Past Presidents - The Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology

It is my great honour to be given the opportunity to serve as the president of the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology (HKSR) from year 2018 to 2021.

I started to be a council member of the society since 2008. Throughout the years, our society has grown enormously in many aspects. Apart from an increase in numbers of locally registered rheumatologists, doctors from different specialties, nurses, and allied health professionals joining our society as members, our service scope and activities have expanded rapidly in different domains. Being in the council for a while, I have the privilege to witness many outstanding achievements by our former presidents and precedents. We have project funds to provide financial support to our members to perform scientific projects. We have formed various Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to facilitate our members’ profession advancement and scientific research. We also have our own official journal- JCRI (Journal of Clinical Rheumatology and Immunology) that has gone online to provide free access to readers over the globe. Consensus recommendations and guidelines have been continuously developing in various rheumatic diseases tailored made in our own local medical setting. The lists are by no means exhaustive. With these, I have to express my deepest gratitude to all of my seniors, former presidents and friends, who have sacrificed so much of their time and effort in establishing such a strong foundation for our society. Their continuous guidance, commitment and teachings has inspired us and led us all the way through every major milestone.

Nevertheless, I must say that the three years during my presidency was indeed one of those most challenging years for Hong Kong and any health care practitioners, due to the social unrest in 2019 and Covid pandemic that spread from 2020 to 2022. Fortunately, with the concerted and dedicated efforts of all the members of the society and our organizing committee members, we had successfully turned these major challenges into new opportunities and breakthrough advances. Our International Conference of Chinese Rheumatologists (ICCR) had transformed from a physical meeting in 2018 and 2019 to a fully virtual meeting in 2020 and a hybrid meeting in 2021. We kept seeing a growing number of participants every year at our annual conference, which was able to reach out to more health care professionals in a virtual format.

Under similar scope, we were also able to collaborate with our rheumatology board, many other professional societies and pharmaceutical companies to hold our monthly inter-hospital meetings, scientific meetings and workshops online. With the advance in technology and digital health, I am very pleased that we had also developed our own Rheumatoid arthritis Apps in 2018 to empower our patients to adopt a more active role in self- monitoring and management of their arthritis. In the same year, our HKSR official Wechat account was launched. It acts as an important channel of communication with our Chinese Rheumatology community.

Hong Kong is unique in its geographical and medical position, we are always in good partnerships with many of our neighboring professional and academic Societies, including Guangdong province, the Greater Bay area, APLAR (Asia Pacific League of Rheumatology) and many of our regional countries. Through various meetings and cooperation, we further deepen mutual trust, respect and understanding with each other. In 2018, we established two Greater Bay Rheumatology alliances with the two key Guangdong Rheumatology Associations(CMA and CMDA). Our society had been invited to deliver talks in the CRA (Chinese Rheumatology Association) annual meeting and the 2 Greater Bay Alliances Establishment events. We have also successfully won the bid to organize APLAR Congress, which will be held in Hong Kong for the second time, in December 2022.

Lastly, I would like to thank once again my council members, advisors, seniors and all our society members, who have provided invaluable support throughout my presidency. Without their help, nothing would be possible. HKSR celebrated our 30th anniversary in 2018. I saw many energetic, motivated and committed young fellows and members in our celebration event. I strongly believe that the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology will continue to flourish with the efforts of our future generation, and I look forward to celebrating more society’s anniversaries and its success with you all.

Dr Ronald ML Yip

Lai-Shan Tam, MD
President of The Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology (HKSR) (2011-2014)
Head, Division of Rheumatology
Department of Medicine & Therapeutics
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

It was a great pleasure for me to serve as president of the HKSR between 2011 to 2014. I remembered we conducted a membership renewal exercise in 2013, and the number of members decreased from 211 to 142 and subsequently increased to 153 in 2014, but we believed all these members are really committed to our Society up to now.

The missions of HKSR are to promote training of rheumatologists to equip them with cutting-edge skills and to provide up-to-date recommendations required for better management of our patients. Hence, an important milestone was achieved in 2011 when the imaging subcommittee led by Dr KL Lee and the clinical recommendation subcommittee led by Dr CC Mok were formed.

The clinical recommendation subcommittee led by Dr CC Mok has come up with a set of consensus recommendations for the referral of patients with back pain, and was published in the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases in 2013.

