Media

HKU awarded Honorary Degrees to HIV/ AIDS advocates Former US President Bill Clinton and Dr David Ho

04 Dec 2008

 

Dr the Honourable Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), conferred honorary degrees upon two outstanding individuals at the 179th Congregation today in recognition of their shared commitment to humanitarian causes and global leadership in HIV/AIDS research and advocacy.

The honorary degree recipients are:

• The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton, Former President of the United States of America: Doctor of Laws honoris causa
• Dr David D Ho: Doctor of Science honoris causa

HKU's tradition of awarding honorary degrees began in 1916 and past awardees include Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew, King Edward VIII, and Hu Shih. The honorary degree is awarded to individuals who have made valuable contributions to the world or to humanity, and also to those who have made significant contributions to academia, Hong Kong or the University.

At the Congregation, Mr. Clinton and Dr. David Ho each gave a speech to over 800 guests and members of the University.  Mr. Clinton said, "We now have pots of money available, even in this economic downturn, that can be used to purchase most of the medicine for most of the poor people in the world. But with AIDS medicine, you can't simply fly over a remote village and drop it out of a parachute, and pretend that everything will go right."

He added that "the biggest impediment now to maximizing the efforts against this disease, based on the tools we have, is the absence of effective health systems in poor areas, especially in poor rural areas in the world. We need people who are trained to provide basic healthcare including the testing, prevention and especially prevention of mother and child infection. "

Dr. David Ho said, "Years of emersion in the scientific culture has taught me an important lesson that I would like to share with the students.  Major advances in science have often been brought forth by individuals who are willing to challenge authority and conventional wisdom."

"As our world is becoming smaller in the era of globalization, I strongly believe that we must adopt the best core values from each culture, East or West, North or South.  The real decision in front of us is not to which nationality we belong, but how we can become better citizens of the world."

For media enquiries, please contact Ms. Cherry Cheung (Tel: 2859 2606/ Mobile: 8208 1686 / Email: cherry.cheung@hku.hk) or Ms Joanne Yung (Tel: 2859 2600) or Ms Winnie Lam (Tel: 9107 1676) or Mr Terence Poon (Tel: 9316 6267)

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