Founding Chairman
Dr Stephen TS Lam
Dr. Lam is the first Consultant Clinical Geneticist in Hong Kong (appointed as Head of Clinical Genetic Service, Department of Health, HKSAR, 1990-2015). He is also the first Clinical Geneticist practicing at Consultant level in the private sector in Hong Kong (as Director of Clinical Genetics Service at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital since 2016). He has been active in the training of most clinical geneticists, public health geneticist, genetic nurses, genetic counsellors, and some laboratory geneticists in Hong Kong. Since 2012, he was appointed as Honorary Professor of Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Besides founding the Hong Kong Society of Medical Genetics and served as its Chairman from 1986-2011, he also served, internationally, as Presidents of the Association of Chinese Geneticists in America (2009-2010), the Asia Pacific Society of Human Genetics (2011-2012) and International Federation of Human Genetics Societies (2012-2014).
Message from Dr Stephen TS Lam
Dear members of the HKSMG,
Sixteen years have passed since we celebrated our 20th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Society of Medical Genetics.
In 2006, we published a small booklet to commemorate the 20th Anniversary, which offered a good summary of the facts, objective, and activities of the Society, colored by plenty of photos. As the serving Chairman of the Society’s Council then, I was asked to write a message in the capacity of Founding Chairman of the Society, which I reproduce here as a supplement. In the message I urged members to consider a more proactive role for the Society in advancing medical genetics in Hong Kong, including advocacy for shaping professional standards and protocols for this discipline in our locality. During this past decade, I am amazed to see the tremendous advances of medical genetics, in science and clinical applications in the whole world. Hong Kong has definitely risen to the challenge, and I am happy to witness the efforts of our members in helping to shape this discipline. To name a few, I should mention the advocacies in formulating more clinical and laboratory genetic services in both the public and private sectors, the setting up of more patient and voluntary groups, the establishment of training and education programmes in various institutes, and research projects among many centers. Indeed, we are living through an exciting time in the development of medical genetics, and our Society should take pride in playing a small, though significant, role in these happenings.
Since 2006, our Society has organized a couple more major international conferences (including the 9th Asian Pacific Conference of Human Genetics 2010). After more than twenty years of service as Chairman of this Society, I have since stepped down, leaving the steering of the Council to more abled hands. I am happy that the new leaders have decided to revamp our website, which, I am sure, will be developed into a platform for information distribution, opinion sharing and even one for advocacy to further our course.
Stephen TS Lam
Founding Chairman
July 2022