Originally, we hope the pandemic situation will be improved and we will organize in-person event in the fall. We even had reserved a restaurant on Sunday Oct 31, 2021 to hold our annual gala dinner. However, things are not going our way and there is still uncertainty ahead. To play safe for everyone, we had reluctantly cancelled our booking and hope we can resume in 2022.

Being said that, HKJU went ahead to organize another Zoom event on Sunday, Nov 7, 2021 from 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Details are to be announced later and you all are welcome to join. In the event, there is a talent quest item, we hereby appeal to HKUAAO alumni who don’t mind to share their talent like singing, musical instrument performance, magic, dance etc. It will be a pre-taped performance and this will be shown during the Zoom event. Please contact Augustine Chan (416-930-3666) or Romeo Au (416-529-3361) if you are interested.

Date: September 25, 2021 (Saturday)
Time: 7 pm
Venue: Online Zoom Meeting

Cost: Free
Registration: Registration is over. Thank you for your support!

We will elect the new board of directors and executive committee members for 2021 – 2022 at the A.G.M. All members are encouraged to nominate and be nominated for the Board for the coming year.

Notice of Annual General Meeting

NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Hong Kong University Alumni Association of Ontario will be held on Wednesday, the 25th day of September, 2021 at 7 p.m. by Online Zoom Meeting with the following business to be transacted: –

• To receive and consider the Annual Report for 2020-2021;
• To receive and consider the Treasurer’s Report;
• To elect directors and members of the Executive Committee of the Association for the year 2021-2022;
• To transact any other business.
  AND FURTHER TAKE NOTICE that any regular member in good standing shall be entitled to nominate another regular member in good standing to the Board of Directors and to be elected to the Board and to cast vote. Any such nomination should be emailed to the Association at hkuaaont@hku.hk on or before September 11th 2021.
  By the order of the Board of Directors
  Agnes Man, HKUAAO Secretary, August 23, 2021

Asset & Estate Planning 101 Sunday, July 25

Hats off to HKPUECA (Hong Kong Polytechnic University Eastern Canada Association). They organize an Asset & Estate Planning 101 webinar for their alumni on Sunday, July 25 from 3:00 pm. – 4:30 pm. They are generous to extend the invitation to all HKJU alumni. You are all welcome to participate. 

Please feel free to join as scheduled.
Topic: Asset & Estate Planning 101
Time: Jul 25, 2021 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Join Zoom Meeting 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84099665701?pwd=Z3VsOHBKampCQnVuU2ZmcDhtS08xUT09

 Meeting ID: 840 9966 5701 

Meeting ID: 840 9966 5701 
Passcode: 7406703 

Regards,
Augustine Chan / Romeo Au

Designated Representatives to 2021 HKJU

*******************************************************************

All HKJU activities were suspended in 2019 as the pandemic took over the globe. Starting in February, HKJU committee has been met regularly to evaluate the possibility to organize activities for all JU alumni. As we saw no hope to organize in-person event, we decided to organize a Zoom Events on Sunday afternoon June 27, 2021. Various activities were included like individual exercise challenge, martial arts and singing performance, quiz competition and lucky draw. We even invited a professional chiropractor to show and teach us practical exercises to improve our body flexibility. All participants spent a fun and meaningful afternoon.

You can see the event in the following link: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/LecSLrL7FCu0jq3d0C4Fl8kPsx2viQxThzF93HRmjTje_Hu7yswdPAPn6hGnVm2C.Sp82PvDZXV6EMwpM?startTime=1624821524000
Passcode is HKJU2021#

Reported by Romeo Au

親愛的JU朋友:

疫情期間，相信各位朋友在家的煮食時間比以往多。有見及此，本會將於4月份舉辦一個網上烹飪交流講座。

我們有幸邀請理工校友Ronnie Wong與各位在網上分享烹任心得及即場示範兩款菜式。屆時參與者可以觀看煮食過程，或跟Ronnie同步烹調亦可，也歡迎即場提問烹飪心得。

如欲跟Ronnie同步煮食，須事先預備以下食材及煮食工具：

A. 簡易迷迭香蒜焗雞
準備材料:
1.雞一隻,預先洗淨
(半小時前放室溫)
2.鹽
3.黑胡椒
4.迷迭香
5.蒜頭(切碎)
6.橄欖油
7.檸檬 1個

工具:
1.鐵鍋(大小可放下雞)
2.利較剪
3.切菜板
4.砧板(生和熟各一塊)
5.切刀
6.隔熱手套

B. 普羅旺斯焗甘藍
材料(全部洗淨):
1.甘藍 10粒
2.甜椒 6隻
3.紫洋蔥 半個
4.黑橄欖 六粒(去核)optional

講者Ronnie Wong背景：
-畢業於George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology，修讀Chef Training Program與食物及營養管理學

-曾代表加拿大參加 6th world Championship of Chinese Cuisine in Bejing 及獲得 Bronze Medal of Hot Dish Category.

