Dear Members,

I am honored and grateful for the trust of members, and the opportunity to organize the 18th Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation (CAST), the biannual regional transplant congress, which is first held in Hong Kong. Despite COVID pandemic and many challenges during the preparation, we have accomplished the mission! CAST is now successfully held at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as a fully physical meeting.

I am going to conclude my presidency during CAST; therefore, I would like to update members about the landmark activities organized in my second year of service as President of HKST and to announce several future activities in the coming year:

Academic activities

1. 18thCongress of Asian Society of Transplantation: CAST is a biannual transplant congress of Asian Society of Transplantation. This year, the congress is held in Hong Kong for the first time, on 25-28 August 2023, at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, and is jointly organized by Hong Kong Society of Transplantation and Asian Society of Transplantation. This 4-day congress features 6 keynote lectures and 24 symposiums in 4 concurrent sessions, with a total of 240 invited speakers and session moderators. In addition, there are 200 posters and 65 oral presentations selected from around 400 abstracts. This CAST is fully endorsed by APHIA, APSN, AEBA, ILTS, ISN and TTS. We are delighted to collaborate with Transplant Infectious Disease section of the Transplantation Society (TTS-TID), World Transplant Game Federation and Association of Eye Banks of Asia for the first time in CAST meeting.  Prof Chung Mau LO, Secretary for Health of Hong Kong SAR, also blessed our opening ceremony with his presence.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Scientific Program Committee chaired by Prof Nancy Kwan MAN, for bringing us an exciting program with many high level international and regional speakers. My most sincere appreciation also goes to the local Organizing Committee for their excellent work.

2. Webinar on Prevention strategies against COVID: : We collaborated with Hong Kong Society of Infectious Disease, Hong Kong Society of Haematology, and Hong Kong Society of Medical Oncology to hold a webinar titled ‘Tackling COVID-19: Prevention Strategies to Protect Immunocompromised Patients’ on 2 November 2022. Prof Ivan Fan Ngai HUNG (Hong Kong) and Dr Hoe Nam LEONG (Singapore) talked on various preventive strategies to tackle COVID-19 including vaccination and antibody therapy. 113 participants had joined the webinar.

Public Education and Organ donation Promotion Activities

1. Thanksgiving Ceremony: We organized the 2019-2022 Thanksgiving Day on 26 March, 2023. This was the first Thanksgiving Day after the COVID pandemic. The theme of this Thanksgiving Ceremony was "Organ Donation in Pandemic, Love Without Borders (疫境器官捐贈 大愛無疆)". We have invited Prof Chung-Mao LO, Secretary of Health; Dr Michael WONG, Director (Quality and Safety) of Hospital Authority; Dr Raymond HO, Department of Health, be the guests of honor. There were sharing from donor family, transplant recipients, intensivist and organ donation coordinator.  Total of 178 participants joined this thanksgiving ceremony, which included 81 transplant recipients and 40 donor families. This event also gained attention from media and was widely reported in TV, newspaper and social media.

2. Community video competition on Transplantation and Organ Donation: We organized secondary school student video competition with the aim to encourage student exploring the latest advances and challenges in organ transplantation and to promote organ donation.

An online workshop covering topics on organ donation, organ transplantation and video shooting skill was held on 29 December 2022. Dr Ka Foon CHAU, Mr Leecat HO and I were the speakers. There were 72 students from over 35 teams participating in this online workshop. Eventually 24 videos were submitted for competition. We organized online polling as first phase selection and we received over 4000 votes from public. In the second phase assessment, Dr Kelvin Kai-Wah LEE from Hong Kong Baptist University and Mr Leecat HO were our professional judges and 5 outstanding videos were selected by our Judging Committee. The winning video had been played during the CAST opening ceremony. All the videos were also uploaded in our society’s YouTube channel for public viewing.

3. HKST website and social media updates: The Society website has continued to be an active platform for communication and information update. In addition to our Society Facebook page, we also set up Society YouTube channel this year. We posted videos, public polling and short articles about advances in transplant medicine and organ donation regularly. We will continue to promote organ donation and provide transplant education via social media.

Upcoming activities

1. New Series of Educational Video in Society YouTube Channel: We have produced 8-episode video series on 'Myth of Organ Transplant'. The videos will address the topics on organ donation (medicolegal and ethical aspect), new technology in different organ transplant and interesting facts about transplantation. We will post the videos in our society’s social media after CAST. May our members please follow our website, Facebook and our new YouTube Channel, and share the educational materials to your friends and patients.

2. Collaboration with American Journal of Transplantation: American Journal of Transplantation has a new initiative called ‘AJT Digest’ that aims to provide transplant patients a lay summary of selected scientific researches to bridge the gap between research information and patients. HKST will help the translation of the AJT Digest to Chinese, and disseminate this educational material to Chinese language community via social media.

Lastly, I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the office bearers and council members for their advice and support. I would also like to thank all members for the unfailing support to Hong Kong Society of Transplantation. Hope you enjoy CAST and find it educational and useful.

Dr. Maggie Kam-Man MA

President, HKST

26 August 2023

Dear Members,

This is my great pleasure and honor to be elected as President of the Hong Kong Society of Transplantation last year. 2021 was a challenging year. COVID-19 has changed many ways of living across the globe. After this pandemic, life will continue be different. Our Society is going to embrace the change and adapt to this new norm, while continue our work on transplant education and organ donation promotion.

Let me recount the landmark activities over the past 1 year and announce several future activities that are going to take place next year:

Academic activities

1. Annual Scientific Meeting 2021: The meeting was held on 6 June 2021 in hybrid format. We collaborated with Hong Kong College of Physicians in this meeting with the theme of ‘COVID-19 vaccination’. We invited renowned experts including Prof Gregory POLAND (USA), Prof Paul HARDEN (UK) and Prof David HUI (HK) to talk on the role of COVID vaccine in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic in transplant recipients. To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of cornea transplant in Hong Kong, a special session titled ‘So much more than an eye for an eye’ was delivered by Dr KW KAM (HK). Another lecture on anal dysplasia screening in transplant recipient was delivered by Dr Andrew WONG (HK).

2. Living Kidney Transplant Webinar: We collaborated with Hong Kong Society of Nephrology to hold a webinar titled ‘Living Kidney Transplantation: The Way Forward’ on 13 September 2021. Prof Hideki Ishida (Japan), Dr Samuel Fung and I talked on strategies to overcome immunological barrier with the use of blood group and HLA incompatible kidney transplantation, as well as Paired Kidney Donation, to improve access to kidney transplantation. 156 participants had joined the webinar.

3. CAST 2023: I am delighted to announce that our Society will host the Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation (CAST) in 2023. We are going to hold this Regional Transplant Congress, for the first time in Hong Kong, at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on 25-28 August 2023. We invited renowned experts in the region to be members of our Scientific Committee. The scientific program will cover from cutting edge science to ethical issues in transplantation. The Congress website has been launched at cast2023.org. We will open the congress registration and abstract submission by end of this year.

Public Education and Organ donation Promotion Activities

1. COVID-19 related education: We issued position statements to give information on COVID-19 vaccine use in solid organ transplant recipients in March and November 2021 respectively. Our position statement on COVID vaccine is well recognized and had been incorporated in the interim guidance notes of Centre for Health Protection (CHP) to public. We also posted health advice for transplant patients who were infected COVID-19 in the Society’s Facebook page. We are going to have special session on COVID-19 infection in this year’s Annual Scientific Meeting to update members the latest information on this important topic.

2. RTHK Radio Education Programme: After the success of the Radio Education Programme ‘The “New” Breakthrough of Transplant  (移植「辛」突破)’ last year, we collaborate with the Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association once again and participate in the new radio series ‘The Breakthrough of Transplant by “Heart” (移植「心」突破) ‘. The radio program will be launched in RTHK Putonghua Channel in July to September this year.

3. Social media campaign ‘My Dear, I wanna tell you……’: We will launch a social media campaign ‘My Dear, I wanna tell you…… (親愛的,我想告訴你……)’ soon, to encourage public to speak outtheir wish to donate to family, and to spread out the message, encourage their family and friends to support organ donation and rekindle the lives of those in need. Please follow our Society’s Facebook page, support and participate this meaningful campaign.

4. Community video competition on Transplantation and Organ Donation: We will organize a community video competition in late 2022. Target participants will be secondary school students. Participants will be invited to join zoom workshop about transplantation and organ donation, and practical tips on video shooting. The winning video will be played in Opening Ceremony of CAST 2023. Dr Kelvin Kai-Wah LEE from Hong Kong Baptist University will be our technical adviser of this competition.

