Thursday, September 15, 2022

CMEL e-Newsletter (July-August 2022 Issue)



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EDITORIAL


APPOINTMENTS & ACHIEVEMENTS
 

Dr Philip S. L. Beh, Prof Gabriel M. Leung and Dr Priscilla Song have recently completed their appointments:

  • Dr Beh: CMEL Co-Director (Medicine);
  • Prof Leung: Dean of the LKS Faculty of Medicine and ex-officio member of the CMEL Executive Board ("EB"); 
  • Dr Song: member of EB.


We are grateful to Dr Beh for his many pivotal contributions and to Prof Leung and Dr Song for their support and guidance.

We warmly welcome Prof Gilberto K. K. Leung, Prof Chak Sing Lau and Dr Julie Y. Chen, who have taken up the appointments below:

  • Prof Leung: CMEL Co-Director (Medicine);
  • Prof Lau: Dean of the LKS Faculty of Medicine and ex-officio member of EB; 
  • Dr Chen: member of EB.


Dr Haochen Sun, CMEL Research Fellow, has been promoted to full professor. We send him our heartiest congratulations.

Additionally, we are pleased to announce that CMEL Co-Director Dr Calvin W. L. Ho has been awarded a grant by the Research Grants Council to study the regulatory governance of medical AI in the Greater Bay Area. Prof Gilberto K. K. Leung will also be involved in this study.

Last but not least, we have presented in this newsletter various research and medical law updates and a collection of MBBS student essays

 




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JOURNAL ARTICLES


"Credentialling—Myths, Challenges and Spirit"

In Hong Kong Medical Journal 

Gilberto K. K. Leung is a co-author.


"Respecting Values and Perspectives in Biobanking and Genetic Research Governance: Outcomes of a Qualitative Study in Bengaluru, India"

In Wellcome Open Research

Calvin W. L. Ho is a contributing author.

 



GRANT

Project title: "Regulatory Governance of AI in Medicine in the Greater Bay Area"; Project to commence from 1 November 2022 and will run for 18 months. Funder: RGC General Research Fund 2022/2023. Principal investigator: Calvin W. L. Ho.

 


 

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EXTERNAL EVENTS


Readers interested in learning more about the papers marked with an asterisk (*) below are welcome to contact Ms Daisy CheungDr Calvin W. L. Ho at cmel@hku.hk.

*Ms Daisy Cheung presented a paper entitled "Implementing Will and Preferences in Adult Guardianship Regimes of Confucian Societies: Redefining the Problem" at the 7th World Congress on Adult Capacity, which took place in Edinburgh, Scotland from 7 to 9 June 2022. 

*Dr Calvin W. L. Ho presented a paper entitled "Surmounting Colonisation by Data in the Use of AI and Analytics for Cost Predictions in Health Insurance" at the Global Meeting on Law & Society, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 13 to 16 July 2022.

*In collaboration with Ms Alison Hall (PHG Foundation, University of Cambridge), Ms Mathavi Senguttuvan (NUS) and Dr Karel Caals (NUS), Dr Calvin W. L. Ho conducted and presented in a symposium entitled "Digitalization of Contact Tracing and Proximity Tracking in East and South Asia: Ethical Lessons for the Post COVID-19 Era", which took place in Basel, Switzerland, from 20 to 22 July 2022. This project was funded in part by a grant awarded by the World Health Organization.

*Dr Calvin W. L. Ho presented on "Ethical and Legal Challenges in the Use of Genomic Data in Big Data Research and in the Development of Medical AI" in a workshop on " Societal Impact and Response to AI and Data Intensive Research Use of Genomic Data" organised by Eurac Research at Brocher Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) on 10 & 11 August 2022.

*Dr Calvin W. L. Ho presented on "Consent and Explainability in the Development and Implementation of Medical AI" in a hybrid international conference on "ELSI of Internet of Medical Things and Healthcare AI" organised by the Asian Institute for Bioethics and Health Law, Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea) on 22 & 23 August 2022.

Dr Calvin W. L. Ho also gave the following webinar presentations: 

  • a presentation entitled "Bridging the Research-Therapy Divide in the Regulatory Governance of Artificial Intelligence as Medical Devices" in a webinar by the Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) programme at Universiti Malaya, which took place on 24 June 2022 (recording available here);
     
  • a presentation on "Digital Capabilities", which was part of a webinar by the Epidemic Ethics Network (Oxford) entitled "Ethical Priorities for a New International Instrument on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response ", which took place on 25 July 2022 (recording available here);
     
  • a presentation entitled "Regulatory Governance of AI in Medicine in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area in China" in a webinar by the Bioethics Centre at the University of Otago, which took place on 22 August 2022 (recording to be made available on the organiser’s website in due course).
     

