The symbiosis between the medical school of this University and its counterpart at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is embodied in the person of Professor Leung Ping Chung. An alumnus of ours, he has achieved considerable distinction at the other place, not only as founding chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, but as a leading member of our sister institution, widely respected for his counsel, his wisdom, his devotion to his scholarship, teaching, and healing.
But it is more than a scalpel that he wields with dexterity and dedication. Professor Leung has long served as chairman of the Hong Kong Orthopaedic Association. He was the founding president of the Hong Kong College of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and the Hong Kong Society for Surgery of the Hand. He has been an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. His contribution to scholarship in his field is prodigious. He has published almost 300 articles, twenty-five chapters in seventeen books, and is the author of nine books on subjects as diverse as burns, bone grafting, medical ethics and traditional Chinese medicine. In respect of the last, he was instrumental in establishing both the School and the Institute of Chinese Medicine at his university. He is a member of the editorial board of several leading international journals. In 1994 he was the first recipient of the Chinese University of Hong Kongs DSc degree.
In recognition of his contribution to practical surgery, the Royal College of Surgeons awarded him the Liston Victoria Jubilee Prize in 1990. In 1995 he was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). He is a delegate to the National People's Congress and has served this University's student grievance panel for many years.
Hong Kong and the Mainland have benefited significantly from Professor Leung's indefatigable service to the community. His deep concern to prevent the injuries he has spent his life repairing, is reflected in the many years he has devoted to the chairmanship of the Occupational Safety and Health Council, and his membership of various committees of the Department of Labour concerned with industrial safety. He is chairman of the ethics committee of the Medical Council of Hong Kong, and played a leading role in formulating its recently revised professional code of conduct. Professor Leung was for five years a member of the Urban Council. His portfolios included not only matters of public health, but also the management of museums. The Chief Executive appointed him to the Arts Development Council where, as chairman of the Literary Arts Committee, a body that provides financial support to Hong Kong writers.
Indeed, Professor Leung is himself a Hong Kong writer. An author of children's stories, he has contributed to our University's Convocation's children literature project which publishes works by leading writers from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Mr Pro-Chancellor, the campaign "Operation Concern" is almost synonymous with Professor Leung Ping Chung. This inspiring project harnesses the skills of Hong Kong surgeons, physiotherapists, nurses and others to treat physically disabled patients in remote parts of the Mainland. These hapless regions frequently lack the most rudimentary medical facilities. The annual pilgrimage of the medical teams of "Operation Concern" alleviates the wretched plight of many in these distant territories. The volunteers spend about ten days at far-flung places, where they work three shifts for at least twelve hours a day. Patients undertake long journeys to wait at the appointed locations for their help to arrive. In addition to the surgery and other treatment the volunteers provide, they also train local medical workers in some of the skills that would otherwise be wanting. Last year Professor Leung and "Operation Concern" received the Minority Groups Award for the help they have brought to these indigent people, many of them children, most members of minority groups in China.
This is a campaign of hope, of charity and of compassion. And it is merely a small part of the singular contribution Professor Leung Ping Chung has made to ameliorate the lot of his fellow man. For this I commend him to you, Mr Pro-Chancellor, for the award of Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa.
Citation written and delivered by Professor Raymond Ivor Wacks, the Public Orator.
