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Message from the President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau

Inaugural Message from the President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau,
Dr Yeung Yiu Cheong (March 2023)

 


I am deeply honoured to be elected as the President of the CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau limited for the term 2023-2025. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the Past Presidents and immediate past President Dr Lam Wai Kei for their excellent leadership in the past years. I also thank all the Executive Committee members for their tremendous contribution in the past two years.
 
In the past few years, the pandemic had hit us hard by compromising all sectors of our local healthcare system. However, various chest diseases did not stop hitting us during the same period. My salute to all respiratory healthcare professionals who have fought with our patients against COVID-19.
 
In the past two years, we have continued to provide educational activities to members to keep abreast of the latest therapeutics and treatment of respiratory disease through online virtual mode. We have organized educational webinars, Certificate Course on Respiratory Disease, and the two annual scientific meetings (ASM and ARS) through virtual mode and allow sharing with renowned overseas and local experts. The virtual mode had brought our members closer in some sense as the number of online attendance had reached record high in some educational activities.
 
With the improvement of the pandemic in 2023, we are in the hard-earned path to normalcy since March. Our Annual Scientific Meeting returned back as a physical meeting on 12 March and I was happy to meet many old friends during the meeting. In the coming two years, we shall continue to organize high-quality scientific meetings, symposia, and training workshops for our members. The sleep and Breathing Course to be held on November 2023 with the ARS 2023 is one example.
 
We strive to raise awareness of respiratory health in the general public by holding educational and promotional events that reach out to a greater scale of the population. Various platforms such as publicity events, press conferences, community talks, health exhibitions, online videos, booklets, radio interviews and television episodes featuring respiratory disease topics were used to achieve this mission. We aim to increase awareness of the general public about respiratory health and respiratory disease, from the perspective of disease management, risk factor reduction and preventive measures like vaccination. The close collaboration with our community partners for all the years has made our mission of public education more successful.
 
The long-standing support and relationship with the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and the Hong Kong Lung Foundation is a treasure and we will continue to work together to achieve our goals to promote education, research and publicity. We will keep close liaison with American College of Chest Physicians headquarter through our Global Governor to broaden our international connections.
 
Working closely with my cabinet and with your participation and unfailing support, we look forward to achieving another two successful and prosperous years for the CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau.

Dr Yeung Yiu Cheong
President, CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau (2023 - 2025)
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Inaugural Message from the President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau,
Dr. Lam Wai Kei (March 2021)

 
 

It is my great honor to serve as the President of the CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau for the term 2021 – 2023. Standing on shoulder of the giants, I am most grateful to the leadership of our immediate past President, Dr Man-Po Lee, and the immense contributions of the Executive Committee in demonstrating our ability to adapt to changes and achieve organizational missions despite the strike of COVID-19.

The pandemic had hit us hard by compromising nearly all sectors of our local health care system. A need to simultaneously maintain and resume our service to our respiratory patients posed an unprecedented challenge under the tightened infection control measures. Despite these constrains, we have shown resilience and kept our pledge to provide the best services as respiratory healthcare professionals. My salute to all who have fought this challenging battle with our patients against COVID-19.
 
During this pandemic, we have continued and improved premier educational activities to support members in delivering high-standard patient care. Amid restrictions on social gatherings, we have resumed our Clinical Meetings, Autumn Respiratory Seminar, and the Annual Scientific Meeting by transitioning to online conferences. The physical-to-virtual migration also allowed us to organize more webinars to keep our members updated on the latest respiratory medical developments, archives and recordings of which can be revisited at our conjoint website. Thanks to the incorporation of online events, attendance of respiratory certificate course has hit a historical high. As a result, we shall strengthen and fortify the virtual mode of educational content delivery in the ensuring year.
 
Regardless of the global frenzy in response to the pandemic, we have not lost sight to our key business, that is the goal of promoting public awareness on respiratory diseases and lung health. It is forecasted that a new version of Clean Air Plan will be proposed by the Hong Kong Government by mid-2021, which we will show public support to cleaner air in Hong Kong as professional advisory body. To better accommodate he social gathering restrictions, we will be actively seeking for alternatives to conventional exhibitions and community talks as a means to better inform and promote respiratory health to the general public as well as schoolchildren.
 