HKST website and social media updates

The Society website has continued to be an active platform for communication and information update. There was major enhancement in Society website this year. Some of the new features of the Society website are as followed:

1. Online membership system: new membership application and annual membership subscription can be done online

2. Members’ area that allows on-demand viewing of Society events, such as annual scientific meeting, as well as other educational resources

In addition, we have setup Society Facebook page since 2019 to ‘connect’ members and public with social media. We uploaded articles and videos about updates in transplant medicine and organ donation regularly. We will continue to promote organ donation and provide transplant education through social media.

Lastly, I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the office bearers and council members for their advice and support. I would also like to thank all members for the unfailing support to Hong Kong Society of Transplantation.

Dr. Maggie Kam-Man MA

President, HKST

17 July 2022

Dear Members and Senior,

Entering the second year of my President of the Hong Kong Society of Transplantation since 2020, I have witnessed a lot of changes, as we all do. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our predecessors and Council members for helping the Society to thrive.

This is a special year for everyone, including the transplant society. I wish to highlight two important themes.

Reaching out to Public in Venues other than Face-to-Face

1. Social media

Since 2019, our Society have launched a Page at Facebook, through which we try to reach out to more in the community.

https://www.facebook.com/香港移植學會-Hong-Kong-Society-of-Transplantation-674573053014758/

Since the pandemic (not to mention an increasing popularity of social media), this platform has emerged to be an important means for communication. Educational and promotion materials have been uploaded regularly, thanks to our Council Members Dr. Gordon Chan and Dr. Jeremy Teoh. Please like our Page and invite more to visit our Page. In terms of audience metrics, our Facebook Page has reached more than 130 persons each month, which has been very stable.

2. Zoom

In addition to the social media, we have also explored other means to reach out in the context of social distancing and regulation.

In collaboration with the Hong Kong Kidney Foundation, Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association, we have organized memorial ceremonies for organ donors in virtual format. In October 2020 and April 2021, we had two activities named 「大愛恩人」網上秋祭 and 網上春祭 respectively, to pay tribute to the altruistic organ donors.

Solid Organ Transplant Recipient and COVID-19 Vaccine

Thousands of stories appear - some of them true, many false – to influence intent to vaccinate or not. The issue is even more tricky for solid organ transplant recipients who are vulnerable to infection.

As Lisa Rosenbaum wrote about Covid vaccine hesitancy in New England Journal of Medicine, the most effective way to increase vaccination rates is with clinician recommendations. “I got this vaccine, and I want you to have it, too.” As influential as the healthcare professionals can be, we feel shortchanged for information too.

The Hong Kong Society of Transplantation has made efforts to understand the science and get updates on the vaccine.

In early March, we issued a position statement to give information for the vaccine use in solid organ transplant recipients. The statement was sent to members, and posted in our website and Facebook (with nearly 500 views). Subsequently, the Centre for Health Protection incorporated the document in their interim guidance notes to the public. 

As an ambassador to give our patients better and accurate information of Covid vaccine, we have participated in Facebook Live talk on 14 April 2021, with the title 「器官捐贈與新冠疫苗」. The video has more than 600 views.

KM Chow

President, Hong Kong Society of Transplantation

Dear Members of HKST,

It is my great honor to be elected as President of the Hong Kong Society of Transplantation in 2019. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our predecessors and Council members for helping the Society to thrive. 

This is a special year for everyone, including the transplant society. I wish to highlight three important themes.

Reaching out to Public to promote organ donation

1.Social media

The year 2019 marks a new page in our Society, when we try to reach out to more in the community. With the challenge to reach out to the public, the Hong Kong Society of Transplantation has launched a Page at Facebook since July 2019.

https://www.facebook.com/香港移植學會-Hong-Kong-Society-of-Transplantation-674573053014758/

The world is facing the biggest challenge to meet in person with social distancing, not to mention the rising platform of social media as an important means for communication. The educational and promotion materials have been uploaded regularly, thanks to our Council Members Dr. Gordon Chan and Dr. Jeremy Teoh. Please like our Page and invite more to visit our Page. As an estimate, the Facebook Page has reached more than 130 persons each month, and we wish to increase the audience. 

Since this Page is open to public, we have also received enquiry from secondary school students on relevant topic of organ donation. We have harnessed this resource to raise community awareness on the topic of organ donation and ethics; we thank our Council Members for their timely response and reply to the enquiry.  

2.Television 

In addition to the social media, we also featured in other means to achieve a better dissemination of information. For the waitlisted patients who need to suffer because of the lack of organ donation, we have helped the television TVB to give a featured program on their journey. On 19 July, the program narrated stories of patients requiring heart, liver and kidney transplant.

The title of the program is 星期日檔案: 等一個奇蹟.

Please follow this link to watch the program:

http://news.tvb.com/programmes/sundayreport/5f13d6ec335d19a724be013d

3.Radio

In collaboration with the Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association, we have helped to participate in the Radio Television of Hong Kong RTHK radio education program, under the Community Involvement Broadcasting Service CIBS. It is a series of radio program to delineate the achievement of organ transplant in Hong Kong (including cornea, bone marrow, kidney, liver, heart, lung transplantation). Special guests including Dr. Leong Che Hung, Rita Fan Tsui Lai-tai, Prof. Sophia Chan were invited, together with organ recipients and Council members of our Society participate in the radio program production and recording. 

The title of the program is 移植「辛」突破.

If you want to listen to the seven programs in this series, please visit the link.

Organ donation during COVID-19 outbreak

With the recent disease local and global outbreak, we are watching how the situation of SARS-CoV-2 keeps changing daily. 

For kidney transplantation, living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) has been suspended in Hong Kong since mid-February 2020. Deceased donor kidney transplant (DDKT) continues and we have a total of 12 DDKT between January to March 2020. One of the kidney transplant recipients was infected with COVID-19 on the Diamond Princess Cruise. She responded to lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy; viral clearance was achieved despite continuation of immunosuppressant. Lopinavir/ritonavir is an inhibitor of CYP3A and, as expected, drug interaction with calcineurin inhibitor was observed. 

Because of the low deceased donor donation rate, only 2 heart transplantation and 2 lung transplantations had been performed since January 2020.

To keep the safety of members and speakers in mind, we have decided to postpone our Hong Kong Society of Transplantation AGM and ASM from April to 30 August 2020. We will keep you posted. Everyone please stay safe and healthy.

KM Chow

President, Hong Kong Society of Transplantation

President’s Report 2018-2019

Dear Members,

Time flies and it has come to the second and last year of my term to be President of our Society. Thank you for your support and active participation in the various events during last year. I am also particularly grateful for the support and advice from our Past Presidents and all Council Members.

Let me recount some of the landmark activities over this past year:

Academic Activities

Annual Scientific Meeting 2018:  The meeting was held on 22 April 2018 at Conrad Hotel. The theme of the meeting was ” Innovations and Recent Advances in Transplantation”. We had two overseas speakers: Professor Kathryn Wood from United Kingdom and Professor Yao Ming Wu from Taiwan. Professor Wood shared with us her research work on Regulatory T-cell Therapy and Tolerance , and Recent advances in biomarkers for monitoring immune status after transplantation. Professor Wu discussed on the topics of “ Robotic Pure MIS Right Hepatectomy for living donor of liver” and “ New onset of diabetes after liver transplantation”. The local speakers were: Dr Timmy Au, Dr Katherine Fan, Dr Chi Fai Kan, Dr Maggie Ma and Dr Sui Ling Sin. They shared their experiences of local advances on different topics including ABO incompatible liver and kidney transplantation, 3D printing for donor nephrectomy, living donor lobar lung transplantation and current status of Cardiac Donation after circulatory death. The meeting was well attended by 130 members. During the Annual General meeting, Dr William Lee and other office bearers reported the activities and the financial statements of the Society in the previous year, which was well received by all members.

Kidney Transplant Asian Summit 2018:  This summit was organized by Taiwan Transplantation Society and was held on 13-14th October 2018 at Taipei. It provided a platform for medical experts from Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong to share their knowledge on the latest development and experience of kidney transplantation. There were a total of 71 participants. The Hong Kong Medical Expert Panel included: Prof Tak-Mao Chan, Dr Kwok-Lung Tong, Dr Yiu-Han Chan, Dr John Li, Dr Lok-Yan Wong and Dr William Lee. 

Scientific Symposium: We co-organized a scientific symposium with the The Hong Kong Association for the Study of Liver Diseases  on 7th September 2018 at Hotel Excelsior. Our speakers were Dr James Fung from Hong Kong and Professor Joo Hyan Sohn from Korea . Dr James Fung discussed on EASL Guidelines for the management of decompensated cirrhosis. Professor Sohn shared his experience of management of hepato-renal syndrome and acute kidney injury. The symposium was well attended by 60 members.

