Hong Kong’s Yuen Kwok-yung shares his journey to becoming top disease expert in new book

My Life in Medicine: A Hong Kong Journey is set to be released in mid-July and charts leading microbiologist’s forays into nature, space and public health

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University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung has described writing the book as “nostalgic therapy”. Photo: May Tse

Published: 9:00am, 17 Jun 2024

A leading infectious disease expert from Hong Kong has told how his childhood fascination with animals and even astronomy helped him become a top microbiologist, as he looks back on his life in a soon-to-be-released autobiography.

My Life in Medicine: A Hong Kong Journey is to be published in mid-July, with the English-language book delving into the life of Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, 67, covering his early years all the way up to his work as a government adviser during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yuen, the chair of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong’s department of microbiology, said writing his book was therapeutic as the prospect of retirement loomed. He may have to retire when he reaches 70.

“It seems to be that as I age, [there are] chances that I will tend to forget all the details. Before I forget all the details, I better write it down,” Yuen told the Post in late May.

“It is a kind of nostalgic therapy … you want to make yourself happy by remembering things in your good old days.

“As a normal protective mechanism, humans tend to forget all the bad things and remember all the good things.”