Outstanding performance: The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong's citation highlighted Secretary for Education & Manpower Prof Arthur Li's efforts in fostering closer links between local and overseas surgical colleges.

The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong has awarded Secretary for Education & Manpower Prof Arthur Li an honorary fellowship.

The award recognises Prof Li's outstanding contributions to the surgical field in Hong Kong and to the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong.

"Over the past two decades, I have had the honour to witness and participate in the preparation, establishment and development of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong. Today, the college is playing an important role in the surgical field and I am most grateful to receive from it this highest honour," Prof Li said.

The citation highlighted Prof Li's efforts in fostering closer links between local and overseas surgical colleges.

It said Prof Li foresaw the need for an organisation responsible for post-graduate surgical training and the maintenance of surgical standards. That is how the idea of a college was conceived.

Society developed into college

As President of the Hong Kong Surgical Society in 1985, Prof Li took the lead to develop the society into a college, which was formally established in 1990. He played a pivotal role throughout this development.

In 1982, Professor Li was appointed to the Foundation Chair of Surgery at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Within a decade, he had established the department as one of the leading surgical centres.

Under his leadership, many local and overseas surgeons who worked in his department had now become international leaders in their own right. 

When he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK, he led the Faculty to new heights. Many important breakthroughs were achieved in various aspects of medicine. He saw the tremendous potential of minimal-access surgery and promoted its application in different branches of surgery.