Meeting with Hospital Authority

Despite the number of registration in the Centralized Organ Donor Registry was increasing, the actual number of deceased donors did not increase accordingly. On behalf of Society, I sent invitation to Dr Tony Ko, Director ( Cluster Services ), for a meeting to discuss on the possible measures to improve the current situation. A meeting was held at HAHO on 7th December2018. Representatives from HAHO were Dr Tony Ko, Dr Ian Cheung and Miss Monica Wong. Representatives from our Society were Dr William Lee, Dr Kai Ming Chow and Dr Maggie Ma. We discussed on the possible measures to improve the current situation of organ donation. Dr Tony Ko promised to perform an internal review of the Organ Procurement System. A follow up meeting will be arranged after the review result is available.  

Bidding for Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation 2023

Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation 2023 was open for bidding last year. Our Society decided to bid for this important congress of Asia. Our letter of intention had been sent to the Council of Asian Society of Transplantation and accepted by them. We are now working with Hong Kong Tourism Board to prepare the bidding video and proposal. We will send representatives to attend the council meeting of Asian Society of Transplantation in September at New Delhi, India. Our proposal will be presented during their council meeting. I am looking forward to hosting this conference in Hong Kong.     

Collaborative Work with other Academic Organizations

HKST was invited to co-organize the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of The Hong Kong Society for Infectious Diseases. The theme of the meeting was “Transplant Infectious Diseases”. The meeting was held on 16th March 2019. I was invited to be the chairperson of the symposium. Dr Desmond Yap represented our society to give a lecture and the topic of his talk was “ Viral Hepatitis Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients “. The meeting was well attended by more than 200 members from both societies.

HKST was also invited to be supporting organization for the Heart Failure Conference Holistic Heart Care. The conference was organized by Management Society for Healthcare Professionals. The conference was held from 23-24th March 2019. Dr KM Chow and Dr Katherine Fan were invited to be the speakers of the conference.

The Spanish Transplant Procurement Management Team was invited by Hospital Authority to be the trainer of the The 3rd Intermediate Training Course in Transplant Procurement Management. Our council had a round table discussion with them on 14th August 2018 and we discussed about the strategies to improve organ donation in HK including how to explore more potential donors within the  hospital setting. 

Organ Donation Promotion Activities

1st Eye Donation Thanksgiving Ceremony: This event was held on 12th August 2018 at Lecture Theatre of Hospital Authority Building. The theme was promoting eye donation and introduction of the services of Hospital Authority Eye Bank. An “Eye Donor Memorial Garden Lighting Ceremony” was held. I attended the ceremony on behalf of Society.

HK Organ Donation Day: The 3rd HK Organ Donation Day and 10th Anniversary of the launching of Centralized Organ Donation Register was held on 10th November 2018 at “Garden of Life” of Kowloon Park. The theme was “Respect your loved ones’ wishes and support organ donation”. Professor Sophia Chan, Secretary for Food and Health, was the officiating guest. Dr Chi-Fong Wong , Dr Alvin Young, Dr Ka-Foon Chau, Miss Jenny Koo and Miss Yuen-Fan Tong attended the event on behalf of our society.

Donor Family Day: The purpose of this annual event was to show our appreciation to all the organ donor families. The event was held on 25th November 2018. This year we arranged one day tour visiting Ping Shan and Yuen Long. More than seventy donor families joined the event and the total number of participants was around 300. Dr Tak-Yi Chui, Under Secretary for Food and Health, was our officiating guest and he presented souvenir to our donor families. All the donor families enjoyed the tour very much.

Endless Love-Healing Act Program大愛恩人:  This program is run by Kidney Foundation and the aim is to honor the deceased organ donors and promote organ donation. I was invited to join the Program Committee as representative of HKST. Deceased organ donor would be honored with an individual plaque on Memorial Wall at the Garden of Remembrance, Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery with his/her ashes to be scatted at the Garden of Remembrance. An Autumn worship had been organized in December 2018.

Spring Sower Organ Donation Promotion Walk春耕行動:

HKST was invited to be the co-organizer of this event with Hong Kong Medical Association. Every participant will encourage five of his friends or family members to register as organ donor at Centralized Organ Donation Register. The event was held on 13th Jan 2019 at Tung Chung and the number of participants was around 300. The officiating guests was Dr Tak-Yi Chui , Under Secretary for Food and Health. Dr KF Chau, Dr Kelvin Yim and I joined the walk on behalf of our society. The event was followed by broad media coverage.

Thanksgiving Ceremony: This annual event was held on 31 March 2019 at underground lecture theatre of Queen Mary Hospital. Hospital Authority was our supporting organization. Our theme was愛要及時 大愛永念. It provided a platform for all organ transplant recipients of the preceding year to show their gratitude to the donor families. Professor Sophia Chan, Secretary for Food and Health and Dr Beatrice Cheng, representative of HAHO, were our officiating guests. Different organ transplant recipients shared their moving stories. KID Friend’s Choir from Princess Margaret Hospital Pediatric Unit joined our event as well and they had a fantastic performance.   

Organ Donation Promotion Working Group: HKST was one of members of the working group of Department of Health. Prof Philip Li, Dr KF Chau and I were representatives of HKST. The working group had regular meetings to discuss on the strategies to promote organ donation in HK.

Membership

The membership register is maintained by our Hon Secretary, Dr Maggie Ma. The current number of full member is 209 and associated member is 175 ( total 384). Membership benefits may be affected for non-paid up members. Any member who has not subscribed to the membership fees for two consecutive years will be removed from the membership list and need to re-apply to rejoin.

HKST Website

The website http://hkst.org is maintained by our web master Mr Kevin Lai and Dr Kai Ming Chow. Updated news and photos of our events will be posted in a timely manner.   

Patient Related Activities

4th Hong Kong Transplant and Dialysis Game 

The event was held at Tseung Kwan O Sports Center and Sports Ground from 3 to 4 November 2018. Our Society was supporting organization. The number of participants was around 6oo , including patients from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. The concurrent education program included a  series of educational sessions on organ donation and there were more than 17000 audiences.

Public Education  

Promotion of Organ Donation via mass media: HKST cooperated with Oriental Publications Limited and our members will write articles related with organ donation and transplantation. The articles will be published bi-weekly on Oriental Daily News . The initial project period was started from 6 March to 21 Aug 2018. As the feedback form the readers was good and encouraging, we extended the project till the end of May 2019. We are grateful to our coordinator Dr CY Cheung. The authors from Aug 2018 onwards were: Dr Albert Lie, Dr KL Tong, Dr CY Cheung, Dr Albert Chan, Dr KF Chau, Dr MF Lam, Dr Joycelyn Sim, Professor Philip Li, Dr WL Chak, Dr Winnie Chan, Professor Alvin Young, Dr WM Lai, Dr KM Chow, Dr WM Chan and Professor Tak-Mao Chan.

President’s Report 2017-2018

Dear Members,

This is my great pleasure and honor to have served the society as President last year. Thank you for your support and active participation in the various events. I am also grateful for the support and advice from our Past Presidents and all Council Members.

Let me recount the landmark activities of last year:

Academic Activities

Annual Scientific Meeting 2017: The meeting was held on 30 April 2017 at Island Shangri-La Hotel. The theme of the meeting was ”Pushing the Limit and Expanding the Donor Pool for Organ Transplantation”. We had two overseas speakers: Prof SP Berger from Netherland and Prof Y Ogura from Japan. Prof Berger shared with us his experience of transplantation in elderly and the strategy to promote live donor kidney transplantation at Netherland. Prof Ogura discussed on the transplantation in pediatric recipients and strategy to tackle the problem of preformed donor specific antibody. The local speakers were: Dr WM Lai, Dr Simon Sin, Dr WM Chan, Dr F Yap, Miss Jenny Koo and Dr WL Chak. They talked on different topics including transplantation in pediatric patients, use of ECMO in transplantation and cardiac death donor and strategy to expand the donor pool. The meeting was well attended by 148 members.

Kidney Transplant Asian Summit 2017: This summit was held on 18-19 November 2017 at Hotel Icon. It provided a platform for medical experts from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong to share their knowledge on the latest development and experience on kidney transplantation in Asia. The topics for discussion included: 1) Post -transplant Malignancy, 2) BKV infection and Post- transplant IFTA management. There were a total of 72 participants. The HK Medical Expert Panel included: Dr KM Chow, Dr Thomas Chan, Dr CY Cheung, Dr Roger Ngan, Prof Fernald, Dr Maggie Ma and Dr A Cheuk. 

