For a little historical background, the British took possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841. The indigenous Chinese population at the time was about 2,000. In 1881 the London Missionary Society added to the services it provided to the Chinese people by establishing a medical clinic staffed by a Dr. William Young, a Scottish medical graduate. At that time, and for many years afterwards, Chinese people would consult ‘bone setters’ and practitioners of traditional (mainly herbal) Chinese medicine in preference to ‘Western” doctors.
The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was established in 1887. Many people were involved in this, but three doctors, Ho Kai, Patrick Manson and James Cantlie, with the enthusiastic support of the London Missionary Society are credited with being those mainly responsible. At this time the Chinese population was about 175,000.
Short profiles of these 3 men may be of interest.

Ho Kai (1859 – 1914)
Ho Kai was the son of a pastor of the London Missionary Society in Hong Kong. He completed his secondary school education in Margate, England and then went to Aberdeen University in Scotland where he obtained a medical degree in 1879. In the same year he was admitted into Lincoln’s Inn in London and was called to the Bar in 1881. He married a Scottish girl, Alice who returned with him to Hong Kong in 1881. She died a few years later.
Ho Kai could not make a living as a doctor in Hong Kong, because the Chinese would not consult a Western trained doctor, and the expatriates would not consult a Chinese doctor, so he changed course and was admitted as a barrister of the Hong Kong courts in 1882. In association with a number of local financiers, doctors and the London Missionary Society, he founded a hospital called the ‘Alice’ Hospital whose successor still exists. This hospital became a teaching hospital of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese when it opened in 1887.
Ho Kai did lecture in the College for some years, but he was more involved in political and business affairs. The old International airport (Kai Tak) is named after him, and a business associate, Au Tak, with whom he was involved in a failed business venture near the site of the present airport.

Patrick Manson (1844 – 1922)
Patrick Manson (regarded as being the ‘father of Tropical Medicine) graduated from Aberdeen University, and from 1866 – 1889 he worked in China and Formosa (now Taiwan) as an employee of British Imperial Maritime Customs. During this time he acquired an extensive knowledge of Tropical diseases. One of his most important discoveries was that Filariasis was transmitted by a mosquito. While working in Formosa, he began teaching Western Medicine to Formosan students.
He moved to Hong Kong in 1883 and was soon deeply involved in the movement to establish a medical college. He was the first Dean from 1887 – 1889. After this he went to London to establish the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

James Cantlie (1851 – 1926)
James Cantlie, was an Aberdeen graduate working at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He was a keen and experienced teacher. He came to Hong Kong in 1887 and lent his considerable administrative ‘know how’ to the enterprise. He followed Manson as Dean in 1889 and remained in this position until 1896.
The first 2 students graduated in 1892. One of these was Sun Yat Sen, who led the revolution that overthrew the Quing dynasty in China. He became the first President of the Chinese Republic. Like Ho Kai, he could not make a living as a doctor in Hong Kong, so he moved to Macau.

Another interesting figure was Gordon King (1900 - )
He graduated from Edinburgh University and was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing from 1927 – 1931. (This hospital was established by the Rockefeller Foundation.) From 1931 – 1938 he was Professor at the Cheeloo University. He came to Hong Kong in 1938 and was Professor of O&G from 1938 – 1956. He then became the Foundation Dean of the Medical Faculty in the University of Western Australia from 1956 – 1966. This was followed by being Dean of Medicine in the University of Nairobi 1966 – 1971. After this he returned to Hong Kong.

Front: Robin Cooke, Laurence Hou, LC ChanRear: Annie Cheung, Irene Ng, Lily Ma, John Nicholls

When the Japanese army took control of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941, the final year medical students were sitting their examinations. Many staff and students of HKU were interned and the functions of the University ceased. Gordon King remained out of prison to continue the service provided by the Queen Mary Hospital. He decided to take as many of the medical students as he could and flee into China. 140 of the 300 students went with him. After some hair-raising travel experiences, they were scattered through a number of the Chinese medical schools in areas not controlled by the Japanese.

At the end of the war, 63 of the students returned to Hong Kong. They formed a valuable nucleus from which to rebuild the medical school and the medical services, when normal activity was resumed in 1948. Gordon continued as Dean in the period of post war reconstruction.

HK Ng,(CUHK), Trisha Leong (Aust) and Gary Tse (CUHK).

In 1912 the University of Hong Kong was officially founded, and the College of Medicine became the first Faculty of the fledgling University. At the present time the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is situated on the slope of a steep hill on the Western aspect of Hong Kong Island. The Faculty buildings that house administration, basic sciences, research laboratories and teaching facilities were completed 4 years ago. This complex is situated near the bottom of the hill. The Queen Mary Hospital which is the main teaching hospital is situated about 800 metres further up this rather steep hill. The University pathology department which works closely with the Clinical department is situated in the hospital complex.
A second Faculty of Medicine was established in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1982. This University was founded in 1963 by scholars who were political refugees from China. The first Professor of Pathology, and later Dean, was Joe Lee, a recipient of a gold medal from the IAP for his services to pathology. He was appointed in 1983. For the first year he did not have any students, and the Hospital was under construction. In preparation for the teaching of students he put together a beautiful collection of about 2,000 pathology specimens. These are nicely dissected and mounted in Perspex containers. The solutions have been maintained and they are crystal clear. As has happened elsewhere, the fashion in the teaching of pathology has changed and the present Professor, H.K. Ng uses only a small selection of these specimens in teaching problem based learning classes.

Hong Kong University Queen Mary Hospital

HKU new medical complex.

