Page 9 - CUHK MEDICAL ALUMNI Newsletter Issue 2 Vol 9 2018

SPECIAL FEATURE ➊
08

edge of converting some of the cancers Professor Mok is a well-known TV
to chronic illnesses,” he says. “I think this personality. Asked about his showbiz
is a very crucial time for cancer therapy in career, he laughs: “I don’t think the word
the history of mankind.” showbiz is correct. In showbiz you get
paid! I wasn’t!” It all started in 2006 when
Asked if he harboured any regrets
leaving his private practice in Canada? he was approached by TVB to do a health
His response: “Absolutely not!” show. He said yes. “I saw the educational
value in it and I thought it might be fun.”
Professor Mok had not always wanted However, after two seasons he found it
to be a doctor - he had set his sights boring. So they discussed turning the show
on becoming a marine biologist. “As into a food and health show. That routine
a student at St Stephens College in saw Professor Mok doing restaurant
Stanley, we were by the sea all the time. rounds, flanked by two other female hosts.
from being a private practitioner in I started to think what I was good at. I He became known as the “Food Doctor”.
Scarborough, Canada, to an academic. was good at Biology, I love the sea, I like He recalls an incident during a ward round.
In addition, as an academic, his salary eating seafood and so I thought, why not An elderly lady pointed a finger at him and
would be much lower. “I was a private put them all together. I know it was naive asked: “Are you sure you are a doctor? I
doctor for seven years then and I didn’t thinking.” thought you were a doctor on TV. I didn’t
do much academic work. I didn’t have But when he left Hong Kong for Alberta, know you were a real doctor!”
many publications and so didn’t have Canada to join his older brother,
any track record on research.” he realised the closest ocean was Eventually, Professor Mok had to give it
up: “It was extremely time-consuming
On the other hand, he knew if he had 2,000 miles away. “So I changed my and my research work also kept me really
stayed in Canada, life would have been biology interest from fish to human.” very busy so I couldn't spare the time to
predictable - “I would have just Then in medical school, it was a toss up do this kind of extra curricular activity.”
carried on as before, have a between gastroenterology and oncology.
bigger house, bigger car and He was accepted by Queen’s University in It is not all work and no play, however.
bigger practice with a lot Kingston in Ontario for gastroenterology He tries to squeeze in some fun activities
more patients.” and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto whenever he can - like skiing and scuba
diving.
Then, he thought of the for oncology. Both were the country’s top
chance to work with institutions. He was in a dilemma. Professor Mok says he does not see
mainland scientists. “It was At the time there were lots of new inventions himself as a workaholic. “I don’t see my
1996 and Hong Kong and new technologies available for work as a burden. In fact, I find it kinda fun
was preparing to be gastroenterology while cancer research was to do. It is a blessing when you see work as
reunited with China and quite stagnant. To outsiders, it would have something fun…I think I am a lucky guy.”
it has been my vision been an obvious choice, it would seem. His advice to young medical students:
to work with mainland “Don’t forget what you had said when
researchers.” But Professor Mok’s final decision came down you got called for the interview to do
to this - his love for Chinese food. “There
Finally, in 1997, he was no Chinatown in Kingston and there was medicine…what you promised to do…
joined CUHK’s much better Chinese food in Toronto.” that is, you want to be a doctor in order
Department of to help others and not do it for the
Clinical Oncology Besides being a clinician and researcher, money or glory!”
as an Assistant
Professor. Since
then, Professor Mok
has written more
than 200 papers
and made several
landmark discoveries.
Studies on cancer -
which had been been
stagnant in the eighties
- are now a hot-pick,
medically speaking, and
treatments are being
developed at a faster rate.
“We are now really at the