Scientific Symposium: We co-organized a scientific symposium with the Hong Kong Society of Nephrology on 8 Jan 2018 at Hotel Excelsior. Our guest speaker was Prof Dirk Kuypers from University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. He was the chair of the International Society of Nephrology-The Transplantation Society (ISN-TTS) Transplant Center Sister Program. The topic of the symposium was “Practical Recommendations for Long Term Management of Modifiable Risks in Kidney and Liver Transplant Recipients”. The symposium was well attended by 56 members.

Liver Transplantation Scientific Symposium: HKST organized the symposium on 9 March 2018 at Hotel Excelsior. Our renowned speaker was Prof Gary Levy from University of Toronto. He shared his experiences on the following topics: 1) Experience sharing on Living Liver Donor Program at Toronto General Hospital, Canada and 2) Immunosuppression Strategies for Deceased and Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients : A Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence Perspective. The total number of participants was 32 including liver transplant surgeons, nephrologists, pathologists and organ donation coordinators.

Consultative Meeting of Food and Health Bureau 

In 2017, there was a thorough discussion among the community on the legal age of living donor and the organ donation policy. As a result, Food and health Bureau invited all the stakeholders to attend a    Consultative Meeting. As president of HKST, I had attended the meeting on 14 June 2017. 3 issues had been discussed:

• Legal age for live donation: The participants generally agreed to keep the age limit of 18 years. There was no consensus whether conditional exemption should be established.
• Opt-in/opt-out system: The participants generally agreed that it might not be an appropriate time to run opt-out system.
• Paired organ donation exchange: The participants generally supported the Paired Exchange Program. However, there was some concern that the program may violate the current Human Organ Transplant Ordinance.  

Our society held an open forum on 16 June 2017. The above three issues were discussed and we then proceeded to run an on-line survey and collect opinions from our members. The results of the survey had been published in our latest newsletter.

Collaborative Work with other Academic Organizations

Chinese Medical Association co-organized the symposium “ 19^th Beijing Hong Kong Medical Exchange” with Hong Kong Medical Association at Wuhan, China on 13 Sept 2017. HKST was invited to be the supporting organization of the symposium and the theme was “Frontiers in Nephropathies and Transplantation”. I was invited to be the chairperson of one scientific meeting and gave another talk on “ Organ Donation Campaign in HK, what have we done “. Our council member, Dr CY Cheung, was also invited to present his experience on “Post-transplant Malignancies”..

To celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of the Declaration of Istanbul (DoI), a working group of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG) had prepared a draft update to the Declaration. The revisions made in this 2018 Edition are intended to ensure that the DoI remains a valuable source of ethical guidance for health professionals and policy makers during the next decade in the face of persisting and emerging challenges in organ trafficking and transplant tourism around the world. As HKST is one of the official endorsed organization of the Declaration of Istanbul, our members were invited to participate in the survey and give feedback to update the document. The final version will be presented in July 2018 at a special workshop during the Congress of The Transplantation Society.

HKST was invited to be the supporting organization of the 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting of Hong Kong Society of Critical Care Medicine. The meeting was held on 26 November 2017. Dr SH Chok, our Hon Treasurer, was invited to be their speaker and talked on the topic of “Complications Post Liver transplantation”.

HKST also supported Hong Kong Pediatric Nephrology Society to bid for the 14^th Asian Congress of Pediatric Nephrology.

The Spanish Transplant Procurement Management Team came to HK as trainer for the training course held by Hospital Authority. Our council had a round table discussion with them on 15 Aug 2017 and we discussed about the strategies to improve organ donation in HK. Dr WL Cheung, Director (Cluster Services) from Hospital Authority also joined our discussion.

Organ Donation Promotion Activities

Endless Love-Healing Act Program大愛恩人:  This program is run by Kidney Foundation and the aim is to honor the deceased organ donors and promote organ donation. I was invited to join the Program Committee as representative of HKST. Deceased organ donor would be honored with an individual plaque on Memorial Wall at the Garden of Remembrance, Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery with his/her ash to be scatted at the Garden of Remembrance. A launching ceremony was held on 17 June 2017. Dr WM Ko, Secretary for Food and Health, and Dr WL Cheung, Director(Cluster Services) of HAHO were the officiating guests of the ceremony. The Program had been started from 1 July 2017 and there were 7 applications approved up to this moment. The Autumn Ancestral Worship had been held on 2 December 2017. Two donor families joined the worship.

HKMA Youth Forum : This forum was held on 21 October 2017 at HKMA Central Premises. I was invited to attend the forum. Other officiating guests were: Dr TY Chui (Under Secretary for Food and Health), Dr Beatrice Cheng (Advisor, Hospital Transplant Services) and Dr Pierre Chan (Legislative Councillor). The forum focused on discussion of the ethical issues, current situation and future of organ donation in HK. Medical students and young doctors attended the symposium. We had a fruitful discussion and our young generation was interested in organ donation and they were keen to promote it.   

HK Organ Donation Day: The second HK Organ Donation Day was held on 11 November 2017. Organ donation promotion booths had been set up in 18 MTR stations. The event also celebrated the 9^th Anniversary of the launching of Centralized Organ Donation Register. The theme was “ Organ Donation- Let’s talk”. Representatives of six religious groups attended the ceremony and showed their support to organ donation. Professor Alvin Young, Dr KF Chau, Dr Cindy Choy and I attended the ceremony at HK MTR station.

Donor Family Day: The purpose of this annual event was to show our appreciation to all the organ donor families. The event was held on 26 November 2017 at Pak Tam Chung Holiday Camp. We had games, cooking competition and BBQ. There were a total of 298 participants including donor family , medical professionals and volunteers. Prof Sophia Chan, Secretary for Food and Health, was our officiating guest and she acted as our judge for the cooking competition.

Organ Donation Stage Performance at “HK Brands and Products Expo 2017 “: The stage performance was organized by Rotary International District 3450 as a support to Department of Health’s organ registration drive. HKST was invited to be one of the supporting organizations. The event was performed on 28 Dec 2017. Dr TY Tsui, Under Secretary for Food and Health, was the guest of honor of the event. Dr WM Ko and singer Albert Au attended the stage as well and promoted organ donation to the public by singing.

Spring Sower Organ Donation Promotion Walk春耕行動: HKST was invited to be the co-organizer of this event with Hong Kong Medical Association. Press conference had been held on 30 Dec 2017 with broad media coverage. Every participant will encourage five of his friends or family members to register as organ donor at Centralized Organ Donation Register. The event was held on 7 Jan 2018 at Mui Wo and the number of participants was around 120. The officiating guests were Prof Sophia Chan (Secretary for Food and Health), Dr KH Wong (Controller, Center for Health Protection) and Dr Pierre Chan ( Legislative Councillor). Dr KF Chau, Dr Janette Kwok, Dr WL Chak and I represented HKST and joined the walk. 

Thanksgiving Ceremony: This annual event was held on 25 March 2018 at HAHO Lecture theatre. Our theme this year was 捐贈恩情 永鎖心田. It provided a platform for all organ transplant recipients of the preceding year (2017) to show their gratitude to the donor families. Professor Sophia Chan, Secretary for Food and Health and Dr PY Leung, HA Chief Executive were our officiating guests. Four organ transplant recipients shared their moving stories. KID Friend’s Choir from PMH Pediatric Unit joined our event as well and they had a fantastic performance. The ceremony was well attended by around 250 people.  

Organ Donation Promotion Working Group: HKST was one of members of the working group of Department of Health. Prof Philip Li, Dr KF Chau and I were representatives of HKST. The working group had regular meetings to discuss on the strategies to promote organ donation in HK.

Patient Related Activities

World transplant Game 2017: It was held from 25 June to 2 July 2017 at Malaga, Spain. Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association formed a team consisted of 17 organ transplant recipients and one organ donor. Kick off ceremony was held on 11 June 2017. HKST fully supported the team of HK. Dr KF Chau and Dr Kelvin Ho from our council formed a medical support team for our athletes. We had a great achievement by winning 7 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze medals. 

Table tennis Competition: A table tennis competition was organized by Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association on 3 September 2017. Dr KF Chau and Dr Stanley Lo formed HKST team and joined the competition.

“Fit for Life: Billion Steps Challenge “: This world-wide event was organized by World Transplant Games Federation and the aim was to bring transplant community together in union to do something for themselves: improve their health and fitness. All transplant recipients were serious about their health and the precious gift they had been given. All transplant recipients and health professions were invited to form their own teams and exercise by walking in their daily lives. Our council members also formed teams to join the challenge. Hong Kong had excellent achievement. Out of the 241 teams over the world, nearly one third of them came from HK. A renal transplant recipient from HK won the Global Individual Championship.. A celebration ceremony was held on 4 Dec 2017.

