Honorary University Fellows

Citation delivered by the Acting Dean of Medicine, Professor Raymond Liang:

Professor Walton Li graduated from the Medical School of the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1974 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was specially trained in ophthalmology at UCLA – Veterans Administration Hospital from 1975-1978. He completed his fellowship in Corneal & External Ocular Disease at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in 1979. He became Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1979.

In 1980, Professor Li established and has since been Head of the Department of Ophthalmology in Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital; in the same year he was appointed Deputy Medical Superintendent of the Hospital. In 2005, he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hospital and was concurrently appointed its Medical Superintendent.

In 1993 Professor Li became Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (Ophthalmology) and in 1995 was elected a Council Member of the College of Ophthalmologists of Hong Kong. In 2005, he was elected Vice President (General Affairs) of the College of Ophthalmologists of Hong Kong and Chairman of the Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation. Professor Li was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 2007.

In 1997, Professor Li was appointed Honorary Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine, and together with Professor S P Chow, then Dean of the Faculty, initiated a programme to enable HKU medical students to be attached to the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital for surgical and medical training to acquaint them with medical practice in the private sector. The programme which began in January 1998 with an annual intake of over 100 students is still going strong today. He was appointed Honorary Professor in the Eye Institute in 2007.

In Professor Li, the Faculty has found an active and dedicated partner who has provided the Faculty with much support in the form of prizes and scholarships. One of the most notable of these is the Li Shu Pui Endowed Professorship in Surgery, movingly established to commemorate the late Dr Li Shu Pui, Professor Li’s father. With the leadership of Professor Li, 12 doctors who had either close personal or professional relationships with Dr Li Shu Pui came together to establish this Endowed Professorship.

It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Professor Walton Li for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.