The Pathology Department of the HKU (some key figures)
C.Y. Wang, a graduate of the HK College of Medicine and of the University of Edinburgh, was appointed the first Professor of Pathology and Tropical Medicine from 1920 – 1930. At that time infectious diseases constituted a large proportion of the medical conditions that the doctors of the day had to treat. (It might also have been a carry over of the influence of Patrick Manson.)

P.C. Hou was appointed Professor 1948 - 1960. He had been a Professor of Pathology in China before this (Chefoo University 1936 – 1946 and West China Union University 1946 – 1948, and had gained an international reputation for his research on liver disease, particularly in relation to the liver fluke, Clonorchis sinensis. From 1960 – 1967 he was Vice-President of the Chinese Medical College, Peking. During his tenure in Hong Kong, he was able to engineer the post war reconstruction of the Department.

James Gibson, a graduate of Edinburgh University was Professor (1963 – 1984). He oversaw the installation of all the new technological advances that occurred during his 20 year tenure and he helped it to gain an international standing as a centre of Research, Teaching and Service. The 2006 Report of the department clearly indicates that the present staff are continuing in this tradition.

Students on their way up the steep hill to the Queen Mary Hospital are passing the Patrick Manson building.

The present situation in HKU
L.C. Chan is Head of Department and Chair of Pathology. The medical course is 5 years duration. The main method of teaching is by problem based learning. As has happened in many medical curricula world wide, the amount of exposure to pathology has been considerably reduced. Over the years the pathology department accumulated an extensive collection of over 3,000 specimens. These cover almost all aspects of pathology. The specimens have been beautifully dissected and mounted in perspex display jars.

HKU Department of Anatomy. Whole body slices in perspex containers are on the table on the left

Some years ago the Pathology Museum was modernised and the specimens were carefully stored in order in a compactus file. The solutions have been changed every few years and they are beautifully clear. A small number of representative specimens from each organ system have been kept aside for use in teaching as part of the problem based learning programme.

The photographer, Mr. Jaggar, S.K. Lau has almost completed the task of taking digital photographs of all the specimens. He has enhanced these photographs and they are being stored and catalogued for possible use in the future.
The Anatomy Department of HKU has a collection of beautifully dissected specimens that are mounted in Perspex containers. The mounting fluid is clear and the detail can be easily seen. Some bodies have been sliced transversely and the whole slices have been mounted in Perspex containers. Gross anatomy is being taught in conjunction with radiological anatomy, and these transverse slices allow for comparison to be made between the two modalities. As in Pathology, the Anatomy museum has been truncated and many specimens are now in storage.

It is interesting that the current Curator of the Anatomy Museum, Mr. James Ting followed his father in this position. When he was a child he used to assist his father in the preparation room. The father of the senior photographer in the Pathology Department, Mr. Jaggar Lau worked as a Laboratory assistant with Mr. Ting senior. Both of these father son combinations have worked for HKU for over 70 years of its 120 years existence.

Mr Ting snr and Mr James Ting at right

Information for this article was obtained from speaking with various staff members in Hong Kong, including very valuable information from Prof. LC Chan (HKU) and Prof. HK Ng (CUHK), and from the publication:
Evans DE. Constancy of Purpose – Faculty of Medicine University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. 1987 Some of the photographs were contributed by Mr. SK Lau and Prof. KF So.

Robin Cooke

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Francis Jaubert, a medical student interpreter, Antonio Llombart-Bosch, Bharat Nathwani, Samir Amr, Francisco Martinez-Tello, Olga Makarova, George Kontogeorgos, inset - Gunter Kloeppel

In October 2005 the President of the IAP, Francis Jaubert led a distinguished group of senior office bearers of the IAP to attend a meeting in Moscow, October 3-7. The meeting was held in the N.N Blokhin Cancer Centre in Moscow, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Professor N.A Kraevsky, one of the pioneer Russian pathologists and a founder of the Cancer Centre in Moscow. The conference was held under the auspices of the Russian Society of Pathologists, the Russian Cancer Research Centre and St. Petersburg Paediatric Medical Academy with the assistance of the IAP lecturers who are shown in the photograph above. The IAP education committee contributed a small amount of money to assist in the expenses involved with the education material for the conference.

Vsevolod Zinserling

Dr Romanenko, President of the Ukraine Division and Dr Zinserling in the lecture theatre.

Some of the delegates at the meeting.

The conference theme was ‘New Methods and Procedures in Oncomorphology. Dr. Nicolai Petrovichev, Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the Cancer Centre was the co-ordinator of the meeting. The topics included sessions on immunohistochemistry, diseases of lymphoid tissue, a slide seminar on soft tissue tumours, a review of the practice of pathology in Russia, and the role of pathologists in the diagnosis of iatrogenic disease.

There were 217 registrants, 38 from Moscow, 153 from elsewhere in Russia, and 26 from former Soviet Republics. The proceedings of the conference were recorded on CD for delegates by Dr Moroz of the cancer centre.
Office bearers of the International Academy of Pathology Russian Division are – President, Vsevolod A. Zinserling and the Secretary – Treasurer, Olga V. Makarova. E-mail address: morpholhum@mail.ru

The social program included a banquet, a visit to the Bolshoi Theatre for a performance of Swan Lake and a short visit to Suzdal and Vladimir, two old Russian cities.

Information and photographs for this report were provided by Antonio Llombart-Bosch, Francis Jaubert and Olga Makarova.

Drs. Petrovich and Moroz

Drs. Petrovichev, Karsenatzel and Llombart-Bosch

All Russian Cancer Centre, Moscow

The Kremlin

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