-曾於 French Cuisine in Carefirst Seniors & Community Services 任教

日期：4月24日（星期六）
時間：下午4點至5點
如欲報名，請按以下連結登記：

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsf-uvqTouH9BaLFwVT8YgwZLwmJQJ4hOY

登記後會收到確認電郵，內附當天烹飪講座的網上連結。歡迎踴躍參與，祝大家身體健康

HKPUECA

Romeo Au
Designated Representative to Hong Kong Joint Universities Alumni Ontario
Hong Kong University Alumni Association of Ontario 

The webinar of “A Dialogue on Aging: Genetics and Environment” 誰主衰老？基因共環境？was successfully held on March 6, 2021. Our two HKU Alumni and globally acclaimed speakers, Professor Lap-Chee Tsui 徐立之教授, HKUAAO Honorary Chairman, and Professor Chi-Chung Hui許志忠教授, University of Toronto and Sick Kids, shared with the participants their expert knowledge on genetics and the aging process. Since this is a very popular topic, within a short period of less than 2 weeks, close to 95 people registered for the event and 75 participants showed up. Notably, there were some participants joining from Hong Kong, other than Professor Tsui. They included Bernadette Tsui and Monica Wong of HKU Department of Alumni Affairs Office. Although our webinar was held on a Saturday evening at 7pm Toronto time, it did not deter those attending from Hong Kong, as it was an early Sunday morning at 8 am Hong Kong time.
Lilian Ma, HKUAAO President, started off the webinar with a welcome to all.
Professor Tsui began the webinar by presenting some basics in genetics and how genes control our bodily function using a simple and easy to understand language. A few slides of Professor Tsui’s presentation are attached below for sample information:

Professor Hui then shared with us current scientific understanding about the aging process. He explained the importance of mitochondria and how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to aging. He further suggested that exercise, healthy diet and “intermittent fasting” are a few ways to improve the function of mitochondria. Three of Professor Hui’s presentation slides are shown below for brief reference.

After the presentations, many participants eagerly and enthusiastically joined in the discussion of this hot topic. A total of 10 questions were received before the webinar. Irene Chu, HKUAAO Founding President raised the first question of “the recent technological advances and its relevance on aging”. Other questions included “Any way to reverse aging process”, “How to delay memory loss?” and “Intermittent fasting” etc.

Professor Tsui further referred the audience to the Mayo Clinic article titled “Memory Loss: 7 tips to improve your memory”. Please click here to access this article.

The atmosphere during the event was lively and enjoyable. Due to the time constraint, we ended the event at 8.45pm (Toronto time) with a closing remark delivered by Denis Au-Yeung, our past president.

HKUAAO would like to extend our deep gratitude to Professor Tsui and Professor Hui for generously sharing their time and expert knowledge with our members, so we are more informed of the relationship between genetics and aging.

———————————-

Presenters

Dr. The Honourable TSUI Lap-Chee, GBM, GBS, JP   徐立之教授  

Professor Lap-Chee Tsui was the 14^th Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) from 2002 to 2014. Prior to this appointment, he was the Geneticist-in-Chief and Head of the Genetics and Genomic Biology Program of the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids).

Professor Tsui, a world-renowned molecular biologist, received international acclaim in 1989 when he identified the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis, which is a major breakthrough in human genetics. He has also made significant contributions to the study of the human genome, especially the characterization of chromosome 7, and identification of additional disease genes. His work paved the Human Genome Project and the HapMap Project. To recognize his accomplishments, Professor Tsui was honoured in sculpture and with a floor plaque in the University of Toronto’s Donnelly CCBR building.

In addition to his many national and international awards, which include the Orders of Canada and Ontario as well as 16 honorary doctoral degrees from prestigious universities around the world and the 2018 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, he is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Royal Society of London and Academia Sinica. He is also an International Member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), a Foreign Member of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and a Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Laureate.

---

Professor Chi-Chung HUI   許志忠教授

Dr. Chi-Chung Hui is Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).

As an expert of mouse genetics, his research focuses on several signalling pathways (e.g., Hedgehog signaling, Iroquois homeobox genes) in development and disease. His laboratory, Hui Lab, has generated a variety of genetic mouse models of human congenital malformations, cancer, and obesity.

