Professor Sze Tsung Sing, a graduate and former teacher of the University of Hong Kong, was born in Shanghai in 1909 and admitted to the Medical Faculty at HKU in 1925. He graduated with the degrees of MBBS in 1931 and has since devoted his life to the medical field. During the Second World War he returned to China to work for the Red Cross and set up a clinic in Guiyang, in Guizhou Province, a poor area that was badly in need to medical provisions. In 1945 Professor Sze was appointed head of the medical and health services for the Province and returned to HKU in 1950 as Professor of Community Medicine. Two years later he joined the World Health Organisation (WHO) and returned to China in 1966 where he became a decisive influence in the Ministry of Health. In 1975 he was made Director of the China Medical Association and assumed the position of its Vice President five years later. Professor Sze is also a former editor of the Chinese Medical Journal and has translated important medical literature from English to Chinese for the benefit of young medical students. He has made a substantial contribution to establishing an exchange scholarship scheme in the China Medical Association. In recognition of his medical services to China he was elected to serve two terms on the National Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, from 1978 to 1987.
In recognition of his services in public health, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.
