The connections of the Wong-Tsang family to the University go back more than 50 years, when Dr Yat Kwong (YK) Wong (MBChB Medicine, 1965; MD Medicine, 1973) became the first of 10 family members to study medicine at Birmingham.
The role Birmingham Medical School has played in the careers of YK, brothers Yat-Sun, Yat Kiu (Buddy), David and YK’s son Alexander and daughter Patricia was reflected in the family’s recent gift to the Hong Kong Foundation.
The donation honours YK’s parents, as his father was responsible for setting him on his career path as a doctor, after sending him to the UK for his education.
He explains: ‘My father was a merchant, who had business connections with companies in Europe. As a father of eight children, he often had to call upon the services of doctors when any of the children were sick. At that time, there were few Western-trained doctors in Hong Kong.’
YK was sent to the UK when he was only 12, taking a month-long boat trip via the Suez Canal with his older brother Jack and guardian. His travels then took him from a boarding school in Wales to the independent Quaker school Leighton Park, in Reading, from where he would start his long dreamed of medical degree at Birmingham.
YK would spend time on rotation working at various hospitals in the region, including the old Birmingham Children’s Hospital in Ladywood, which kick-started his career as a paediatrician.
YK’s brother Buddy would go on to become an ear, nose and throat surgeon and acknowledges the importance of YK blazing a trail for the family, saying: ‘It was very difficult to get into medical school in those days, but because YK had already earned his place it felt more achievable.
‘To receive an offer from a medical school is a prize to be treasured and my time at Birmingham was very much my “formative years”.’
Both agree that their studies involved plenty of hard work – requiring a prompt arrival at the Medical School Library at 8am to make sure they had access to the limited number of books.
Nevertheless, the nature of the course meant that close friendships were formed. Buddy adds: ‘The work was often a hard slog, but I still have friends with whom I am in touch. We were organising our 50th anniversary reunion for last summer, but the pandemic forced us to postpone it.’
While the four brothers all studied at the University in quick succession, YK put no pressure on his children to follow in his footsteps, saying: ‘They simply came to have a look at the campus. Both decided they liked it, and so they applied – and they have stayed in the UK ever since, to make their careers.’
The family’s generous gift to the Foundation is commemorated with an engraved plaque honouring their parents. The plaque was installed next to a Tilia Tomentosa (silver lime) tree in the Green Heart, near the new library. YK chose the tree to reflect his love of Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree) by 19th-century composer Franz Schubert. Linden trees are commonly called lime trees in the UK and he adds: ‘Lime trees are not native to Hong Kong but have beautiful flowers. It felt like a good way to pay my respects to my parents.’