It is my greatest honour to serve the Hong Kong Institute of Allergy (HKIA) for my tenure as President in these two years.
As you may know, the ongoing pandemic has imposed great challenges for people around the world. In particular, various sectors of the healthcare system have been hit hard. Nevertheless, we have seen rapid advances in our understanding of the control and prevention of Covid-19. The development of vaccine against Covid-19 was extremely rapid. In less than one year since the identification of the agent causing Covid-19, several vaccines have received emergency authorization for use in different parts of the world. The local vaccination programme had a slow start but it is now slowly picking up. There is also news regarding effective oral antiviral medication coming to the market soon. Given all these advances in vaccinations and medications, we should be hopeful that the pandemic will soon be over.
Despite all the restrictions posted by the pandemic, HKIA continues to work hard to fulfil our mission in order to advance the care of patients with allergies. As the President, I would like to thank our Office Bearers Dr. Helen Chan, Prof. TF Leung, Dr. Roland Leung, our immediate past president Dr. Marco Ho, and all our council members and advisors for their hard work and suggestion making 2021 a successful year despite all the difficulties and limitation imposed by the pandemic. Although we are slowly adapting our daily life to this new "pandemic norm", we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with increasing vaccination rates and arrivals of new effective drugs.
I look forward to the day when most, if not all, restrictions related to pandemic will be lifted. Stay healthy!
Professor Gary Wong
President
The Hong Kong Institute of Allergy
It is my absolute honour to take up the baton at the annual general meeting a few days ago and to serve the HK Institute of Allergy (HKIA) for my tenure as new president in the coming two years.
I am grateful to Dr Tak Lee who has been extremely generous in offering his time and advice when I shadowed him in the last 12 months as the president-elect.I also thank the council, in particular office bearers Drs Christopher Lai, Helen Chan, Jane Chan for their relentless support.
HKIA's M&A stipulates our role and responsibilities in fostering a professional forum for fellowship and scientific exchange in allergy and related disciplines. Under the capable and visionary leadership of Dr Tak Lee and the last council, HKIA has grown from strength to strength. We have redefined how HKIA can contribute to the development of allergy services, education/training and research.
HKIA has an unparalleled reputation in organizing the premier education event in allergy, namely the biennial, transdisciplinary and international Hong Kong Allergy Convention, drawing hundreds of delegates to each of the meetings over the last two decades. The next one will be held in the autumn of 2018 and it will be one of the most important tasks for the new council to make it asuccess.
It has become obvious in recent years that there is insatiable thirst to learn more about hands-on aspects of clinical allergy management. HKIA council decided to organize annual scientific meetings (ASM) during intervening years when there is no international Allergy Congress. We have just witnessed the inaugural ASM with a theme entitled "Eczema and Food Allergy".
We are particularly indebted to the scientific programme chair - Professor Ting-fan Leung, with his team of enthusiastic colleagues who have worked tirelessly to design a superb programme and brought together an exceptional faculty of speakers. We have received positive feedbacks from many participants who not only enjoyed their exchanges with our expert panels but also perceived that the ASM provided a good learning environment. While we are encouraged by the end result, we know we have room for improvement.
This year we also honoured the two most distinguished founders of HKIA Dr Donald Yu (Founding President) and Dr TF Tse for their outstanding services since the inception. Their services, leadership, loyalty, sincerity and integrity cannot be measured in tangible terms. For the newer generation of allergists and immunologists, like me, we are truly blessed to be able to stand on the shoulders of giants.
Finally I wish to thank each of you for your staunch support of me and the council. Please feel free to send any comments to me (marcoho@hku.hk), Dr. Helen Chan (HKIA Honorary Secretary (helen.chan@vitagreen.com), or members on Council so that we can tailor make the work of the Institute to meet your needs. We look forward to join hand in hand with you so that we can collectively bring HKIA to scale new heights and better serve the allergy community.
Dr Marco Ho - Immediate Past President
Hong Kong Institute of Allergy
It is an honour to be elected the President of HKIA. HKIA's role in
fostering a professional forum for fellowship and scientific exchange
in allergy is unique in HK. Its success is self evident, not least of
which is its highly reputed international biannual conference. This
has become an important part of the conference calendar for general
practitioners, allergists, immunologists and related disciplines as
well as for allied health professionals in HK and beyond.
The recent convention in October was an outstanding success again and
we even held a press briefing to report on a new discovery about the
long term detrimental effects of pollution on lung growth in children.
We were pleased that the Under-secretary for the Environment in HKSAR
government also spoke. As a result I am now chairing a working group
of health professionals to help HKSAR government to engage the public
in the battle against pollution.
I have been inspired by the vision of HKIA and I have admired its collegiality.
I am confident that I speak for all members when I thank the Founders,
present and previous Presidents, Dr Helen Chan and the other officers
of the Institute who have given us such a worthy professional platform.
As HKIA approaches its 19th year since its launch in 1996, the challenge
for us is to write the next chapter of HKIA's illustrious history. I
hope we can build on the remarkable legacy to date and make HKIA an
even more vibrant organization that is inclusive and forward looking.
During my tenure as President of HKIA I will honour and build on its
past successes, celebrate the present and plan for the future. I am
committed to helping HKIA grow its legacy; to increase its public and
professional profile; and to progress a tripartite agenda to help improve
allergy services, create more opportunities for training of aspiring
allergists; and to promote an environment to facilitate discovery of
new knowledge. In short, I will try to make my Presidency one for growth,
inclusivity, vision and energy (GIVE).
I feel the timing is right as the energy and enthusiasm in HK is receptive
for growing Allergy as a discipline. This will not happen overnight
but the stronger we are as a professional society the more we can do
to progress to our ultimate goal.
I will be publishing a strategy on the way forward for HKIA soon once
Council has been able to discuss it. My ardent wish is to engender a
feeling of ownership of our strategy by everyone in the HKIA; after
all it is your Institute. The officers, Council and I are merely the
stewards of HKIA for a brief period of time.
Please join us to shape a strong professional platform for the benefits
of our allergic patients and betterment of health in HK.
Dr Tak Hong Lee - 2014 – 2016 President
Hong Kong Institute of Allergy