I am most proud of the imaging subcommittee led by Dr KL Lee, which aimed to promote education and application of different imaging modalities including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound (USG) and x-rays in rheumatology. A series of HKSR USG courses were held during 2012 to 2014 which paved the way for the first EULAR endorsed basic musculoskeletal USG (MSUS) course in April 2015. In order for trainees and fellows to gain more hand-on experience on real patients and to consolidate the skill acquire during USG workshop / lectures, the USG subcommittee also organized multiple half-day practical sessions in 2014, which facilitated early diagnosis and management of key rheumatological conditions especially rheumatoid arthritis.

Training of rheumatology nurses was also one of the key missions of HKSR, and the first workshop took place in 2013, which enhanced motivational interview in patient counseling. This was followed by a series of seminars and workshops in 2014, focusing on management of Axial Spondyloarthritis (SpA) and to increase competency of rheumatology nurses on physical examination for patients with back pain.

Last but not least, HKSR strived to promote research excellence and collaboration in order to address patients' unmet need. This goal was achieved with the establishment of the HKSR education and research foundation (ERF) and initiated The Clinical Rheumatology Systematic Treat-to-target in Asia Leadership (CRYSTAL) Project– an initiative to establish a Hong Kong Early RA Registry since 2013. The CRYSTAL online database comprises longitudinal clinical, safety, imaging and socioeconomic data from patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, which subsequently expanded to include SpA patients since 2017. We have recruited more than 500 ERA and 200 SpA patients now and the registry generated important local data which had been published in various international meetings.

The opportunity to work with all the energetic council members and the “rising stars” in our rheumatology community was most enjoyable. We may not remember all the hardship but I am sure we have lots of sweet memories during all the social events, including a boat tour in 2012, the Silver Jubilee Anniversary celebration in 2013 as well as the dinner gathering in 2014.

I look forward to seeing all of you again, face-to-face, in the APLAR 2022 congress!

My journey in the Society- A tribute to the Hong Kong rheumatology fraternity

Dr CHAN Tak Hin (HKSR President 2002-2004)

When I was asked to share a memorable story during my Society's Presidency tenure, I mentioned that I was not proficient in telling stories. Instead, I will describe my work in the HKSR to pay tribute to the doctors who have supported and encouraged me to contribute to the Society during its "development stage".

My journey in the Society began during the ILAR 1997 Congress in Singapore when I met Prof CS Lau, who will be the interim dean of the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong in August 2022. I was a young doctor then just completed my training in rheumatology under the mentorship of Prof Edmund Li in the Prince of Wales Hospital, and Prof Lau was telling us about his life and work in the UK when we had dinner together with Dr Tsui Hing Sum. In 2000, I received a call from Prof Lau in my private practice, who told me he would like to nominate me as one of his Society council members.

After serving in the Council for two years, I became the Society's Treasurer, and Dr Emily Kun invited me to be her Hon. Secretary during her presidency from 2002 to 2004. Under Emily's leadership, the Society organised more meetings with rheumatologists from Mainland China to exchange up-to-date scientific knowledge. I was honoured to be nominated by Dr Kun to be her successor, and in 2004, I was elected the Society's President.

I was extremely fortunate to work with a group of aspiring and capable rheumatologists during my presidency. Dr Gavin Lee and Dr Cheung Tak Cheong were the Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. In 2006, HKSR was selected to be the host Society for the APLAR 2010 Congress at the APLAR meeting in Kula Lumpur. This result was the concerted effort of the Society members and our advisors, including Dr Raymond Wong, Prof Edmund Li, and Prof CS Lau. The council members included Dr Shirley Ying, Dr CC Mok, Dr Leung Moon Ho and Dr Temy Mok.

The preparatory work of the APLAR 2010 Congress began in 2008. The Organising Committee held meetings every two months and numerous subcommittee meetings to finalise the scientific and social programmes. The Congress was very well received by colleagues around the region, owing to the efforts of, among many others, Prof LS Tam and Dr CC Mok. They led the Scientific Committee to present a comprehensive and well-organised scientific programme. Society members and guests had an enjoyable evening on board the Victoria Harbour ferry before the closure of the Congress, which was considered an unforeseen success.

