Four distinguished individuals awarded
honorary Doctoral Degrees

(From left)
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Doctor of Science, honoris causa
Prof. John Leong Chi-yan, SBS, OBE, JP
Prof. John Leong Chi-yan is currently the Chairman of the Hospital Authority. He graduated from HKU with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1965. Since then, he has worked at his alma mater for 38 years. He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the School of Postgraduate Medical Education and Training, Faculty of Medicine. As an internationally-renowned clinician-scientist specializing in spinal and pediatric orthopaedics, Prof. Leong was elected President of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie (SICOT). From 2003 to 2014, Prof. Leong was appointed President of the OUHK; under his visionary leadership, the University flourished remarkably in many aspects. These include the success of transforming the OUHK into a genuine multi-mode university by offering full-time programmes, and later expanding to provide other teaching mode programmes, on the basis of distance learning programmes. During his tenure, he also completed two major campus extension projects which made tremendous contributions to the University’s long-term development. Prof. Leong was awarded an OBE in 1996 and a Silver Bauhinia Star in 2009. He was also elected as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was conferred Doctor of Science, honoris causa by HKU. In addition, he received the Walter P Blount Service Award from the Scoliosis Research Society (USA) and was named Leader of the Year (Education/Research category) by Sing Tao News Corporation Limited.
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Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa
Mrs Eva Cheng Li Kam-fun
Mrs Eva Cheng Li Kam-fun graduated from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours) and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Mrs Cheng began her business management career in Amway Hong Kong in 1977. After 34 years of service, she retired in 2011 from the concurrent positions of Executive Vice President of Amway Corporation and Regional CEO of Amway Greater China & Southeast Asia. Under her leadership, the Amway Corporation received many prestigious awards, including the ‘Top 100 Enterprises with Foreign Investment’ awarded by the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment for seven consecutive years.
Mrs Cheng also earned herself numerous honorable mentions, including being among the Forbes Magazine World’s 100 Most Powerful Women for two consecutive years, the Fortune Magazine (Chinese Edition) 25 Most Influential Business Women in China, CNBC’s China Business Leaders Awards --- China Talent Management Award, SOHU.com and Phoenix Television’s Top 10 Business Talents in China, and SINA.com and Southern Metropolis Daily’s Top 10 Marketing Talents in China. Currently she is a member of the OUHK Court and was a member of the Council. She was conferred with an Honorary University Fellowship by the University in 2009.
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Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa
Dr York Chow Yat-ngok, GBS, SBS, MBE, JP
Dr York Chow Yat-ngok is currently the Chairperson of Equal Opportunities Commission. Dr Chow graduated from HKU with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1971. He was appointed as Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Princess Margaret Hospital in 1983 and then at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital; and became Chief Executive of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Mary Hospital and the Hong Kong West Cluster of the Hospital Authority in 1992. He was appointed as Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food in 2004; and as Secretary for Food and Health in 2007. During his tenure, Dr Chow made far-reaching contributions to Hong Kong’s public healthcare development, such as the introduction of new anti-tobacco law and policies, healthcare service and manpower reforms for the public and private sectors, food safety laws and regulations, and the Marine Conservation Ordinance. He was awarded a MBE in 1995, a Silver Bauhinia Star in 2001 and a Gold Bauhinia Star in 2009. Dr Chow is also passionate about sport and its promotion. He was elected as a member of the Executive Committee and Vice President of the International Paralympic Committee and received the prestigious Paralympic Order in 2005.
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Doctor of Letters, honoris causa
Prof. Zhong Binglin
Prof. Zhong Binglin is the President of Chinese Society of Education and Honorary Vice President of Cardiff University, UK. Prof. Zhong graduated from Southeast University (formerly known as Nanjing Institute of Technology) in 1977 and obtained his Master’s degree in Engineering in 1987. He received his PhD degree from the University of Wales, UK in 1994. He returned to China and assumed the position as Vice President of Southeast University in the same year. He was appointed the Director General of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. He also served as the President of Beijing Normal University from 2001 to 2012. Since the 1980s, he has been teaching and conducting research on areas such as machine fault diagnosis, dynamic system modelling and forecasting, and quality engineering. He led or participated in projects of various organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the National High Technology Research and Development Programme (863 Programme). From the 1990s onwards, Prof. Zhong has participated in higher education management and educational policy research, and has taken charge of a dozen projects commissioned by the Ministry of Education and National Science Foundation. Over the years, Prof. Zhong has received four ministerial and provincial prizes for science and technology advancement and two national awards for his achievements in teaching.
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