Even in the face of emerging challenges, we will always value the opinions of our members when it comes to the future endeavor of our Society. Please do not hesitate to voice out any comments and thoughts on how we can serve you and the respiratory community better, and feel free to approach me or the Executive Committee anytime. With close collaboration with the Hong Kong Thoracic Society, Hong Kong Lung Foundation and the support from our dedicated members, I look forward to the two prosperous years to come for the CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau.
 
Dr. Lam Wai Kei
President
CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau (2021 – 2023)
 
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Inaugural Message from the President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau,
Dr. LEE Man Po, 2019



I am deeply honoured to be elected and serve as the President of the CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau for the term 2019-21. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to immediate past President Dr. Ng Chun Kong and Executive Committee members for their tremendous contributions in the last 2 years. I am also grateful to the members of the new Executive Committee, the chairpersons and members of the various subcommittees and special interest groups for their unwavering support and valuable input.

There was remarkable progress in knowledge of respiratory medicine in the past decade. Unraveling the genetic basis and molecular pathways, and the interaction with environmental factors on the expression of many respiratory illnesses including lung cancer, asthma, COPD, interstitial lung diseases, etc., has paved the way for the practice of precision medicine. Advances in precision medicine have tremendous promise in improving patient care and health outcomes. On the other hand, Interventional pulmonology continues to develop and expand its clinical roles. There are also recent advances in the clinical practice and science of pulmonary infections in particular the development of rapid diagnostic testing, antimicrobial resistance and microbiome. With this backdrop of evolving landscape, we shall endeavour to organize high quality scientific meetings, symposia, and training workshops bringing updated knowledge and clinical skills in respiratory medicine to our members, through sharing with renowned overseas and local experts.

Public health education to promote greater awareness of different respiratory diseases and the strategies to prevent their occurrence or reduce risk factors is always our important mission. In order to ensure better dissemination of health information to the public and target populations, we will use various platforms such as publicity events, press conference, community talks, functions and activities targeted at schoolchildren, traditional and social media, etc. Besides, we will collaborate with our community partners to strengthen the care and support of patients with chronic respiratory diseases in the community. We shall also provide professional views or voice out our stance on relevant public health issues such as vaccination, air quality, tobacco control including e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products.

Our society will work hand-in-hand with our close partners, the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and the Hong Kong Lung Foundation, to achieve the above mentioned goals. We will maintain close liaison with American College of Chest Physicians. We also look forward to networking with cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in education and research. Lastly, with your unfailing support and participation, I am confident that we will be able to achieve our goals and face the challenge ahead of us.

Dr. LEE Man Po
President, CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau
(2019-2021)
 
Inaugural Message from the President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau,
Dr NG Chun-kong Mar 2017




I am deeply honoured to be elected as the President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau Limited and my sincere gratitude to all those entrusting me with this reputable and challenging responsibility. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the Past Presidents and the Executive Committee (EXCO) members who left the Delegation, for their selfless dedications and countless contributions. My warm welcomes to all the EXCO members, chairpersons of the Committees and Special Interest groups (SIG). We shall work in close collaborations in the coming 2 years to promote professional developments as well as public educations in all frontiers related to Respiratory Medicine.

Airway Disease has been selected as the theme for this year’s publicity. The Publicity Committee will envisage in designing a series of publicity functions to raise the publics’ knowledge and promote their awareness in the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of airway diseases. The newly set up Airway Disease SIG will further help in promoting professional developments and conducting researches relevant to the local scenario. Our conjoint website will be re-designed to facilitate access by the public and to offer patient-centered and up-to-date medical and healthcare information on respiratory diseases in Chinese. Our newsletter will also contribute issues devoted to airway diseases to update our members on the latest advances and developments in this area. We will set up a Young Fellow Committee to engage our young generations and to prepare those who are committed to take up the challenges and responsibilities to serve the respiratory societies in the future.

