Dr Edward Hamilton Paterson was born in Kuling in Jiangxi Province but went back to England to school and university. He received his medical education at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School and after graduation in 1943 held various appointments at the Hammersmith, Harrow, Middlesex, and St James Hospitals. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
(England) in 1948.
In 1949 he was appointed to work in China by the London Missionary Society (now Council for World Mission), and after a year in Beijing and Tianjin, came to Hong Kong in 1951 where he has remained ever since.
He was Senior Surgeon at the Nethersole Hospital during 1951 to 1973 and was also Medical Superintendent there from 1963 to 1973. He resumed the latter position in 1978. In 1970 he became also Medical Director of the United Christian Medical Service, and since 1973 has worked also for the United Christian Hospital, first as Medical Superintendent and since earlier this year as the Planning Officer of the Hospital Extension.
Dr Paterson has served in a number of medical and related bodies, including the Junk Bay Medical Relief Council, the Baptist Medical Association of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Surgical Society of which he was President during 1966 to 1968, and is currently a member of the Medical Development Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Ying Wa College Board.
Dr Paterson is regarded by many as the founder of community health service in Hong Kong, a service which has its base in the United Christian Hospital.
He was appointed an Unoffical Justice of the Peace in 1978 and awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the following year.
In recognition of his distinguished services in the medical and nursing fields in Hong Kong, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.
