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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) presented the Wei Lun Public Lecture on ‘Public Health and Art’ by Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer of England and Advisor to the United Kingdom today. The lecture attracted over a hundred CUHK teachers, students and alumni, secondary school teachers and students, as well as members of the healthcare and public sectors.

In today’s lecture, Sir Liam explored the links between arts and public health. The birth of the modern public health movement was a response to the diseases and social scourges of the industrial revolution in European cities throughout the last 200 years when public health moved between the personal, the public and the political environment. Sir Liam defined the relationship between public health and art from the 19th Century to modern times.

'We treasure Hong Kong’s historic links with the United Kingdom and our close educational links,’ said Professor Tai-fai Fok, Dean of CUHK Faculty of Medicine. ‘We need also to be aware of the role of arts and humanities play in improving health.’

Sir Liam is an international leader in health and health care of global influence, particularly in the fields of public health care quality. His championing of the imperative to improve patient safety – engaging with victims and their families, politicians, policy-makers and professional leaders worldwide – led directly to the establishment of the World Health Organization World Alliance for Patient Safety, is hugely influential. Sir Liam is at the forefront of bringing this important initiative to the level of global concerns which has offered hope to millions of patients around the world.

Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Sir Liam obtained his Bachelor Degree in Medicine and Surgery at University of Bristol in 1972. He then furthered his studies at University of Birmingham and University of Leicester, where he received his Master Degree in Anatomy in 1975 and a Doctorate Degree in Medicine in 1982 respectively. Sir Liam has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer for England since 1998, and is only the 15th person to hold this historic post since it was established in 1855 in response to the cholera epidemics that swept Victorian England. Sir Liam is the longest serving Chief Medical Officer of modern times, and has been holding responsibilities across the fields of public health and health care.

Sir Liam has been very active in publishing academic journals as well as producing landmark reports which transform important areas of health care. Sir Liam has co-authored Essential Public Health, a standard text book of public health, The Nation’s Doctor, a History of the Chief Medical Officers of England, and over 130 papers in peer review journals. Sir Liam has also produced a number of major reports in his role as Chief Medical Officer, including England’s first comprehensive health protection strategy, Getting Ahead of the Curve; a comprehensive review of the current system of medical regulations, Good Doctors, Safer Patients; and his Annual Report On the State of Public Health, which strongly championed the need for action on key areas of public health, including the calls for action on obesity and the need for smoke-free public places.

In recognition of his achievements in health and healthcare, Sir Liam Donaldson has been awarded Knighthood in the United Kingdom New Year’s Honours List (2002), the Picker Award for Excellence (2006) and the Distinguished Leader Award from the World Health Executive Form (2009).

The Wei Lun Visiting Professorship / Fellowship Scheme of CUHK was established through a generous donation by the Wei Lun Foundation Limited with the aim to invite eminent scholars from around the world to visit and give lecture at CUHK.