A leading infectious disease expert from Hong Kong has told how his childhood fascination with animals and even astronomy helped him become a top microbiologist, as he looks back on his life in a soon-to-be-released autobiography.
My Life in Medicine: A Hong Kong Journey is to be published in mid-July, with the English-language book delving into the life of Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, 67, covering his early years all the way up to his work as a government adviser during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yuen, the chair of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong’s department of microbiology, said writing his book was therapeutic as the prospect of retirement loomed. He may have to retire when he reaches 70.
“It seems to be that as I age, [there are] chances that I will tend to forget all the details. Before I forget all the details, I better write it down,” Yuen told the Post in late May.
“It is a kind of nostalgic therapy … you want to make yourself happy by remembering things in your good old days.
“As a normal protective mechanism, humans tend to forget all the bad things and remember all the good things.”
Yuen said he hoped that sharing his experiences could be helpful to the next generation of doctors and scientists. The microbiologist said the decision to write the book was prompted by the funeral of a friend, film director Alex Law Kai-yui, who died in 2022 from a suspected heart attack.
“Nobody knows what [will] suddenly happen at our age,” Yuen said.
He said he worked from 4pm to 8pm every day for 14 days to finish the first draft of the book.
It opens with his birth on December 30, 1956, and charts his childhood, early education and time at the University of Hong Kong’s medical school.
It also covers his years as a doctor at United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong and Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, and how he became a microbiology researcher.
The book includes Yuen’s experiences helping to battle some of the city’s biggest public health crises, including the Sars outbreak in 2003 and the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2023.
The microbiologist also recounts personal stories about his family and his Christian beliefs.
Clarivate’s Essential Science Indicators ranks Yuen among the top 1 per cent of researchers in the world, but the leading infectious diseases expert had other dreams as a child.
The academic said he at first wanted to be an astronaut after watching films about Nasa’s Apollo missions to the moon and even joined the astronomers’ club at his secondary school, Queen’s College.
He later realised his dream might be impossible as space exploration was largely done by the United States and the Soviet Union at the time.
Yuen as a student instead decided to focus on becoming a veterinary surgeon as he loved animals and kept pets that included a cat, silkworms, diving beetles, birds and jumping spiders.
But his hopes were dashed again as veterinary studies would only become available decades later in Hong Kong in 2017 and his parents were unable to afford to send him overseas to study.
Yuen said he was inspired to become a doctor by his grandfather, who was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in mainland China.
He added he was amazed at how his grandfather could treat severely ill patients and would study his books and diagrams on the human body with interest.
Yuen said all of those seemingly irrelevant experiences paved the way for him to become a doctor. He highlighted how observation of the life of his pets framed his thinking about life cycles as a medical practitioner.
“I really love animals, and now all my studies are related to how viruses jump from animals to humans,” he said.
“I learned how to study stars from the astronomers’ club. With billions of stars in the sky, how do I locate a specific star? I look at the sky map, starting from the brightest one … until I find the one I am looking for.
“This has trained me to be fearless when venturing into the unknown. Now when I am locating a virus, it is also similar to finding a pearl among sand in the sea.”
As an authoritative expert that the government often turned to during disease outbreaks, Yuen is also no stranger to criticism or even death threats.
But Yuen stopped short of answering when asked if he felt it was more difficult to serve as a public health expert in Hong Kong amid the present social and political climate.
Asked if past threats had stopped him speaking out, he said: “I will speak out on something I think should be raised.”
Yuen said he was unsure about whether he would stay on at the University of Hong Kong once he reached retirement age. He added that he was open to opportunities from other institutions, such as the medical school being planned under the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
As for remaining in Hong Kong, the academic said he would only leave if he had no other choice.
“I will not leave Hong Kong unless my personal safety is under threat. I plan to die in Hong Kong,” he said.
Yuen said he had a certain pride and affection for the city, and hoped others would remember him as “one of the many sons of Hong Kong”.
“I am lucky to be born, educated and work in Hong Kong during its best time, and most privileged to have contributed back to Hong Kong during some of its most difficult times,” he said.
