Bulletin Special Supplement Ever in My Heart: Professor Ambrose King and The Chinese University

訪問金耀基教授 Interviewing Prof. Ambrose King 21 organized a hundred activities to celebrate its 40th anniversary. One of them, the University Presidents’ Global Forum, had invited the participation of over 50 university presidents. Then SARS broke out and the whole world was wary of coming to Hong Kong. I wrote immediately to all the presidents to explain that the forum would be postponed. Only the President of Cambridge University had set off before my letter could reach him. He arrived and I welcomed him under the shadow of SARS. It gave special meaning to the occasion. A year later, the forum was held. At the onset of the SARS outbreak, Prof. Sydney Chung, then dean of the Faculty of Medicine, rang me expressing the wish to talk to the public about the urban outbreak and requesting my support. I told him that if he had absolute proof, I was definitely behind him. An urban outbreak was a very serious issue that would have repercussions in the economy. I believed that an urban outbreak was very bad news for Hong Kong, but not promptly telling the truth would cause even more harm. As events unfolded, Prof. Chung’s decision was proven right. During those few months, the University was in a state of emergency. Classes were suspended (but operations were not) for the first time in its history. The Faculty of Medicine, being a core medical service centre, worked non-stop with other departments to combat SARS from all fronts. Those were the darkest days in the University’s history but, in the end, the battle was won. And our teachers at the Medical Faculty were elected ‘Asian Heroes’ by Time magazine. 前特首董建華先生於沙士期間訪問中大病毒基因研究組。其右為金耀基校長，左為鍾尚志 教授。 Former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa visiting the CUHK Virus Genomics Group during the SARS outbreak. To his right is Prof. Ambrose King; to his left is Prof. Sydney Chung.