Gerald

For our own students, I suppose it is meaningful to mention briefly the life and time of Professor Choa, whose career was nothing but remarkable:

Choa began studying medicine at our sister university in 1938. However, the Second World War soon broke off and everything became very haphazard. Eventually, he obtained a basic medical degree from the Cheeloo University (齊魯大學) in 1945, and then a formal bachelor of medicine from the other side of the Victoria Harbour the next year (after the Japanese surrender).

After some further training in general internal medicine and tropical medicine, Choa became a lecturer of medicine of his alma mater from 1949. He was soon promoted to be a senior lecturer and, in 1957, he was transferred to become the consultant-in-charge of the government medical unit of Queen Mary Hospital.

In those days, the consultant post was employed by the Department of Health. In 1967, Choa left Queen Mary Hospital and became the deputy director of the Department. Three years later, he was promoted as the director – a post which he held until his official retirement in 1976, at the age of 55.

But, to us, that’s just the end of the beginning. Choa joined our university after retiring from the government. In fact, he was asked by the government at that time to lead a group to set up the second medical school in Hong Kong.

And, as people often say, the rest is history.