Spotlights: Dr Pamela Lee receives the prestigious Rosie Young 90 Medal for Outstanding Young Woman Scholar

Interview with Dr Pamela Lee

Have you been taught by Professor Rosie Young? What’s your impression of her?
I had the fortune to be taught by Prof Rosie Young during my specialty clerkship – I could still vividly remember her teaching clinic in the S Block SOPC. Together with my groupmates, we were all thrilled to have such a precious learning opportunity. I was impressed by Prof Young’s patience, thoroughness and her ability to put the patients at ease. Actually, students felt at ease too – this is perhaps the kind of environment most conducive to effective learning.

What’s the difference between being a student and a teacher in HKU Med?
I entered medical school in 1997, and since then I have been dwelling in the Sassoon Road / Pokfulam habitat for more than 2 decades. I consider myself as a HKUMed citizen, playing different roles at different stages. To me, the transition from student to teacher is a continuum, especially when I started to teach when I was a paediatric trainee myself. I feel excited about learning new knowledge and skills every day – one just need to see and seize the learnable moments in our everyday clinical practice.

It’s a blessing to see our former students growing up to become our colleagues, looking after patients together with us. On many occasions, I have learnt from my former students when I consult them for specialist opinion. Two students from my former PBL groups are now working with me closely in the same team, taking care of children with immunological diseases – it’s an amazing journey!

(From students to team mates. (A) Pamela’s PBL group for MBBS II in 2009, attended by a mainland visiting professor as observer. The far left is Florence Choi (M’12). (B) Happy re-union: Pamela and Florence (now a resident specialist) work closely together in the same team at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital. (C) Dr Gilbert Chua (Clinical Assistant Professor, also from M’12) was in Pamela’s PBL group when he was in MBBS III. They now work together for the Paediatric Immunology, Allergy and Infectious Diseases (PIAID) service. The photo was taken in June 2021 at UPAM’s celebration for staff receiving long service award.)

Among teaching, research, and being a physician, which role you like the most? How do you integrate your different roles?
What I like most about my work is discovery – from diagnostics in patient care, uncovering a new phenomenon or mechanism in research, to unleashing students’ strengths in teaching. These enable me to begin everyday with renewed enthusiasm.

Taking care of patients is my highest priority. Medicine is both an art and a science. Furthermore, the practice of medicine is a craftsmanship that is refined throughout our career – clinical acumen and reasoning, procedural skills, situation awareness, communications and counselling, and many more. There’s much more for me to teach and share as I make progress in my career. In Chinese, the common term for teaching is ‘教書’ which literally means ‘teach the book’, but to me it’s much more important to teach students how to learn (教學), and to show them the practice of medicine. Hence, I like taking my students along to see me at work, or they take me to see their patients in their residency and I watch them doing a ward round.

How do you achieve work-life balance?
To be honest, the learning curve was a very steep one in my early years as a young academic paediatrician, when clinical training, teaching, and learning how to do research all happened at the same time. There’s no shortcut, and it does need determination and perseverance. I do manage to have some quality time for leisurely activities. I enjoy simple, healthy cooking – choosing and getting in touch with the food items, processing them and enjoying them is a great satisfaction. I love hiking – getting in touch with nature, opening up our five senses, discovering new scenes and unique experience even with the same route. Both cooking and hiking enable me to gain insights of interconnection of matters and systems in life.

Is there any advice you could give to the students in HKU Med that could encourage them in the professional field?
The most important is to set your priorities, realize your goals and pursue your aspirations. The medical profession offers broad range opportunities, and we can take up different roles at different stages of life, depending on our priorities. I feel very blessed to have a very supportive and nurturing environment from UPAM and the Faculty for me to grow and thrive. See and seize the opportunities, and whatever your do, give your best.