My official role in the Society came to an end after the APLAR 2010 Congress. However, I continued to represent the Society in APLAR to serve as its Secretary-General for two years. I am blessed to be part of the rheumatology community of Hong Kong, and I am honoured and privileged to be able to meet and work with so many enthusiastic and capable physicians over the years. I have learned a great deal from these esteemed colleagues, many of them I haven't mentioned because of space constraints. They have contributed to my education and career development. Finally, I look forward to learning more from our young and rising stars in the years to come.

Dr Emily KUN Wai-Lin
President,
The Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology
2001-2004

In 1995, I joined The Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology (HKSR) as a full member. I was soon invited to become a society council member. There were only 5 council members in total then. Dr. Raymond Wong was the President, Dr. CS Lau as Hon. Secretary and Dr. Edmund Li as Treasurer.

In 1997, Dr. CS Lau was elected as HKSR President and I became Hon. Secretary. The HKSR official address and contact numbers were evolving, and usually under the Hon. Secretary’s hospital department office.

The earliest HKSR newsletter was published quarterly. The Hon. Secretary functioned as the editor, and handled all printing and mailing. When I started as Hon. Secretary, there were only around ten full members, and over a hundred ordinary members who were mostly general practitioners interested in rheumatology. The rudimentary newsletter was later replaced by an industry sponsored professionally published newsletter.

I was honoured to be elected President of HKSR (2001-2004) and Dr TH Chan was the Hon. Secretary. The 9/11 terrorist attack resulted in the cancellation of my U.S. mentor as one of the speakers for HKSR 2001 annual scientific meeting, and we had to quickly substitute with a local speaker.

During my HKSR presidency years, the annual scientific meeting progressed from an evening lecture followed by a dinner, to a 1.5 days weekend event. The program gradually expanded to include Advances in Rheumatology, Rheumatology course for family doctors and a session on rheumatology fellows’ dissertation presentations.

The HKSR financial support was limited in the early years. We soon learned to hold pharmaceutical industry exhibition booths during the annual scientific meetings and charged booth rentals. We also held frequent scientific symposia to provide rheumatology updates and new drug information.

After 1997, the Chinese Rheumatology Association and Guangdong Rheumatology Association have regular interflow with HKSR. The Huaxia Rheumatology Congress (華夏風濕病學會議）was held every 3 years and brought together rheumatologists from Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Every other year, the Guangdong Rheumatology Association and HKSR would visit each other’s annual scientific meeting. During these years, HKSR participated conferences hosted by Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou colleagues, and we witnessed the rapid economic growth in China.

The SARS epidemic in 2003 resulted in stagnant activities in Hong Kong but the economy soon bounced back. HKSR hosted the first Asia Autoimmunity Forum in 2006, a step towards hosting international events. We looked into bidding the APLAR Congress, and were advised to have a budget reserve of at least US$100,000. We diligently worked towards this goal and eventually HKSR hosted the 2010 APLAR Congress, thanks to the efforts of councils over the years. We also provided sponsorships to encourage full members to attend ACR and EULAR. HKSR also worked closely with the Hong Kong Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation and Patient group associations to promote patient disease education and activities.

I would like to show you this picture taken on 6.11.2023, at the HKSR 35th anniversary dinner. I am so happy to meet 3 HKSR past Presidents: Dr. Raymond Wong, Dr. CS Lau and Dr. Edmund Li, who were Presidents before my tenure. I remember well how we worked closely for HKSR in those days.

As I conclude, I wish HKSR many happy anniversaries for the years to come and that all younger generation rheumatologists would strive to help patients with all your heart and all your mind.

CS Lau
Chair and Daniel CK Yu Professor in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology
Department of Medicine
School of Clinical Medicine
LKS Faculty of Medicine
The University of Hong Kong

As a young fellow in rheumatology from Dundee, Scotland, I was introduced to the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology soon after I started my tenure as a Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Hong Kong in 1992. Dr Raymond Wong, with whom I worked closely in Queen Mary Hospital, was President of the Society then. He was kind and invited me to join the council meetings which were generally held over a casual dinner or lunch. There were not many of us. Besides Raymond, the other ‘regulars’ were Ka Ho (Dr Ka Ho Chan) and Edmund (Dr Edmund KM Li). Kee Lam (Dr Kee Lam Wong) would join us occasionally. I enjoyed those dinner gatherings very much. Not only did I get to learn of the development of rheumatology in Hong Kong, the dinners were always free for me. My three senior colleagues of the Society were very generous indeed.