Public Education  

“Survey on Drug Compliance of Organ Transplant Patients”: This was the first-of its–kind survey among Chinese community jointly commissioned by Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association and Hong Kong Liver Transplant Patients’ Association. A press conference was held on 31 July 2017 at Kowloon Shangri La Hotel. The media coverage was satisfactory with 9 hard copies, 14 on-line news and 1 radio broadcast. The importance of drug compliance was reinforced to the public and our transplant recipients.

Promotion of Organ Donation via mass media: HKST cooperated with Oriental Publications Limited and our members will write articles related with organ donation and transplantation. The articles will be published bi-weekly on Oriental Daily News from 6 March to 21 Aug 2018. We are grateful to our coordinator Dr CY Cheung. The authors are: Dr William Lee, Dr Cindy Choy, Dr CF Kan, Dr Maggie Ma, Dr Stanley Lo, Miss Catherine Wong, Miss Jenny Koo, Dr SH Chok, Miss ML Pong, Dr CF Wong, Miss YF Tong, Dr Katherine Fan and Dr Joycelyn Sim.

May I take this opportunity to thank all Council Members and our Past Presidents for their unflagging support and hard work in making such a successful year for our society.

William Lee

President

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation

President’s Report 2015-16

Annual Scientific meeting 2015

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation (HKST) organized the 20th Annual Scientific Meeting on 19 April 2016 at Island Shangri-La Hotel. One of the founding objectives of HKST is to promote local education and training in the field of transplantation. To salute the achievement in local transplantation in the past 20 years, we have invited 5 eminent oversea speakers as well as 2 local speakers to address various aspect of organ transplantation. Renowned speakers are invited from transplant societies in neighboring cities and countries. These included Prof. Philip O’Connell from The Transplantation Society (TTS), Prof. Vasant Sumethkul from Thai Transplantation Society, Prof. Kyung-Suk Suh from Korean Society of Transplantation, Prof. Shoei-Shen Wang from Taiwan Society of Transplantation and Prof. Yonson Ku from Japan Society of Transplantation. Local speakers included Prof. See-Ching Chan and Dr. Janette Kwok. They addressed the challenges in modern transplantation, how to expand donor pool as well as to maximize transplantable organs. The meeting was well attended by about 150 members. President of Thai Society of Transplantation, Prof. Kriengsak Vareesandthip, together with the executive committee, also attended the meeting. A coffee mug was distributed to all members attending the meeting. Lecture slides have been uploaded to our Society homepage.

20th anniversary celebration

To commemorate the 20th anniversary, a celebration dinner was held on 19 April 2015 in Island Shangri-La. Prof. O’Connell, Prof. Vareesandthip, Prof. Sumethkul and Prof Ku were invited to join the dinner. The officiating guests were Prof. JCY Leong, Chairman of Hospital Authority HK, Prof. CH Leong and Dr. KP Cheng. All the current and past presidents and council members of HKST as well as colleagues involving in local transplantation of various sectors were invited. Transplant recipients were invited to have performance in the dinner to show their full rehabilitation. HKST would also like to acknowledge the Black, the band providing musical performance and made the evening memorable. The total attendance of the celebration dinner was 206. A business card holder and a desk-top pen were distributed as a gift to all attendants.

Organ donation promotion 2015

The local organ donation rate in 2015 was far from satisfaction. The failure of a 19-years old girl to solicit a transplantable lung has triggered territory-wide discussion of organ donation situation in Hong Kong. As the only local registered professional society in the field of transplantation, there was an explosion of request for interview in late 2015 by various mass media including newspaper, radio, television and even live forum (appendix 1). At the same time, there were also a surge of request of enquires and interviews from local students and organizations. With the assistance of HK Society of Nephrology, a roster has been set up to fulfill the public education need (appendix 2). I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. KS Choi, chairman of HK Society of Nephrology (HKSN) for his assistance. The collaboration will continue and the roster is currently managed by Dr. Maggie Ma.

An alliance group was set up by transplant patient (爭取政府檢討器官移植政䇿大聯盟) in Nov 2015. At the same time HK Idea Centre (香港集思會) has conducted a survey about the policy of local organ donation in Dec 2015. In responds to this, HKST has set up a focus group, chaired by Dr. KF Chau. After a several rounds of discussion, on behalf of HKST and HKSN, a proposal has been submitted to Dr. KM Ko, Secretary for Food and Health, HKSAR in Mar 2016.  

Sedan chair race 2015

Sedan Chair Race and Bazaar is organized by Matilda Hospital each year in October. The main theme in 2015 was “music”. HK Transplant sports association (HKTSA), together with HKST and HKSN had collaborated to form a big team to join the Fun Challenge competition by dressing up as African cannibals on 25 October 2015. Team members included doctors, transplant recipients, donor family members, volunteers from Fire Service Department and colleagues from drug firm. The purpose of the team was to promote organ donation by attracting the media and public attention, with the slogan “器官捐贈，無分國界 ; 你我支持，齊齊參予！”

At the same time, HKST also set up an organ donor registration stall in the Bazaar to invite event participants to register as organ donor. The event was successful and was covered by several local newspapers. Also gladly the team won 2 prizes: winner of “Team capturing the spirit of the event” and first runner up of “Encouragement and recognition of team effort”.

World Transplant Game 2015

World Transplant Game 2015 was held in Mar del Plata in Argentina on 23-30 August 2015. HKTSA formed a team of 6 transplant recipients to join the Game. HKST supported the team financially as well as to provide a medical support team, comprised with a transplant physician (Dr. CH Tam), a transplant nurse (Ms WY Ho) as well as a physiotherapist (Mr. Ken Ip).

A kickoff ceremony was held on 9 August 2015. Dr. Ko WM and Dr. Cheung WL together with Mr. SH Wu (胡兆康), the gold medalist of HK bowling team jointly encouraged our team members. Despite long hours of flight and cold weather, HK team successfully won 18 prizes (4 Gold, 1 Silver and 13 Bronze medals) in the Game. A celebration ceremony was held on 4 October 2015. Dr. CH Leong and Dr. PY Leung was the officiating guests. By means of sport activities, our transplant recipients had shown their full rehabilitation and appealed to the media for more organ donation in Hong Kong.

HKTSA will organize the 3rd HKTDG in October 2016. HKST will continue our support as a co-organizer. A kickoff ceremony was held on 10 April 2015.

Scientific Seminars

2 Scientific symposiums were held in 2015-16.

Both symposiums were co-organized with HKSN.

Cross strait Transplant Forum 2015

This annual forum, participated by transplant professionals from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan, was held in Shanghai on 4-6/9/2015. HKST was the usual co-organizer. Prof. SC Chan shared the current situation of organ transplantation in Hong Kong in the opening plenary symposium. Other topics presented by HK delegates included definition of brain death (Dr. WM Chan), organ procurement in Hong Kong (Ms. J Koo), ABO incompatible liver transplantation (Dr. Albert Chan), paired liver exchange (Dr. W Sharr), post-transplant viral infection (Dr. KC Hou), post kidney transplant DSA (Dr. HK Lo) and post-transplant hyperphosphatemia (Dr. WP Law).

7th CODR seminar

To celebrate the 7th anniversary of establishment of CODR, Department of Health organized a scientific symposium on 21 November 2015. The theme was “primary care physician can make a difference”. HKST was one of the co-organizers. On behalf of HKST, I shared the latest situation of organ donation in Hong Kong and encouraged primary care colleagues to promote organ donation in their clinical settings. The seminar was well attended by 108 colleagues.

New key opinion leaders meeting (nKOL)

This 2-days meeting was organized by Thai Society of Transplantation and TTS in Bangkok on 2-3 March 2016. By presenting 32 topics covering basic, translational and clinical science, the aim was to generate a broad and in-depth discussion conducted by new KOL as well as invited speakers. The meeting was attended by a total of 65 Asian speakers from 10 countries and 2 TTS invited guest speakers. Prof. SC Chan, Prof. TM Chan, Dr. Maggie Ma, Dr. CY Cheung, Dr. TCL Wong, Dr. KW Ma, Dr. M Hsin and I attended this meaningful meeting. It was a good networking opportunities to know more about other transplant centres in Asia Pacific areas.

