I feel most humble to receive the Sir Run Run Shaw Gold Medal at the very finishing line of my medical studies. I believe one’s achievement not only depends on the personal strive but always a combination of opportunities and supports we receive.
Founding the Shaw College Medical Student Society is my proudest achievement in Year 1. We felt the need to create an official platform for Shaw students as we valued friendship and experience exchange. As much as I am trained to be a doctor, I believe university is where I realise my standing ground and societal responsibility. I was fondly inspired by the UGFN/FH courses where I was taught to see things as they are, to go straight to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought to detect what is sophistical. I subsequently even became the student tutor for UGFN1000 designing and leading tutorials for University General Education and later as a teaching assistant to the MBChB Bioethics course, to share what I have learnt with my fellow students.
Apart from medical studies, I spent most of my time experimenting on myself and limitations. Science and mathematics were the subjects I feared most since young as I seldom “got the textbook answer right”. Yet (with a leap of faith to conquer my limitations), Shaw and CUHK have given me opportunities to perform independent scientific research, at home and aboard at The University of British Columbia , Oxford and Cambridge, collaborating with Mainland and international colleagues, and presented my research in Switzerland and Austria.
I learnt the language of careful formulation of thoughts, never twist and bend for expedient reasons for short term gain. Away from academia, with my team we founded the first NGO to promote health among domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Being a huge fan of Harry Potter, I always share with my friends how “Every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than what we are now, students. If they can do it, why not us?” Together with the great support and inspiration of my alma mater, I have started my training at the Prince of Wales Hospital this July, hoping to become a competent doctor serving our community.