 

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MEDIA INTERVIEW

 

"Hong Kong’s Ban on CBD Products Leaves Companies Facing Ruin"

On Bloomberg (12 August 2022)

In an interview with Bloomberg, CMEL Co-Director Dr Calvin W. L. Ho shared his views on Hong Kong’s proposed ban on cannabidiol (CBD) products.

 


 

 

MEHU Updates Banner


MEDICAL STUDENT MUSINGS ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN MEDICAL ETHICS AND LAW

 

The Wu Jieh Yee Prize in Medical Ethics and Law (伍絜宜醫學倫理與法律短評獎) was established in 2019 with the support of the Wu Jieh Yee Charitable Foundation to encourage medical students to embrace critical analysis of contemporary issues in medical ethics and law. It is awarded annually to an MBBS Year 5 student on the basis of performance of assessed work in the Medical Ethics and Law curriculum and the quality of a scholarly essay.  

The 2021-22 essays have now been published on the Medical Ethics and Humanities website and are worth a read. They demonstrate students’ willingness and skill in engaging with difficult and sometimes contentious topics. Each essay is shared with the author’s permission, in the hope of triggering open and meaningful conversation that will contribute to the betterment of humankind.

We welcome you to explore!

Prize Winner:   CHEUNG Ka Yuet Kylie

Ethical Considerations of Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Among Healthcare Workers in Hong Kong 

Healthcare workers are one of the most important populations to target for COVID-19 vaccination strategies due to their increased exposure to high-risk patients and potential risk of transmission within the hospital environment. As vaccine hesitancy can potentially exacerbate the impact of the pandemic, mandates for such vaccines have been proposed for healthcare workers. Thus, renewed discussions about the ethics of such policies are discussed in this essay.

"I was initially inspired to write the essay about vaccine mandates after reading a series of news articles about UK and US health-care workers protesting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates. As the fifth wave was beginning to strike Hong Kong at that time and vaccine hesitancy was prevalent, I thought it would be timely to explore the topic in a more local context."

Notable essay:  LAU Hiu Yin Dawn 

Transgender in Hong Kong: Ethics and Medicolegal Perspectives 

This essay explores the topic of being transgender in Hong Kong and how it relates to the local medical system, from the points of view of patients and healthcare professionals alike. The often-overlooked discrimination and obstacles that transgender individuals face under the current system are highlighted with an aim to shine light on the ethical issues and provoke thought in students and workers in the field.  

"The transgender community within the medical field is largely underground and invisible. As a member of said community in a society that largely misunderstands us, and from the unique position of both an aspiring doctor and a patient, I was inspired to gather the experiences of others in similar situations, as one of our tiny steps towards a better future."

 


 

 

Medical Law Updates Banner


GUIDANCE FROM MEDICAL COUNCIL ON TELEMEDICINE

 

The Medical Council of Hong Kong has issued Questions and Answers to the Ethical Guidelines on Practice of Telemedicine
 



COVID-RELATED AMENDMENTS TO EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE

 

The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2022 has come into effect in Hong Kong. 

It addresses employment-related issues arising from the implementation of anti-epidemic measures, such as issues of dismissal and sickness allowance. 

 

 

 

CENTRE FOR MEDICAL ETHICS AND LAW HKU


ABOUT
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The Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL) develops new ideas and solutions in response to the big ethical, legal and policy questions of medicine and health.

 

CMEL is the first cross-faculty interdisciplinary institution of its kind in the region. It was founded in 2012 by the LKS Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong as a joint inheritor of their vibrant intellectual traditions dating back to 1887 and 1969 respectively.

Today, CMEL brings together bioethicists, academic lawyers, medical scientists, and other scholars to conduct cutting edge bioethical and legal research and contribute to policy development in flagship areas like population and global health, mental health and capacity, and digital health and emergent technologies.
 
Research, teaching and knowledge exchange—CMEL’s core initiatives—aim to ensure that developments in biomedicine and public health will be underpinned by ethical and legal considerations.


 

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CONTACT
Centre for Medical Ethics and Law

Office 9.21, 9
TH Floor,
Cheng Yu Tung Tower,
The University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR


T +852 3917 1845
F +852 2549 8495
cmel@hku.hk       
www.cmel.hku.hk

 

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