26th International Congress of TTS

The congress has been scheduled on 18-23 August 2016 in Hong Kong. Prof. SC Chan, Dr. William Lee, Dr. Simon Hou, Dr. KM Chow, Dr. KL Tong, Dr. KF Chau, Dr. Cindy Choy, Dr. HK Lo, Dr. Maggie Ma and I have served in the host country liaison committee (HCLC). HKST has already committed to host one of the early morning symposium on 20 August for selected local abstracts presentation. This can encourage scientific studies and submission from local centres. HKST are committed to provide an informative transplant congress with local characteristic. Please pay attention to the latest progress.

Society Newsletter and message from president

Starting from issue 18, thanks for the effort of Dr. KM Chow, our Hon secretary, information boxes had been added to make our newsletter more educational and informative. Also I will send out message from my office quarterly by email to all members to keep you update the latest development of HKST. Our council hopes that you will support our Society relentlessly.

TTS affiliated society

HKST has reached agreement with TTS to be one of the affiliated Society starting 2016. Our full and associated members now can enjoy a reduced annual subscription rate to TTS (Full member: USD$ 90; Trainee or Associated member: USD$45). Don't miss the chance.

Donor family day 2015

Donor family day 2015 was held in Lake Egret Nature Park Rooftop Garden on 22/11/2015. Totally 308 participants, including donor family members, volunteers and guests enjoyed a happy weekend. By this meaningful event, HKST acknowledged the altruistic devotion of our donor families in donating the organs of their beloved one.

Thanksgiving ceremony 2016

Thanksgiving ceremony 2016 was held in lecture theatre of Centre of Health Protection on 28/2/2016. The officiating guests this year were Dr. WM Ko and Dr. WL Cheung. Moreover, the ceremony was supported by TVB this year. Ms. Catherine Tsang (曾勵珍小姐), together with 5 TVB artists paid tribute to our anonymous donors in the year 2015. With the encouraging title of信有明天, the ceremony was widely reported by best-ever number of news media. A video clip will be uploaded to YouTube for your perusal later.

Last, but not the least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to office bearer and the whole council in helping me for the direction and accomplishment of various tasks.

Dr. Chak Wai Leung

President, HKST.

24 April 2016.

Appendix 1: Record of Media interview

Appendix 2: Public Education roster

President’s Report 2012 - 2013

Annual Scientific Meeting 2012

The 16th Annual Scientific Meeting was held on 22nd April 2012 in Island Shangri-La Hotel. Prof. Sandy Feng from University of San Francisco, United States, had talked on transplant decision-making and immunosuppression withdrawal for liver transplant recipients. Prof. Alan Jardine from University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, had talked on strategies to reduce cardiovascular complications and prevention of malignancy and viral infection after solid organ transplantation. Local speakers including Dr. WK Wu, Dr. SH Chok, Dr. Haibo Wang, Dr. Beatrice Cheng, Dr. Cindy BY Choy and Dr. KF Chau gave presentation on areas of their expertise.

Annual Scientific Meeting and Annual General Meeting 2013

The 17th Annual Scientific Meeting will be held on 21st April 2013 in Island Shangri-La Hotel, Pacific Place, Hong Kong. Two eminent speakers from Australia and Korea will come to Hong Kong to join our meeting. Prof. Jeremy Chapman from University of Sydney, Australia, will give his talk on new development in kidney and beta cell replacement therapy and review the contemporary immunosuppressive therapy for organ transplant. Prof. Shin Hwang from University of Ulson, Korea, will give talks on surgical aspect of liver transplant and transplant for liver malignancies. Local speakers include Dr. Cindy Choy, Prof. Anskar Leung, Dr. William Sharr, Dr. Katherine Fan, Dr. YW Ho and Ms. Jenny Koo. Topics including stem cell transplant, heart transplant, kidney transplant and organ donation will be covered.

Cross Strait Transplantation Forum 2012

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, in collaboration with the Chinese Society of Organ Transplantation and the Transplantation Society of Taiwan, hosted the 3rd Cross-Strait Transplantation Forum on 24-26th August 2012 at Zhengzhou. Dr. Cindy BY Choy was the Chairperson of the meeting from Hong Kong. Other invited speakers included Drs. KF Chau, YW Ho, WC Dai and W Sharr. More than 150 participants had participated in the forum.

Scientific Meeting: Optimizing Renal Function with Clinical Use of mTOR inhibitor

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation in collaboration with Hong Kong Society of Nephrology,hosted the Scientific Meeting on “Clinical use of mTOR inhibitor in organ transplantations” in Sheraton Hotel on 30th November, 2012. Dr. Julio Pascual from Hospital de Mar, Barcelona, Spain, presented his talk on “Optimizing renal function with clinical use of mTOR inhibitor in kidney transplantation” and Dr. Cheuk Au had talked on “Local experience in use of mTOR inhibitor”.

The Eighth Asia Pacific Summit on Solid Organ Transplantation

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation was the supporting organization for the 8th Asia Pacific Summit which was held on 2nd to 3rd March, 2013 in Sheraton Hotel, Hong Kong. Thirty-seven speakers from 14 countries in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia visited Hong Kong and delivered plenary lectures on wide variety of topics in liver and kidney transplantation including post-transplant complications and high risk organ transplant. Local Chairmen and speakers included Dr. Cindy BY Choy, Prof. SC Chan, Prof. TM Chan, Prof. CM Lo, Dr. KF Chau and Dr. James Fung. The event had attracted more than 300 participants.

The Fifth China Transplant Games

To show the public the full rehabilitation and active aspect of organ transplant recipients, Hong Kong Society of Transplantation and Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association had organized a team of transplant athletes to join the 5th China Transplant Games in Hangzhou on 22nd – 24th June 2012. Seventeen transplant recipients from Hong Kong won 40 medals (12 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze) in the Games.

The First Hong Kong Transplant and Dialysis Games and “Support Organ Donation : Community Sharing Project”
「第一屆香港器官移植及透析人士運動會」暨「燃新生 支持器官移植分享計劃」

To promote organ donation and promote exercise among transplant recipients and patients waiting for transplant, Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association and Hong Kong Society of Nephrology co-organized the “First Hong Kong Transplant and Dialysis Games” in Hong Kong. The kick-off ceremony of the Games was held on 20th May 2012 in Queen Elizabeth Hospital which also marked the launching of organ donation promotion programme named 「燃新生 支持器官移植分享計劃」 with the medical staffs, transplant coordinators and transplant recipients going to the community (schools, companies, voluntary organizations, etc) sharing their experiences and promoting organ donation.

The Games was successfully held on 24 to 25th November 2012 at Tsing Yi Sports Centre and Tsing Yi Sports Ground. A total of 531 participants in 21 Teams (including teams from China and Macau) had participated in 160 events. The organ donation promotion event and the games had been widely reported in the media, raising the awareness and support from the public for organ donation. The total number of people registered in the Central Organ Donation Registry had reached 109,262 by November 2012.

Donor Families Activity 「捐贈受贈慶中秋共團圓」

As support to donor families, a gathering named 「捐贈受贈慶中秋共團圓」was held on 23rd September 2012 at the Centre for Health Protection for the donor families. Representatives from donor families and transplant recipients shared their 心路歷程 in the gathering and enjoyed the big moon cake which was specially prepared for the event. The atmosphere was touching and the responses were very positive.

2013 Organ Recipients Thanksgiving Assembly

器官受贈者感恩大會:「同慶同年、同月、同日再生」

To thank the organ donors and families for their selfless act, Hong Kong Society of Transplantation organized the “2013 Organ Recipient Thanksgiving Assembly” in the underground lecture theatre of Queen Mary Hospital on 27th January 2013. The event was officiated by Dr. Leung PY, Dr. Leong CH and Dr. Cindy Choy. The Theme of the ceremony was 同慶同年、同月、同日再生. Recipients from multi-organ donors and patients transplanted in year 2012 went up the stage and shared their memorable moment of life after transplantation and expressed their gratitude to the donors and their families. More than 180 recipients, their families as well as medical and nursing colleagues joined the event. The event was reported in more than 35 media (printed/electronic) and gained much support from the public.

Other organ donation promotion activities

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation had supported a number of organ donation promotion activities including:

• 香港電台第一台 RTHK1「精靈一點」
  A series of five talks on kidney、lung、heart、liver transplant and organ donation was broadcasted in the program 精靈一點 every Thursday from 10th May to 7th June 2012.

• Happy Magazine – special articles on Organ Donation and Transplantation was reported in the issue : June 2012, Happy Magazine.

• Guinness World Records Attempts: Most People To Sign Up as Organ Donors In One Hour, by Will-in-action on 3rd August 2012 at Polytechnic University. A total of 474 participants signed their organ donation cards in the event. The record had been accepted by the Guinness World Records.