Professor Hui has received a number of prestigious awards, including a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Mouse Development and Disease Modeling, Research Scientist Award of National Cancer Institute of Canada (1999-2005), Terry Fox Young Investigator Award and Premier’s Research Excellence Award of Government of Ontario. He is also the Director of International Partnership at SickKids Research Institute and has been actively involved in promoting research and education collaborations between SickKids/University of Toronto and several leading universities in Asia and China such as University of Hong Kong and Zhejiang University. For further details about Professor Hui’s research work, please visit his web page at the Sick Kids.

———————————-

Reported by the organizing committee:
Augustine Chan, Verdi Yau, Maggie Poon and Glendy Sze

The webinar event on “Mental Health and the Pandemic” presented by our alumni members Dr. Peter Chang and Dr. Ted Lo, well known psychiatrists to Asian Canadians in Ontario, and moderated by Dr. King Fun Siu, another alumnus practicing family medicine in Ontario, took place on January 16, 2021, 7 – 8 30 p.m.  using the ZOOM platform.   The agenda included the three areas: impact of COVID: bio psychosocial aspects of the pandemic; Coping with the Pandemic and getting ready for the new-normal.

It was a well-attended event, with 95 registered and 87 attending, with participants from HKUAAO members, families and their friends as well as members from the HK Joint Universities Alumni members, in Ontario as well as other parts of Canada such as B.C.

The event began with a welcome to all and introduction of the presenters by the HKUAAO President, Lilian Ma.   Moderator Dr. KF Siu then took over the proceedings. 

The presentation was in three parts: the impact, the coping and preparing for the future.

Dr. Peter Chang started with the “biology” part of the subject, citing that the COVID virus can affect the body in many ways – including the mind – by affecting our nervous system.    Body and mind are interrelated and work as one.  There is a lot of psychological impact due to the pandemic, some due to prolonged stress, which can also lead to other physical symptoms such as increased hypertension.   At times these may be reversible but there is no cut and dry answer to each case.    Negative stress has been shown to shorten telomeres in our DNA which regulate how long a cell can keep dividing – thus its life longevity.  Epigenetics also come into effect in deciding on the expression of genes. In other words, environment is an important factor in affecting our overall health.   Doctors are expecting a pandemic on mental health issues following the COVID pandemic.

Dr. Ted Lo followed up on giving examples that he encountered during the pandemic.  He talked about how we can deal with the problems.   The participants also shared their experiences during the pandemic, such as some reporting having a lot of dreams and disturbed/interrupted sleep.  One should not hesitate to seek mental help support  if one feels onset of anxiety, depression and a sense of hopelessness. These can be triggered and compounded by economic hardship, necessity to learn new ways of doing things, and lack of social interaction/support felt by many during the lock downs. One can call organizations such as Hong Fook which specializes in helping Chinese Canadians in their mental health issues in the language of their choice.   One important factor is to keep a schedule of activities every day – particularly important if we are doing working from home.  With a schedule we can keep ourselves busy. Also we must include exercise in our schedule – exercise is crucial to keep ourselves not just physically fit but also mentally fit.    A daily walk, with a family pet if any, will do anyone good – the fresh air and sight of nature can be most beneficial. Dr. Lo also shared his tool kits with the audience.  Dr. Lo also explored the future as a result of the pandemic.  While this topic was not fully elaborated due to time, he suggested that there will be a new normal, which we have to adapt to with the learnings we derive from the pandemic. We need to prepare by looking for changes that would help our communities as well as our personal lives. 

Throughout, the presenters were happy to answer questions. The webinar and discussion lasted 1 ½ hours.  The HKUAAO would like to thank the presenters for donating their time and expertise to us all so we are better informed to take care of ourselves and our families during these difficult times.

Reported by Lilian Ma

——————-

Presenters

DR. PETER PAI-TAK CHANG
Dr. Peter Chang graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of HKU (1968), trained in Castle Peak Hospital and in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He obtained his specialist qualifications in Toronto, Canada and in London, U.K. In 1992, he graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, and started a law practice here in 1994.
Around forty years ago, Dr. Chang joined Dr. Lo and others in starting Hong Fook Mental Health Association because they discovered in their own psychiatric practices that there was a general lack of awareness of mental health needs within the Chinese and Southeast Asian communities, and that there were serious barriers to getting mental health services in these populations.
Dr. Chang changed jobs several times in his career, worked in about three provincial psychiatric hospitals and several general hospitals since he moved to Ontario from Hong Kong. In his administrative roles, he was drawn into the legal issues pertaining to mental health reform and the patients’ rights movement in the 1980’s, which might have induced him to join the legal profession about 26 years ago. 

