The term of office of the 5 elected Council members will expire at the conclusion of this year's annual general meeting. Election process has started in July, and results will be announced at the AGM to be held in December 2015. Fellows should have received the nomination form earlier. Completed nomination form must reach the Academy office before 5 p.m. on 18 September 2015.

Demand notes for the 2015 subscriptions have been sent to Fellows in January 2015. Fellows who have not settled their subscription before 30 June should have received a demand note for subscription and surcharge. Please settle as soon as possible.

Reminder:

1. All payments must be received by the Academy before 30 September. According to Bylaw 6.4:

   If a member's fee or any other moneys due by a member to the Academy is not received by the Academy within 9 months after such payment falls due, despite two written reminders by the Academy to pay, the member shall automatically forfeit his membership.

2. It is Council's policy that late subscriptions received by the Academy after 30 June will be subject to a surcharge of 5% on the subscription amount.
3. For Fellows who have authorised payment via bank transfer / credit card, payments will be deducted from their bank accounts or credit card automatically.
4. Fellows aged over 70, or have reached 70 before the beginning of the next subscription year, do not need to pay any subscription and will not receive a debit note.
5. Fellows residing outside Hong Kong or have reached the age of 65 and have retired from all remunerative practice/job/business must submit written applications for reduced rates before 31 December if they wish to enjoy the reduced rates next year. For details, please visit http://www.hkam.org.hk/fellows_area/reduced_rate.pdf

Hong Kong Academy of Medicine is organising a Lecture, entitled "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by Dr. Atul Gawande, MD MPH on 12 November 2015 at the HKAM Jockey Club Building. Dr Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher and practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, US. He is also Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and also founder and chairman of Lifebox, a non-profit organisation making surgery safer globally.

In the Lecture, Dr. Gawande will address how human beings experience mortality is changing rapidly and dramatically across Asia as people live longer and have greater access to health care. Many of the changes mirror a transformation that occurred in the West to medicalise the end of life with the most common place for dying shifting from the home to the hospital. The medicalisation of mortality, however is an experiment that is failing in terms of cost and even more importantly in terms of suffering. Dr. Gawande's bestselling novel "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" gives directions for recognizing that well-being for most people is larger than mere survival.

For registration, please click http://www.hkamonline.hk/event20151112/

Deadline for registration is 31 October 2015.

HKJC ILCM organised a Strategic Planning Retreat on 25 July 2015 at Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. The aims of this event were to present the proposed curriculum for HKJC ILCM Comprehensive Simulation Educator Course and to review strategies to further the success and sustain the missions of HKJC ILCM.

Twenty-two healthcare professionals participated in the event and shared their ideas and experience with Academy's President Dr. Donald Li, Vice-President (Education and Examinations) Prof. Lau Chak-sing, and Honorary Secretary Dr. Lau Chor-chiu in the discussion session. A closing remark was given by the President at the end of the discussion, followed by an enjoyable barbecue lunch. The Retreat provided the participants with a platform to interact and share their experiences in the simulation-based medical education.

Participants shared their ideas with President and other officers of the Academy

Two experts from WHO, Dr. Rick Brennan, Director of the Department of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response and his team member Dr. Ian Norton, technical adviser and project leader of Foreign Medical Teams, recently paid a visit to the Academy. A number of meetings were organised to discuss the strategic planning and capacity building of the Academy’s venture, Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJCDPRI). The main purpose of the meetings was to share the important works of HKJCDPRI and our working partners in emergency response training. The WHO experts shared their vast experiences and perspectives on risk management in humanitarian relief operations. During the meetings, some potential areas of collaboration on training and accreditation were identified. More deliberations on these issues are required to determine the optimal way forward.