With so few of them, work was generally evenly divided amongst Raymond, Ka Ho and Edmund. There was not a formal Secretary to support the work of Raymond. This was quite different to the Scottish Rheumatology Club which I was a part of as a trainee in rheumatology in Dundee. Nobody took minutes during our dinner ‘council meetings’. I was surprised and felt we were not professional enough as a learned rheumatology society. So one day in the middle of our Wednesday morning grand round in Queen Mary Hospital, I offered to Raymond to take notes when we were next due to meet. Raymond looked at me and paused for a while. I think he was upset by my suggestion and probably thought I was after his post. However, as a gentleman that he always was, he very politely replied me with a ‘yes’! Thinking back, he probably was not stunned by my offer to take minutes but why we needed to take notes at all! Unlike me, the three of them had photographic memory and they did not need any formal written record of our discussion! In any case, my ploy worked. In 1994, Raymond invited me to be the formal Secretary of the Society. And in 1997, he stepped down and allowed me to preside over the Society! I am forever grateful to him, Ka Ho and Edmund!

Although the Society was incorporated in 1988, we did not yet have our official logo or letterhead in the early 1990’s, so one of my tasks as the Secretary was to work on our logo design. I did not manage my task very well as I am generally an uninventive person! Fortunately, Raymond was always resourceful and helped me invite some of his patients and friends to enter a logo design competition. However, he did not realise that I was not only uninventive but totally non-artistic. He invited me as one of the panel judges for the design competition. As usual, the evaluation took place during one of the free dinners for me! Fortunately, my general inaptness in this project was made up by the artistic eyes of the three wise men and we eventually came up with the brown logo that we now have. The hand in the centre signifies how clinicians should work together to support patients with arthritis. Personally, I feel the R that denotes ‘Rheumatology’ is too much of an ‘Z’ thumb of rheumatoid arthritis! Nonetheless, however, it is a clear reminder for me that rheumatoid arthritis is a deforming articular disease and requires prompt diagnosis and treatment.

Looking back, the Society has provided me an excellent opportunity to promote rheumatology in Hong Kong. Not only did I get to work closely with our wise and generous founders, I was also given a chance to connect myself with the rest of the medical community in Hong Kong through participating in multiple academic events organised under the auspice of the Society.

I feel most privileged to have been part of the Society!

REFLECTIONS
During our Society’s recent annual general meeting on 8th March 2022, Professor So Ho, our honorary treasurer, reported an appreciable accumulated surplus in his annual financial report. That reminds me of the dismal financial status of our Society in 1987, when I was serving as the first honorary treasurer. As you might be aware, in the late 80s, there were only a handful of rheumatologists in Hong Kong. Rheumatology then was a relatively new and undeveloped subspecialty in internal medicine. Young doctors and other para-medical colleagues were understandably not attracted to it. Accordingly, it was appreciably difficult to recruit members. On the other hand, the need to promote new drugs to treat rheumatic diseases was not that great either. Financial support from pharmaceutical companies to our society was unsurprisingly not generous. The end result was as the treasurer of the Society, I had to shamefully report a deficit in the annual financial report. I was obliged to make a plea to all council members to donate HKD 2,000 each in order that our Society could survive. Thankfully, all the council members were more than happy to comply with my request. That event attests to the fact that local rheumatologists are always ready to work hand in hand to develop the subspecialty in our local scene.

To establish good collaboration with rheumatologists in the Mainland was, and still is, one of the important tasks of our Society. Holding joint symposia between Hong Kong and Mainland rheumatologists is certainly one of the bread and butter ways to achieve that goal. To my memory, our very first joint symposium was held on 11th November 1990. Thanks to the great effort of our Society’s first president, Dr. KH Chan, three renowned Mainland rheumatologists, Professors SL Chen, Y Dong and GY Shi were invited. In the 80s or early 90s, it was not easy for Mainland rheumatologists to be granted the acceptance of invitation to come to Hong Kong. They had to go through a lot of bureaucratic and immigration procedures. Thankfully, their visas to come to Hong Kong were eventually issued very few days before the symposium was to be held. Credit had to be given to Dr. KH Chan. He actually had to make quite a number of trips to Xinhua News Agency to facilitate the captioned applications. It was a blessing that the symposium could at last be held as scheduled. It was well attended and received.