DR. TED HUNG-TAT LO
Dr. Ted Lo graduated from the uFaculty of Medicine of HKU (1971), trained in Castle Peak Hospital and in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He obtained his specialist qualifications in London, U.K., and in Toronto, Canada.
Along with Dr. Peter Chang, Raymond Chung (both HKU alumni) and others, they founded the Hong Fook Mental Health Association (hereinafter referred to as “Hong Fook”) between the late 1970’s and early 1980’s for the purposes of promoting mental health among the Chinese and Southeast Asian communities in the Greater Toronto Area, and improving access to mental health services in general. Both of them have continued to work within Hong Fook in various capacities as called upon. Recently Dr. Lo organized a series of webinars on mental health in the pandemic called “Together We Thrive” for the Asian communities.
Dr. Lo has also joined the Faculty of Medicine at University of Toronto to design training in cultural competence for the psychiatric residents, and to further develop the field of cultural psychiatry in Canada.

——————-

Dear HKUAAO members,
The HKUAAO wishes to thank Dr. Michael Lam and the assistance of Dr. Ellen Lam in the presentation of the webinar on birding during the COVID pandemic on Nov 7 2020. We have approximately 30 particpants who engaged in a successful two hour interactive event.

We are sharing this event recording with all of you and you can click on this link to view at any time.

Hope to see you at one of our functions soon.
On behalf of the HKUAAO
Lilian Ma
President of Hong Kong University Alumni Association of Ontario

JOIN US FOR HKUAAO’s BIRDING UNDER COVID-19 PANDEMIC PRESENTATION ON NOV 7, 2020.

Dear Alumni,

With self-care and the pursuit of hobbies being more important than ever, we are thrilled to invite you to join us for a fun virtual session on : Birding during the COVID-19 Pandemic
on November 7, 7:30 PM EST.

During this interactive session, Dr. Michael Lam ( graduate year 1978 ) will share his experience of bird watching during the COVID-19 pandemic. In times of lockdown and isolation, bird watching itself , as a form of exercise, connects us to nature. It also allows us to interact with our friends through sharing stories, pictures and knowledge. It can be an independent sport or one that can be shared together with friends.

Join us and prepared to see wonderful photos from his photo collection, and some from other HKU birding group members too!

Please register here for this webinar if you are interested.

We hope that you’ll join us! Let us bring you to a world of beauty and wonder!

Sincerely,
Ellen Leung
Special Interest Group – Bird Watching
Hong Kong University Alumni Association of Ontario

Date: November 7, 2020 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Online Zoom Meeting
Cost: Free
Registration: Please register using the form below

* Zoom meeting details will be sent to all participants on November 5, 2020.

Registration is over. Thanks for your support!

The 35th HKUAAO AGM was held via Zoom due to COVID 19 ban on in person indoor meeting. It was attended by 17 Alumni members and Board Directors pursuant to e-notices sent out by our Secretary, Communication and Membership Directors.  

The Board had delayed the holding of the AGM in April 2020, under normal circumstances according to our by-law.  However, delay for the AGM for 6 months was allowed due to the Pandemic under the Ontario Corporations Act through the Ontario Emergency Orders which were effective since March 17, 2020.  Also, a virtual AGM meeting format was allowed.  Unfortunately, as a result, we could not hold the usual Dinner event which normally follows the AGM as in the past.

Nevertheless, under these difficult circumstances, we did the usual formalities required such as quorum confirmation, chair and secretary for the meeting designation, as well as appointment of Scrutineers and Sargeant- at-arms for the meeting.  

Business dealt with included the receipt and adoption of the 2019 AGM minutes, President’s Report for 2019-20 and Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement for 2019-20.

Election was held resulted in the following slate being elected: as the new Board of Directors:

Lilian Ma

Augustine Chan

Romeo Au

Tim Cheng

Verdi Yau

Maggie Poon

Franki Cheng

Raymond Leung

Dennis Au Yeung

Margaret Law

Wilson Chan

Glendy Sze

Evelyn Man ( overseas)

The AGM took one hour to complete.

On behalf of the Association, we would like to thank all the members who took time to attend the AGM.  We also thank the Board of Directors for 2019 -20 and our Honorary Advisors Irene Chu and Peggy Sum, Bassanio So, as well as our Hon. Chair Professor Tsui Lap Chi for their support.  We also thank the leaders of the various interest groups for their contributions to keep our alumni and family members together in their various interests such as birding, table tennis, hiking activities etc. throughout the year.  We hope to see each other again soon when the pandemic is over.

Reported by Lilian Ma
2019 -2020 President of the HKUAAO