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The University of Hong Kong (HKU) held a ceremony today (September 18) to present Honorary University Fellowships to three distinguished individuals, in recognition of their contributions to the University and to the community. HKU Pro-Chancellor Dr the Honourable Sir David Li Kwok Po presided at the ceremony.

The Fellowships are a means for the University community to thank and salute the lives of those who have made important contributions in their own unique ways to the University, to academia, and to Hong Kong. The Honorary University Fellowships was established in 1995 to reaffirm the University's link between town and gown.

The three Honorary University Fellows:
Ms Cecilia HO Chung Chee
Mr TAM Wing Fan (Mrs Tam receives the Honorary University Fellowship certificate on his  behalf) 
Professor Rosie YOUNG Tse Tse

Biographies:

Ms Cecilia HO Chung Chee
Ms Cecilia Ho Chung Chee is the President of Lee Hysan Foundation, a private family foundation founded in 1973 that supports meaningful and impactful initiatives in Hong Kong, with a focus on education, social welfare and health, arts and culture, and the environment.

Ms Ho holds a BBA (honours) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and was presented with the Hall of Honour Award by the University of Hawaii College of Business in 2010. She attended the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Prior to joining Lee Hysan Foundation, Ms Ho served as Executive Director of Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Managing Director and Team Head of Citi Private Bank. She has over 30 years of banking experience in various senior management positions including: Asian Business Development Head at Citi Canada; Business Manager for International Personal Banking Business at Citigroup; and Head of Sales & Services at Standard Chartered Bank.

Ms Ho is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong. Under her leadership, Lee Hysan Foundation has supported a range of initiatives at HKU, including, inter alia: the endeavours of the Hong Kong Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences to bring world-renowned visiting scholars to campus and offer overseas exchange opportunities for local students; the “Hong Kong Documentary Initiative” of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre that supports young documentary filmmakers and helps build the local documentary scene; the “WeRISE” Stroke Family Empowerment Project under the Sau Po Centre on Ageing; and “Horizons Mingde”, a university-wide experiential learning initiative that enables students and teachers to serve impoverished communities in Mainland China.

Ms Ho has also made outstanding contributions to the Hong Kong community. She is a member of the Advisory Committee on Arts Development under the Home Affairs Bureau, the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force, the Steering Committee for “FOOD-CO” Intermediary Services for Building Capacity in Food Support Service, the Advisory Committee of the School of Drama of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as well as the Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Association’s Accreditation and Exemption Committee.

Mr TAM Wing Fan
Mr Tam Wing Fan is a distinguished Hong Kong architect and philanthropist.

Mr Tam holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Hong Kong, and was in the first cohort of students admitted in 1950 into the newly established Department of Architecture, which at the time was part of the Faculty of Engineering.

Renowned in the architecture sector for his dedication and enthusiasm, Mr Tam has devoted his life to his work and company. He became a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Architecture in 1974.

In addition to his achievements in his profession, Mr Tam has also made significant contributions to the community. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, during which time he advocated for the provision of much needed welfare services for the community, such as free medication, education and dignified burial for the underprivileged, and relief for victims of natural disasters. He has also served as a voting member of Po Leung Kuk, an honorary voting member of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and as a member of the School Management Committee of the SKH Holy Carpenter Primary School.

At the University of Hong Kong, Mr and Mrs Tam announced in 2017 their commitment to support the establishment of the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing in the Faculty of Engineering – an iconic state-of-the-art facility where students can expand their imagination and realise their ideas. The Innovation Wing will provide the environment and technical resources to equip students with creative, interdisciplinary and hands-on skills to offer solutions to future problems, and is targeted for completion by 2020. Furthermore, Mr and Mrs Tam have provided the University with a magnanimous contribution to support research into kidney and neurological diseases in the Department of Medicine.

Mr and Mrs Tam have also generously backed the further advancement of a Rehabilitation Clinic in Occupational Therapy at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Reflecting their concern for all walks of life in Hong Kong society, Mr and Mrs Tam also supported the establishment of the Tam Wing Fan Child Development Centre of the SAHK (formerly the Spastics Association of Hong Kong) in early 2019. This is the first child development centre in the New Territories operated by the Association, and will strengthen its ability to provide children-and-family support services to the community.

Professor Rosie YOUNG Tse Tse
Professor Rosie Young Tse Tse is a world-renowned medical educationist and researcher, and one of the foremost authorities on endocrinology globally. She is an Emeritus Professor and an Honorary Clinical Professor at the University of Hong Kong.

Professor Young holds an MBBS and an MD from the University of Hong Kong. She joined the University’s Department of Medicine in 1954, and was appointed Professor of Medicine in 1974. In 1983, she became Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, the first woman to hold the position. From 1985-1993, she served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University.

One of the world’s leading authorities in endocrinology, Professor Young has published over 100 papers in international peer review scientific journals, in endocrinology, diabetes, and carbohydrate metabolism. She had made immense contributions to research in diabetes mellitus, carbohydrate metabolism in liver disease, thyrotoxicosis and thyrotoxic periodic paralysis.

Professor Young has served as chairperson of many advisory bodies, such as the Medical Council of Hong Kong, the Working Party on Primary Health Care, and the Education Commission, and as a member of the Working Party on Postgraduate Medical Education and Training, the Council of the Hong Kong College of Physicians and the Hospital Authority.

The University of Hong Kong conferred an honorary doctorate upon Professor Young in 1995. She has also been conferred honorary degrees by the Open University of Hong Kong, the City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Shue Yan University, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Physicians, the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. Internationally, she is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Professor Young has been an overseas advisor to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and a Council Member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Professor Young was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1971, and awarded an OBE in 1987, CBE in 1996, GBS in 2002 and GBM in 2018.

For citations and photos of the Honorary University Fellows, please visit the website: http://www4.hku.hk/honfellows/.

For media enquiries, please contact HKU Communications and Public Affairs Office: Ms Melanie Wan, Senior Manager (Media), Tel: 2859 2600 / Email: melwkwan@hku.hk or Ms Rashida Suffiad, Senior Manager (Media), Tel: 2857 8555 / Email: rsuffiad@hku.hk.