• 「愛心延續 1 + 親」支持器官捐贈計劃 by Legacy 67 in Shatin on 13th Oct 2012.

• “Journey of Rebirth” - Talks and Sharing on organ donations for Junior Chamber International

  Kowloon on 21st Oct 2012.

• Talks on organ donation and transplantation for Rotary International District 3450 (Hong Kong, Macau & Mongolia) and Junior Chamber International Hong Kong on 17th March 2013.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the office bearers and council members for their advice and support. I would also like to thank all members for the unfailing support to Hong Kong Society of Transplantation.

Dr. Cindy Bo Ying Choy

President 

President’s Report 2011-2012

Dr. Cindy Bo Ying Choy

Annual Scientific Meeting 2011

The 15th Annual Scientific Meeting was held on 3rd April 2011 at the Island Shanghri-La Hotel. Over 140 participants attended the meeting. The three themes of the meeting were: Advances in Clinical Transplantation, Organ Donation & Multi-organ Transplantation, Optimizing the Outcome in Organ/Tissue Transplantation. Prof. Roslyn Mannon from University of Alabama at Birmingham delivered two lectures on optimizing immunosuppression and novel diagnostic tools of allograft dysfunction. Prof. Kyung Suk Suh from Seoul National University presented his work on liver transplantation highlighting the technical innovations of living donor liver transplantation. Local speakers included Prof. CC Szeto, Drs. LC Cheng, Anskar Leung, SC Chan, and Janette Kwok gave presentation on the area of their expertise.

Annual Scientific Meeting and Annual General Meeting 2012

The 16th Annual Scientific Meeting will be held on 22nd April 2012 in Island Shangri-La Hotel, Pacific Place, Hong Kong
The main themes of the symposium this year are
(I) Current Issues in Organ Transplantation
(II) Transplant Organ Shortage and Solutions
(III) Management of Complications of Organ Transplantation
Two eminent speakers from United States & United Kingdom have been invited to give two lectures each in the meeting. Prof. Sandy Feng from University of San Francisco will talk on “Transplant Decision-making: Beyond Donor Quality and Candidate Disease Severity” and “Immunosuppression Withdrawal for Adult and Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients: Fact, Fiction, or Folly”. Prof. Alan Jardine from University of Glasgow will talk on “Strategies to Reduce Cardiovascular Complications in Transplant Recipient” and “Immunosuppressive Strategies to Prevent Malignancy and Viral Infection after Solid Organ Transplantation”. Local speakers include Dr. WK Wu, Dr SH Chok, Dr. Haibo Wang, Dr. Beatrice Cheng, Dr. Cindy BY Choy and Dr. KF Chau.

Scientific Symposia

I) Hepatic-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery and Liver Transplantation Today

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation organized a half-day symposium on Hepatic-biliary-pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation on 18th June 2011 in The Mira Hong Kong . Over 90 attendees joined the meeting. The Society was honoured to have three very prominent experts in the field, Prof. Kazuhiro Hanazaki, Prof. Sheung Tat Fan, and Dr. Chi Leung Liu, sharing with the audience their experience.

II) Scientific Symposium on BK Virus Infection in Transplantation

The Scientific Symposium on BK Virus Infection in Transplantation was successfully held on 28th October 2011 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Dr Anskar Leung from Hong Kong, Prof Li Zhong Chen from China and Dr Chiu Leong Li from Macau shared their experience in quantitative analysis and management of BK virus infections in bone marrow and renal transplant recipients.

Cross Strait Transplantation Forum 2011

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, in association with the Chinese Society of Organ Transplantation and the Transplantation Society of Taiwan, hosted the 2nd Cross Strait Transplantation Forum from 5th to 7th Aug 2011 in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. It was a successful meeting with over 200 participants. Dr Cindy BY Choy delivered the opening speech and chaired the plenary sessions on behalf of the Society. Dr. Philip Li, Dr SC Chan, Dr KF Chau and Dr KH Chu had participated in chairing of scientific sessions or delivering of talks in the Forum.

Update on Living Donor Renal Transplantation- Renal Commissioned Training Program 2011-2012

Hong Kong Society of Transplantation , in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, USA; Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Society of Nephrology had supported Central Renal Committee in organization of Renal Commissioned Training Program 'Update on Living Donor Renal Transplantation' which had successfully been held on 14th to 15th January 2012 at Prince of Wales Hospital . Dr. Cindy BY Choy and many key members of the council including Dr. KL Tong, Dr. Philip Li, Dr. KF Chau, Dr. Beatrice Cheng, Dr. KH Chu, Dr. KM Chow, Dr. Sydney Yip and Ms YF Tong had participated in chairing of scientific sessions and delivering of talks during the symposium.

The 18th World Transplant Games, Goteborg, Sweden, 17th to 24th June 2011

To show the public the full rehabilitation and active aspect of organ transplant recipients, Hong Kong Society of Transplantation had organized a team of transplant athletes to join the 18th World Transplant Games in Goteborg, Sweden. A launching ceremony was held on 11th June 2011 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital with Dr. CH Leong, Dr. WL Cheung and Mr. Chung Yam Hung as the guests. Accompanied by Drs. K F Chau, Y W Ho and C H Tam, one transplant coordinator and two physiotherapists, the team of thirty-seven transplant recipients including 1 heart, 2 bone marrow, 14 liver and 20 kidney transplant recipients competed in 147 events including table tennis, badminton, golf, bowling, petanque, athletes, swimming and mini-marathon. Altogether they won 43 medals including 8 gold, 17 silver and 18 bronze. The celebration ceremony was held on 10th July in Hospital Authority Head Office with Dr. CH Leong, Mrs. Rita Fan and Mr. Anthony Wu and Dr. Cindy BY Choy as the officiating party. The ceremony was well reported by 51 media. Athletes were also invited to the Commercial Radio Program 「體育精神」on 11th June 2011 and TVB 「東張西望」on 1st August 2011 to promote organ donation.

Garden of Life at Kowloon Park

‘The Garden of Life’, established to honour the organ donors and also a venue for organ donation promotion education and activities, was unveiled on 12th November 2011. Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, being collaborating organization for various organ donation promotion activities of Department of Health, contributed ideas and supported the establishment of the garden. Dr. Cindy BY Choy and representatives from the council joined the opening ceremony in Kowloon Park. The ceremony also marked the third anniversary of the Centralized Organ Donation
Register.

2012 Organ Recipient Thanksgiving Assembly 「2012器官受贈者感恩大會」

To express the thanks to the organ donors and families for their selfless act , Hong Kong Society of Transplantation organized the ‘2012 Organ Recipient Thanksgiving Assembly’ 「2012器官受贈者感恩大會-感謝新生四萬年」 in the Hospital Authority Head Office on 12th February 2012. The Officiating party included Dr. Cindy BY Choy, Dr. C.H. Leong, Mr. Anthony Wu as well as Mrs. Rita Fan, who joined the event with a pre-recorded video clip. More than 250 organ recipients and their families as well as medical and nursing colleagues and volunteers joined the event to express their thanks to organ donors. Patient representatives who had received organ transplants for more than 10 (liver, lung, heart) and 20 years (kidney, bone marrow) as well as patients who had received their transplants in 2011 went up the stage and shared their memorable moment of life after transplantation and expressed their gratitude to the donors who have selflessly donated their organs and extended the life of all recipients by a total of forty thousand years! The event adjourned in its climax by the chorus of the song “全賴有您”. The new book 《共慶新生四萬年》, published by Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, compiling more than 100 original articles from organ recipients on their memorable recollection after transplantation, was also launched and given as a gift to all participants in the event. The event had received considerable media attention with more than 50 coverage on electronic media, newspapers and website media and had raised the public awareness of organ donation.

Launching of new books

1. 《生命的讚歌》e- book
   
   The electronic version of the book 《生命的讚歌-器官移植的動人故事 (I)》was launched in November 2011 and is now available in both the Apple and Android Platform. The book, first published by Hong Kong Society of Transplantation in 2010, contained 81 articles by the organ donors/donor family, transplant recipients, patients waiting for transplant and the transplant professionals who shared their stories and feelings through words.
   
   
2.  《共慶新生四萬年》
   
   The new book 《共慶新生四萬年-器官移植的動人故事 (II)》published by Hong Kong Society of Transplantation was launched at the Thanks Giving Ceremony on 12th February 2012. A total of 107 articles, written by the long organ transplant survivors ( more than 10 years post heart, lung, liver or cornea transplant and 20 years after bone marrow or kidney transplant) on their memorable recollection after transplantation. The book is on sale in book stores to widen the effect of organ donation promotion.