We treasure the long lasting and fraternal relationships with the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and the Hong Kong Lung Foundation. In the coming 2 years, we will continue to work in partnerships and teamwork in all aspects to promote education, research and publicity. We will keep our close connection with the ACCP headquarter through our Global Governor to broaden our international connections and horizons. With your participations, devotions and unfailing supports, we look forward to achieving another successful and rewarding year for our respiratory communities.

Dr NG Chun-kong
President, CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau
(2017-2019)
 
Inaugural message from President of CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau Limited
Dr David Chi-Leung Lam, 2015




The American College of Chest Physicians (Hong Kong and Macau Chapter) was incorporated in 1986. Since then, the Chapter has served as a branch for the ACCP while working seamlessly with the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and the Hong Kong Lung Foundation to foster professional and public education activities and research.

ACCP in US has taken on a new look last year. It is the Chapter’s turn to take on the challenge by changing its name to CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau Limited. The relevant constitutional amendments are expected to be completed within this term of office.

Our Chapter shares the same CHEST mission as to excel in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chest diseases through education, communication, and research. It is through education that we will continue to disseminate the best professional and public education activities in the new term. Through communication we will maintain close liaison and working relationships with ACCP in US, HKTS and HKLF. All these are much facilitated with a well-organized Newsletter and Website Subcommittee. Congratulations to Dr LAM Wai-Kei for being the new Chief Editor. For research, collaborative efforts are essential and we will work with HKLF and HKTS again in steering the Burden of Lung Diseases II project.

Throughout my service in the Chapter, I am deeply impressed by the long-standing brotherhood and sisterhood with HKTS and HKLF. With the formation of the new cabinet in 2015, we are looking forward to working closely with HKTS and HKLF again to get the best accomplishment in every society activity. I am most honored to have this chance to serve the respiratory communities.

Dr. LAM Chi-Leung David
President, CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau Limited April, 2015
 
Inaugural message from President of ACCP (HK & Macau Chapter)
Dr Arthur Chun-Wing LAU, Mar 2013




In the Annual General Meeting on 10th March 2013, the new 2013-2015 term of Council Members were formally elected. On behalf of the Chapter, I would like to thank Dr Johnny Chan for his excellent leadership in the past two years, and I also thank all retired Council Members for their contribution. I am sure that the five new Members, namely, Dr KC Chang (DH), Dr WK Lam (NDH), Dr Grace SM Lam (PYNEH), Dr Jamie Lam (QMH) and Dr MP Lee (QEH), will give extra energy and vitality to us in the coming two years and serve you with dedication.

I would herein highlight to you some of the important development directions and events in the coming year. We will keep up with the successful idea of having a main theme each year for public education. Together with the Hong Kong Thoracic Society, we have decided that 2013 theme for public education as “Fighting Pneumonia 2013”.

This year also marks the 10th year of the SARS ordeal, and as part of the events of “A Decade from SARS”, we have already organized a joint press conference in February to raise public awareness for the reminiscence of the suffering of patients and the contribution of pulmonary and critical care physicians in this war against SARS. More importantly, we shall prepare ourselves to win the battle against yet another novel coronavirus discovered in 2012. Many more activities will follow.

The old IT Subcommittee and the Editorial Board are combined into one single Website and Newsletter Committee under the leadership of Dr CK Ng to reflect its expanded role in providing you both a conventional printed version of the Newsletter, as well as a web version which you can view on your computer and smartphone. Communications and reporting of all our activities can thus be prompt, and multimedia archiving is allowed. Moreover, as most old versions of the Newsletter have been archived, very soon, you will be able to read all the issues online starting from the very first issues published in the late 1980’s by its early founders.

The success of our Chapter depends on your active involvement and opinions. Please feel free to communicate with me directly or through any Council representatives to let us have your valuable views with regard to present and future development. We shall endeavor to serve you better upon this very solid framework and foundation built by our seniors.