To me, seeing how our Society has matured and grown all these years, going through the hardship mentioned above is certainly worthwhile. It is appreciated that the workload for the council members of our Society has been ever increasing all these years. I am grateful for everyone who has made effort to perpetuate the goals that were set up when our Society was founded in 1987.

The process of setting up the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology (HKSR) was quite smooth once the idea was conceived in 1987. I spoke to 3 presidents of existing medical societies of my intention and obtained a copy each of their memorandum and articles (M & A) as reference. After staying in my office after work every evening for a week the draft of our M & A was ready. The final version was promptly finalized after discussion with Dr Raymond Wong and Dr Edmund Li. An accountant friend kindly proceeded with the registration. We decided on our logo and started preparing for the inaugural meeting. We wanted to have a topic that was of broad interest, not only to rheumatologists (only 6 at that time) but also to family doctors, internists, dermatologists and obstetricians. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) was chosen as the theme. To ensure we have a good audience, a good location, a suitable date and an attractive menu were thought necessary. The sponsors invited participants on our behalf. The inaugural meeting of the HKSR on 10 December 1987 at the Furama Hotel in Central was a huge success, attracting 270 participants. When I organized my wedding banquet a few years later, experience drawn from organizing these scientific meetings made it an easy task.

We had 5 good meetings during the first year. I was most thankful to Edmund for helping the society in linking it up with International League against Rheumatism (ILAR) and SEAPAL, now Asian Pacific League of Associations in Rheumatology or APLAR, through his relations with Dr Charles Plotz, Treasurer of ILAR and Dr Tito Torralba, President of SEAPAL at that time. We were proud to be able to organize a Pre-SEAPAL Scientific Meeting on 1 September, l988 before the Tokyo SEAPAL meeting, with the Council Members of ILAR as our guest speakers. Professor Jacques Villiaumey, President, Dr Charles Plotz, Treasurer and Professor C J Menkes, Secretary-General of ILAR delivered their lectures at the meeting and we went to the Tokyo SEAPAL afterwards.
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The organization of the meeting with the Chinese Rheumatology Association (CRA) in 1990 was most challenging but also most memorable to me. To promote scientific exchanges with rheumatologists in China, the HKSR invited the CRA to have a joint scientific meeting in Hong Kong. Professor Zhang Naizhang, founding president, Dr Chen Shunle, Vice-President, Dr Dong Yi, Secretary and Dr Shi Guiying, Treasurer kindly accepted our invitation. Anticipating possible travel restrictions after the June 4 incident, I wrote to the Xinhua News Agency, the de facto representative of Chinese government in Hong Kong for its support. The reply was prompt and positive. Our joint meeting was chosen on a Sunday so that a full day program was possible. On the Monday just before the meeting, I received a message around 4:30pm from our guest speakers in Beijing that they had still not got their visas to come to Hong Kong. I was stunned. They were supposed to fly to Hong Kong on Saturday and there was only 5 days left. I cancelled all my appointments on Tuesday and called upon the Hong Kong Immigration Department that morning without prior appointment. Understanding the situation, the senior inspector who received me was most helpful and agreed to skip all formalities once the British Embassy in Beijing approved their applications. He also directed me to go to the Guangdong Travel Bureau Hong Kong office, the de facto office that issued visa for visitors from China to Hong Kong. The officers there were equally supportive after knowing the urgency of the matter. It was not until Friday that I received a message from Beijing that their visas might be ready from the British Embassy at 9am on Saturday, the day they were due to fly to Hong Kong. Raymond, Edmund and I waited anxiously at the Kai Tak Airport, the former airport before 1997, that afternoon not knowing if our guests had indeed boarded the plane. Direct communication by phone was still not possible at that time. It was such a great relief when we finally saw our guests coming out of the sliding door of the arrival hall one after another. The meeting was most successful with good scientific exchanges. The invaluable friendship we built with Professors Zhang Naizhang, Dong Yi, Chen Shunle and Shi Guiying remained for many years to come.