The Congregation for the Conferment of Degrees is a celebration of the values embraced by the University. The five persons conferred honorary doctorates this year included a banker famously committed to the promotion of charity and education, an upright social activist who spent her life fighting for the underprivileged of a culture different from her own, a valiant defender of the rule of law who's also Hong Kong's youngest Secretary for Justice, a Nobel laureate who revolutionized the treatment for gastritis and peptic ulcer, and a medical expert at the frontline of fights against widespread respiratory diseases. Their careers have been heartening stories of generosity and hope.

The two recipients who came to Hong Kong for the occasion took the time to give fascinating talks on campus. Prof. Barry James Marshall was a naughty and quick-witted child, and a daring researcher who found proof for a groundbreaking cure by making himself the guinea pig. Prof. Zhong Nanshan, on the other hand, was the son of a medical science professor who craved medical knowledge since childhood, and one day grew up to lead healthcare professionals in the fight against an infamous pandemic. Their styles may be different but they share the same selfless devotion to medicine.

Doctor-to-be, Year 4 medical student Ko Ho astutely reprioritized his medical studies in order to better serve his patients. He talks of his childhood, dreams and future in 'Thus Spake …'.