Dr. Arthur Chun-Wing LAU
President of ACCP (Hong Kong & Macau Chapter)
March 2013
 
Message from ACCP (HK & Macau Chapter ) president
Dr Johnny Wai-Man Chan, June 2011


Last year, known as the “Year of the Lung” has been a remarkable and memorable one. Our Chapter, in association with Hong Kong Thoracic Society and Hong Kong Lung Foundation, had organized and participated in numerous activities that aimed to alert the public about the importance of respiratory diseases and lung health. The enthusiastic participation of members and fellow colleagues from various local institutions and sectors had been the key factor for the successful organization of such activities. Apart from the general population, the importance of prevention, early diagnosis and timely management of chronic lung diseases was also channeled to the other partners of the healthcare sector including family physicians, general practitioners, nurse and allied health colleagues. Instead of being complacent of what the local respiratory circle had accomplished last year, the efforts should be continued in order to keep up with the momentum gathered during the past year.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has been the number five killer in Hong Kong in 2008 and was responsible for more than 30000 hospital discharges and deaths in that year. With our ageing population and persistently high smoking rate, we would not be immune from the pessimistic forecast from World Health Organization (WHO) that it would become the third leading cause of death in the world in the coming one or two decades. Perhaps in response to the awareness of the disease gravity, our government has recently provided extra funding to our public institutions in prescribing the relatively new and expensive drugs for COPD. However, as smoking cessation and initiation of therapy in the early COPD patients might slow down the disease progression, early recognition of the possibility of having COPD in the at-risk population and timely diagnosis with spirometry would potentially help to ameliorate the future disease burden.

As a result, a series of activities are under planning by the local Chest Societies to promote the awareness of symptoms and importance of COPD, together with the use of spirometry as a valuable diagnostic tool in our local community. These would include public education via the various media, spirometric screening in at-risk populations in the community, press release and a carnival. As members of the local respiratory circle, your participation in such meaningful events would be both valuable and meaningful. Let’s watch out for these activities and contribute our parts!
 
Message from ACCP (HK & Macau Chapter) president
Dr Maureen ML Wong, May 2009


When I served as secretary to the ACCP local chapter a year ago, I shared an article on “Branding for a Professional Society” with some of the office bearers at the time. We were enthused by the challenge to brand or re-brand a professional body, granted that a brand is a promise, not only an image, to both our internal and external “customers”. That aspiration only grows stronger with my present role as a newly elected president.

To promote membership loyalty, interests of our internal customers or members will continue to be in the forefront. Academic and educational activities will be purposefully crafted to fulfill the immediate and long-term needs of various disciplines. The lung function workshop we are going to run in the fall this year is a case in point to illustrate our promise to deliver, with the ultimate hope that our efforts will transcribe to quality service provision by members.

What’s more, electronic communication is another area we are buzzing around to enhance members’ connectivity. Shortly, our webpage will be revamped when we attempt to archive relevant materials and publication to leave our members a legacy.

Still, in this modern era, new needs emerge from our external customers to transform our professional landscape. We need to adopt a unified, professional approach to inform the general public and media of our purpose, activities, and when necessary, a position on relevant topics and events. We need to reposition ourselves to capture the media attention and shore up public confidence when we act as their health advocates.

Clichéd as they seem, themes like air control and lung health, catastrophe of smoking, burden of lung disease, debate over tobacco control and tax hike of late etc. have to stay on the agenda before law makers, media, and lay public can truly appreciate our professional advice to effect changes.

Change is in the air, all around the world. Thanks to the newly formed publicity committee and spokesmen system, after some tinkering steps, we shall be able to adopt a more proactive public relations strategy in building our own brand with sensitivity and sensibility when we inform the public about those issues.

That said, we must brace for the challenge ahead - 2010 has been earmarked as the Year of the Lung by major international respiratory societies. If you have an idea on how best to use our edge as a professional body to improve lung health in our city, by all means let us know.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Maureen ML Wong
President
ACCP
(HK & Macau Chapter)
 
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