Bulletin No. 2, 2020

A Day in the Life of the Vice-Chancellor   17  From 8:30 to 11:00 am, the red light above Consultation Room No. 1 was on almost continuously. All 11 patients who came in greeted and engaged in friendly banter with their doctor, who showed himself to be thoroughly familiar with their medical histories, lives and hobbies. In the span of 15 minutes, the multi-tasker conversed, diagnosed, taught, recorded, and gave advice, taking care of both his patients and his students. It was as much a medical consultation as a lesson for students and a gathering with old friends. At 11:45 am, Sung was chauffeured to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, where the Commissioner for Innovation and Technology was there to greet him. A seminar was being held at the Charles K. Kao Auditorium. The 300-seat auditorium was packed to capacity, and most of the participants were secondary school students. The prodigy-inventor Chan Yik-hei, dubbed ‘star’s child’ by the local media because an asteroid was named after him, came forward nonchalantly. ‘I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.’ These words came from Joseph Sung. The seminar began. Sung spoke in Chinese as the English slides of his presentation were shown on a screen. Trying to make his presentation more lucid—it covered the earliest medical concepts, the emergence of anatomy in the 17th century, the invention of endoscopes, as well as remote-controlled endoscopes and remote surgery—he would explain English and Latin terms from time to time—‘endo means inside, scope has something to do with lens…’ The students seemed impressed by his presentation though it was not the professor’s intention to impress. He reminded them that being a top achiever alone does not make a good medical student. What is more important is to have a caring heart. Technology is just a tool for doctors and medicine an art of communication—putting into words what he had enacted in the clinic that morning.