World Kidney Day - 愛心捐腎重獲新生

The World Kidney Day at Hong Kong , hosted jointly by Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, Hong Kong Kidney Foundation, Hong Kong Society of Nephrology and Hospital Authority was successfully held on 11th March 2012 in Kowloon park. The theme of World Kidney Day 2012 was ‘Donate- Kidneys for Life- Receive’ . The purpose was to raise the awareness of the public on kidney disease and to promote organ donation and transplantation. The event had attracted much attention of the public and being widely reported in various media.

HKST Website Development

http://www.hkst.org
The Society website has continued to be an active platform for communication and information update. Special thanks to our webmaster Kenny, who is also a heart transplant recipient, for maintaining and constantly updating the website. The web garden網上紀念公園 had received much publicity and a number of articles had been uploaded into the relevant sections of the garden. The “Memorial Gardens『毋忘我』” contains articles written by families and friends to pay tribute or remembrance to the deceased organ donors and the “Words of Gratitude『頌新生』is a platform for recipients of organ transplant to express their feelings and thoughts after transplant and to express their gratitude towards organ donors and their families. Major development in 2011-2012 was implementation of on-line submission of articles to our web gardens. An instruction page had been created to guide the interested persons to submit their articles. After simple clicking of the consent for submission button on the web page, one can start submitting the article on-line. Other development included addition of Chinese in relevant parts of the website.
Organ Donation Promotion Programs in Media
Hong Kong Society of Transplantation had collaborated with ATV for production of 10 TV clips entitled「你是他們的命運」 to educate public on organ donation and transplantation. The clips had been shown in ATV from 16th June to 27th May 2011.
The Society had participated in the working group for creation of a dedicated fan page "Organ Donation@HK" in Facebook by Department of Health. The aim of the fan page is to increase the awareness of organ donation among younger generation. The fan page had been launched in Facebook in August 2011.
Other organ donation promotion activities in various media included

• Commercial Radio Program 「體育精神」on Transplant Game , broadcasted on 11th June 2011
• TVB program 「東張西望」 on transplant recipients sharing , broadcasted on 1st August 2011
• Now TV program 「杏林在線」 on 器官移植 , broadcasted on 3rd September 2011
• Road Show program on organ donation「延續生命, 同譜歌弦」, broadcasted on 10th to 16th October 2011
• 經濟日報 on 「器官捐贈,生命因你延長」, reported on 19th October 2011
• Cable TV 「小事大意義」on organ donation, broadcasted from 10th to 17th October 2011
• China Daily- HK Focus : “Born Again” on liver transplantation, reported on 28th October 2011
• 信報 on器官移植的好處與風險, reported on 9th March 2012
• Cable TV on Winter Transplant Game, broadcasted on 12th April 2012
• 香港電台RTHK program 「笑容從家開始」 on living donor kidney transplant, broadcasted on 19th April 2012

Donor Family Day Camp
As support to the donor families, our Society had organized a day camp to Tai O, Lantau for the donor families on 6th Nov 2011. A total of 232 participants including 59 donor families and 28 volunteers (which included doctors, transplant coordinators and 10 transplant recipients) had joined the Day Camp and the sharing session. The event was much enjoyed by the donor families and the responses were very positive.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the past presidents, especially Drs. KL Tong, KF Chau and Philip Li ; office bearers especially Drs. SC Chan, KH Chu and MK Yiu and council members for their advice and support. I would also like to thanks all members for the unfailing support to Hong Kong Society of Transplantation.

Dr Cindy B. Y. Choy

President

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Dr. Chau Ka Foon

2009.4.26

Annual Scientific Meeting 2008:

The Hong Kong Society of Transplantation organised the 13th Annual Scientific Meeting on 6 April 2008 at the Island Shangri-La Hotel.Two eminent overseas speakers were invited including Professor Jeremy Chapman, Present Elect of the Transplantation Society and Clinical Professor of University of Sydney, Australia and Professor Akinlolu Ojo from University of Michigan, USA. The debate on financial incentives for organ donation by the two speakers was especially stimulating. Five local experts in transplantation presented the local experiences.The themes included Lung Transplant in HK, Strategies for unrelated haematopoietic stem cells, Barriers to organ donation in HK, Post kidney transplant diabetes and metabolic complications after liver transplantation. Dr. KF Chau reported on the 16th World Transplant Games in Thailand.The meeting was a successful one and was attended by 128 attendants including 21 doctors from China.

Scientific Seminars:

Six scientific meetings were held in 2008-09:

Topic

Venue

Speakers

Participants

16 May 2008

Asia Pacific Transplant Forum – Levelling the Playing Field For Kidney Transplant Patients

Inter-Continental Grand Stanford Hotel

Prof. Daniel Brennan (USA)

Prof. A.Vathsala (Singapore) Prof. Soon II Kim (Korea)

Dr. Dinesh Khullar (India)

Dr. Tongyu Zhu (China)

34 attendees from 9 Asian Pacific regions

11 June 2008

New Strategy in Managing Kidney Transplant Recipients

(co-organized with HKSN)

Sheraton Hotel

Prof. John Fung (USA)

35

27 Sept 2008

Professional Training Program on Organ Donation and Procurement

(co-organized with HA, HKSN, HKKF and HKUA)

HAHO

Prof. Marti Manyalich (Spain)

Dr. Vincent Nieuwenhuijs & Ms Danielle Nijkamp(Holland)

Drs Beatrice Cheng & KF Chau(HK)

257

30 Oct 2008

Discussion of Treatment Options of Immunosuppressant in Different Category of Clinical Scenarios

(co-organized with HKSN)

QEH

Prof. Steve Chadban (Australia)

45

11 Dec 2008

European Experience on New Formulation of Tacrolimus in Kidney Transplantation

(co-organized with HKSN)

Sheraton Hotel

Prof. J P Van Hooff (Holland)

42

30 Mar 2009

Optimizing Immunosuppression Strategy in Kidney Transplant Recipients (co-organized with HKSN)

Sheraton Hotel

Prof. Henrik Ekberg (Sweden)

3rd Chinese Transplant Games, Shanghai (13-16 June 2008):

Dr. KF Chau led the Hong Kong team to participate in the 3rd Chinese Transplant Games held at Shanghai in June 2008. The team consisted of 50 members, including 31 transplant patients, 2 living donors, 2 deceased donor families, 6 medical staff and 2 volunteers and 7 accompanying persons. Eleven patients had received renal, 11 liver, 6 heart, 1 lung and 2 liver-renal transplant. They participated in 64 events including track and field, swimming, badminton and table tennis. They obtained 24 medals including 13 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals. The medical staff also visited Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University during the period. Press conferences were held before and after the Games and attracted intensive media attention and the event was widely reported thro’ TV, radio and newspapers. The event is co-organized by Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association. Thanks very much to the hard work of Drs. YW Ho and Stanley Lo, Ms Cora Cheung, the physiotherapist, Ms Angela Wong, the transplant co-ordinator and Ms Yu Suk Wah, the former heart transplant co-ordinator who rendered the event the very success.

World’s Biggest Walk / Acknowledgement Ceremony to Donor Families (25 Oct 2008):

This first acknowledgement ceremony to the deceased donor families in Hong Kong was held at Olympic Square, Hong Kong Park as the highlight of the 1st World’s Biggest Walk which was initiated by the World’s Biggest Walk Foundation to arouse the awareness of the pubic on organ donation. The Walk was done simultaneously in 109 cities all over the world. The Ceremony and the Walk was attended by ~900 persons including ~260 from 124 donor families and ~400 from 19 patient support groups/organizations. Drs. York Chow, Leung Ka Lau and Leong Che Hung were the guest of honour. Prizes to winners of the essay competition in primary schools and e-card design competition in secondary schools were presented. The theme song ‘捐贈愛’ was composed by 高皓正for the event. The program was completed by a short Walk to the exit of the HK Park. The activity was co-organized by HA, DH, HKSN, HKKF, HKMA and HK Health Link. A series of publicity including NOW TV 杏林在線, RTHK 精靈一點 and special articles in various newspapers.

Organ Donation Promotion:

1. Apart from the publicity related to the Chinese Transplant Games and the World’s Biggest Walk, we were active in promoting organ donation thro’ various media:

Program/Title

Organization

Speakers

Show day

6.08

‘Pulse’ TV programme on Incentive for living donors

RTHK

Dr. KF Chau

13 June 2008

6.08

精靈一點

RTHK 1

Drs. Beatrice Cheng & KF Chau and Ms Monica Wong

18 June 2008

9.08

Memorial Garden for deceased donors

South China Morning Post

Dr. KF Chau