Honorary Fellow Professor LI Tin Chiu (2018)

Prof TC Li was born and bred in HK, and studied in Queen’s College. There, he was elected head boy and voted South China Morning Post Student of the Year of HK in 1974 for his all-round achievements.

He then graduated from HKU in 1979 and somehow was assigned to work in the then newly opened O&G unit in Princess Margaret Hospital. Having worked there for 2 and half years, it was time for TC to have a year of elective training. He wanted to do general medicine but the private arrangement between Dr Yeung Kung Ming and Dr EK Yeoh for his elective in QEH was unfortunately vetoed by Dr Sylvia Chui of the headquarter. Not willing to accept a “No?answer, TC decided to go abroad to UK, to pursue his choice of elective training. He spent a year in Nottingham doing his general medical rotation; at the end of which, TC passed 2 MRCP Part II College examinations in 1984, one in Ireland and the other in London. Many people thought he was more of a physician and predicted that he would soon give up O&G. This was not the case. TC decided to move back to O&G and found a job in Leeds. A few months later, he passed the MRCOG Part II examination in 1985, and was ready to return back to HK with a rather proud achievement of being members of three prestigious Colleges.

However, in the same year TC met with Prof Ian Cooke who offered him a research job in Sheffield, in the most beautiful green city of the Derbyshire country side which kept TC in England for the next 28 years of his career. In Sheffield, TC completed his PhD work in 1989 on the endometrium and started his training in reproductive medicine and surgery under the supervision of Ian Cooke. He was quickly promoted to Clinical Lecturer and then Consultant. In 2003 he obtained MD degree from HKU and in 2004 became Hon Professor of the Sheffield Hallam University.

Although TC was working in UK, he made contributions to HK O&G field in various ways. During early 1990s when HK was not yet a MRCOG Part II examination center, HK trainees had to fly to UK to take the exam. TC had received regular requests from senior colleagues in HK seeking his help to arrange tutorials and bedside teachings in Sheffield for their trainees prior to the examination. Typically, each trainee would spend 4 weeks or so with TC, who must have helped over a dozen trainees from HK, with an amazing 100% pass rate for all who went to him for the clinical attachment.

Later on, TC became a RCOG trainer in Reproductive Medicine, and helped several of our subspecialty trainees to obtain overseas training in Sheffield. In 2005, he was invited by Dr Lawrence Tang to be the visiting professor of Kwong Wah Hospital. Prof PC Ho had also invited him to HK to lecture and demonstrate surgery on various occasions. In 2011, in recognition of his contribution to the teaching of our trainees in HK, he was appointed Hon Professor of HKU and still holds the title till now.

In 2012, TC was head hunted by Joseph Sung, Tony Chung and TY Leung to join CUHK because of his impressive research record. The courtship lasted a little over 2 years and finally resulted in Prof Li’s relocation from England back to his motherland in 2014. He did not disappoint those who recruited him and quickly made the reproductive medicine team of CUHK very productive. By now, Prof Li has published well over 300 papers with an amazingly high citation index of around 50. Prof Li also introduced a successful Master program in Clinical Embryology and Reproductive Medicine, the first of its kind in HK

Prof Li’s special interests are recurrent miscarriage and reproductive surgery. As soon as he had settled in Prince of Wales Hospital CUHK, one of the first things he did was to set up a dedicated recurrent miscarriage clinic, which provided specialized care for women in HK who suffered from the condition. Having been a coordinator of the special interest group of reproductive surgery for the European Society of Human reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), and a board member of the International Society of Reproductive Surgery, Prof Li wasted no time to raise the standard of reproductive surgery training in HK, including various forms of microsurgical reconstructive tubal and uterine surgery, simplified laparoscopic cervical cerclage, fertility preservation surgery and developed innovative techniques such as the balloon therapy and the invisible knife for the management of Asherman Syndrome.

Internationally, Prof Li is also well respected by his peers. Shortly after his return, Prof Li helped to re-position HK to a leading role in Asia Pacific region. He is now president-elect of Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE), one of three largest International societies in Reproductive Medicine, and will host the next ASPIRE annual conference in May 2019 in Hong Kong.

Mr President, Prof TC Li has substantial and longstanding contributions to training and education of our specialty in and beyond HK. His academic achievement has raised the international profile of HK's reproductive medicine. I present Prof TC Li for the Honorary Fellowship of The Hong Kong College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Dr KONG Wing Shan
at the conferment ceremony in 2018