The Academy hosted a dinner in honour of the special guests of WHO. Many colleagues and partners were invited to join this occasion, including government officials from Food and Health Bureau and Department of Health, Dean of local medical school, representatives of Hospital Authority and Members of Governing Board of HKJCDPRI. President gave heartfelt thanks to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO and two of her fellow experts, Dr. Brennan and Dr. Norton who travelled a long way from Geneva. It is anticipated that HKJCDPRI would build and promote a well-structured platform for accrediting trained professionals in disaster management, with the assistance of WHO. Dr. Margaret Chan complimented the Academy on its job well done in disaster preparedness and response training. She mentioned that Hong Kong has built a strong system, and the Sendai Framework is just the beginning. She also encouraged the Academy to participate in the World Humanitarian Summit held next year to network with global experts of the field. The dinner was an enjoyable one with fruitful conversations.

Recent advances in preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Is the Hong Kong Medical Journal having an impact? Impact factor and beyond

Experience of more than 100 preimplantation genetic diagnosis cycles for monogenetic diseases using whole genome amplification and linkage analysis in a single centre
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is a reliable method to prevent couples conceiving fetuses severely affected by known genetic disorders. The most frequent indication for preimplantation genetic diagnosis was thalassaemia, followed by neurodegenerative disorder and cancer predisposition.

Immigrants and tuberculosis in Hong Kong
Immigrants carry with them a higher tuberculosis incidence and/or drug resistance rate from their place of origin. Immigrants and non-permanent residents were independently associated with poor treatment outcomes.

Efficacy and safety of hylan G-F 20 injection in treatment of knee osteoarthritis in Chinese patients: results of a prospective, multicentre, longitudinal study
A total of 110 knees of 95 patients with primary knee osteoarthritis were treated. This study demonstrated that hylan G-F 20 is effective and safe to treat knee osteoarthritis in Chinese patients.

Hong Kong Jockey Club Innovative Learning Centre (HKJC ILCM) will organise a Simulation Alliance Scientific Meeting for members of Simulation Alliance (http://hkjcilcm.hk/simulation.html) and allied healthcare professionals who are interested in medical simulation.

The upcoming meeting has been scheduled for Friday, 4 September 2015 at 7 p.m. at the HKJC ILCM. Dr. Jacky Chan, RN (Training Coordinator), A&E Training Centre, TSKH and Certified AV System Engineer will be speaking on "Advances in AV Technology for Simulation". Dr Benny Cheng, Consultant, Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, TMH/POH, and Dr Carmen Lam, Associate Consultant, Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, TMH will be speaking on "Improving Realism with Moulage".

For details and registration, please click here.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJC DPRI) and Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine (HKCEM) are co-hosting the Annual Conference on Disaster Preparedness and Response 2015 (ACDPR), entitled "From Community to Emergency Room" at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Jockey Club Building on 30 October - 1 November 2015.

The Annual Conference serves as an impetus for bringing together, healthcare professionals, NGOs workers/practitioners, teachers/students, and policy makers on disaster preparedness and response. It will be an important educational event for our Fellows and medical professionals in the Asia-Pacific Region.

• Program details
• Online registration
• Pre-conference workshop - Ultrasound Application in Emergency & Prehospital Setting, 28-29 October 2015
• Pre-conference workshop - Basic Mechanical Ventilation for Emergency Physicians, 29 October 2015
• Post-conference workshop - Immediate Care in Sport, 2-6 November 2015
• Post-conference workshop - Radiation Emergencies, 3 November 2015

MPS and HKMA will jointly organise a Medical Experts Training Course in Hong Kong. It is a 2-day course focusing on various topics such as legal and ethics of medical practice, mediation and dispute resolution, etc. Please click here for the programme details. For registration and enquiries, please contact Ms Sophia Lau of the Hong Kong Medical Association directly at [email protected].

Fellows of the Academy, which is one of the strategic partners of the Forum, can enjoy a special registration rate simply by entering the discount code HKAML40 when doing an online registration. This will activate the 40% Strategic Partner discount (off the full price of US$1,000) making the fee at US$600/2 days.