food and Health.
Dr Chow is an Honorary Professor of the HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, a Member of the Advisory Panel for the Selection of Heads of Department of HKU and an Honorary Professor in Rehabilitation Science at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Dr Chow has served as, inter alia, President of the Hong Kong Association of Sports Medicine and Sports Science, Chairman of the Sub-Commission for Leisure, Recreation and Sports of the Asian and Pacific Region of Rehabilitation International, and Vice Chairman of the Admission, Budget and Allocation Committee of the Hong Kong Community Chest.
He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators and of the Hong Kong Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, and President of the Hong Kong Paralympic Committee and the Sports Association for the Physically Disabled. He served as an Executive Committee member of the International Paralympic Committee since its inauguration from 1989 to 2005, and was its Vice-President from 1997 to 2005.
Dr Chow was awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star in 2001, the Paralympic Order by the International Paralympics Committee in 2006, and a Gold Bauhinia Star in 2009.
Citation delivered by Professor Sum Ping LEE, Dean of Medicine
Dr York Chow Yat Ngok is an orthopaedic surgeon by profession, yet back when he was a young medical student, immersed in the study of the human musculoskeletal system, it is unlikely that he had any idea that he would, one day, become one of Hong Kong’s most recognisable speakers on infectious diseases!
While at HKU, Dr Chow was a boarder at St John’s College – what we at HKU call a ‘St Johnian’. He was also a great sportsperson. In fact, he was chosen by his peers as the ‘Omega Sportsman of the Year’ in 1969.
The robustly athletic Dr Chow graduated from HKU with an MBBS degree in 1971. He continued with further advanced training at Tubingen in West Germany, Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, and held a Travelling Fellowship in Sports Injury & Advanced Orthopaedics at Mayo Clinic, Rochester and Boston, in the United States.
In 1983, Dr Chow was appointed as Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Princess Margaret Hospital and later at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. With the establishment of the Hospital Authority in 1992, he was appointed Hospital Chief Executive of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and then Chief Executive of Queen Mary Hospital in 2001.
Dr Chow was appointed Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food of the Hong Kong SAR government in 2004, and was Secretary for Food and Health from 2007 to 2012.
To the Hong Kong public, between 2004 and 2007, Dr Chow’s portfolio of responsibility seemed to have no limits. It was said that, from maternity to the morgue, Dr Chow somehow seemed to have been charged with oversight of some aspect of a Hongkonger’s life, literally from cradle to grave.
Of course, Hong Kong also found itself living through repeated outbreaks of various infectious diseases, most notably certain strains of influenza.
Indeed, there has not been one year when, as Secretary, he did not have to address the Hong Kong public about some form of flu: first, avian flu; then ‘swine’ flu; and then back to avian flu; and so on. This, in addition to all the other wide-ranging issues already on his plate.
Throughout it all, there he was again, on TV: updating us, educating us, reassuring us. This is literally what leadership and dedication is about.
Dr Chow is currently an Honorary Professor with us at the HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. He continues with his extensive involvement in rehabilitation sciences and sports medicine.
He has served as President of the Hong Kong Orthopaedic Association, Vice-President of the College of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and was elected Council Member of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
He has been appointed President of the Hong Kong Association of Sports Medicine and Sports Science; and Vice- Chairman of the Commission for Leisure, Recreation and Sports Rehabilitation International.
Dr Chow participates actively in supporting people with disabilities and was Vice-President of the International Paralympics Committee and Vice-President of the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled Federation. During that time he championed the formation of the new Asian Paralympics Committee and was appointed as Special Advisor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Bidding Committee.
Dr Chow was awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star in 2001, the Paralympic Order by the International Paralympics Committee in 2006, and a Gold Bauhinia Star in 2009.
It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Dr York Chow Yat Ngok for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.
