Teaching in ‘Midwifery and Diseases of Women’ began at the Alice Memorial Hospital. Dr. William HARTIGAN and Dr. Alice D. HICKLING led the instruction, and it was later moved to the Government Civil Hospital. Other doctors like Dr. John C. THOMSON and Dr. Charles FORSYTH also made contributions.

Tsan Yuk Hospital opened in 1922, for maternity and gynaecological services and teaching. Professor Richard E. TOTTENHAM became the first Chair of Midwifery in 1925 and performed the first Caesarean section. Dr. Doraisamy K. SAMY was the first local graduate teaching full-time.

After Dr. Doraisamy K. SAMY acted as the head of department, Professor William C.W. NIXON succeeded him in 1935. Professor NIXON founded the Hong Kong Eugenics League, which was a precursor to the Family Planning Association, and offered early contraception services.

Gynaecological services moved to Queen Mary Hospital in 1937, while obstetrics stayed at Tsan Yuk Hospital. Professor NIXON later returned to Britain and headed the University College of London.

In 1938, Professor Gordon KING was appointed to succeed Professor NIXON. He encouraged his staff to do research and he himself was well known for his report on clinical observations of hydatidiform mole and choriocarcinoma. He was also responsible for the theory that toxaemia of pregnancy was related to beri-beri.

During the Second World War, Professor KING, as Dean of Medicine and Pro- Vice-Chancellor of HKU, helped to move medical students to China to continue their studies with the help of Professor Daphne W.C. Chun. The Faculty was quickly re-established after the War in 1945, and shortly after that our Department became a recognized centre for specialist training by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, U.K. The number of deliveries increased through the years. The new Tsan Yuk Hospital at the present site, with seven storeys, was built with a donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club to provide more beds and delivery rooms with increasing demands. It was opened on 13 June 1955.

Professor King resigned in 1956, and subsequently helped founding two medical schools in Australia and Kenya. He passed away in 1991.

In 1957, Professor Daphne W.C. CHUN was appointed to succeed Professor King. Professor CHUN was a qualified nurse and had worked as a nurse and physiotherapist to earn money to support herself to study Medicine. She graduated from HKU with distinctions, and was the first HKU graduate to be appointed to Chair Professor in the Faculty.

Professor CHUN was an excellent pelvic surgeon. She introduced a system of obstetric audit and the practice of foetal monitoring, and edited a bilingual textbook in obstetrics for Hong Kong. Under her leadership, the low maternal and perinatal mortality rate in our Department was made internationally known. She was also renowned for her research work on gestational trophoblastic diseases, which has since become a flagship area of the Department through the subsequent successions. She started a territory-wide hCG follow-up programme for hydatidiform mole patients by offering free hCG assays to other hospitals. She also saw the expansion of teaching activities to other public hospitals. Professor Chun retired in 1972 and passed away in 1992.

Professor H.K. MA assumed headship in 1972. Professor MA initiated the development of sub-specialities within the Department. The Mrs. Wu Chung Prenatal Diagnostic Laboratory was established at Tsan Yuk Hospital in 1981 by a donation from the Wu’s family, and the prenatal diagnosis and counselling service was started around that time. The assisted reproduction programme was commenced in Queen Mary Hospital in 1986. Under her leadership, the Gynaecological Oncology Division was recognized for subspecialty training by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in February 1991. Before this, some staff members including Professor MA received subspecialty training in gynaecological oncology in the United States. These three programmes have been playing a leading role in Hong Kong.

During her Deanship in the Faculty of Medicine, Professor MA pioneered reform of the teaching curriculum, and we were the first Department in the Faculty to introduce OSCE and end-of-clerkship Clinical Competence Test for student examinations. She also saw the establishment of the Hong Kong College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, where she served as the Founding President. Upon her retirement in 1995, the Ma Chung Ho Kei Foundation was set up to promote public education on women’s health. It funded the establishment of the Lady Helen Woo Women’s Diagnostic and Treatment Centre at Tsan Yuk Hospital in 1996.

Professor P.C. HO was appointed as Head in 1995. Under his leadership, the Division of Reproductive Medicine played a leading role in the field both locally and internationally. Professor HO gained international reputation for his research works on fertility regulation which led to significant advances in medical abortion and emergency contraception. During his headship, the subspecialty training programmes in Reproductive Medicine and Maternal-Fetal Medicine were also recognised by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in July 1998 and November 2001 respectively.

He saw the relocation of the out-patient gynaecological services from Sai Ying Pun Out-Patient Clinic to S Block of Queen Mary Hospital in 2000, and that of in-patient maternity service from Tsan Yuk Hospital to Queen Mary Hospital in 2001. Some of the out-patient obstetric activities were also moved to Queen Mary Hospital in subsequent years. The New Medical Campus at Sassoon Road was commenced in 2001, and some of our research laboratories were relocated there where expansion of laboratory-based research was made possible. With Professor HO’s keen encouragement, the clinical and basic research activities in the Department reached new heights. Professor HO stepped down from Headship in 2009.

Professor Hextan Y.S. NGAN became the Head of Department in 2009. Professor NGAN was the first in Hong Kong to be accredited as Subspecialist in Gynaecological Oncology by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist. She is also renowned internationally in the field and served as the Chairperson of the FIGO Committee on Gynaecologic Oncology. In the international arena, she contributed enormously to the classification system for gestational trophoblastic diseases as well as to cervical cancer control and prevention. Professor NGAN also pioneered the application of laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery in treatment of gynaecological cancers. She has set up the basic research laboratory for gynaecological cancers and the team has published widely in biomolecular studies in gynaecological cancers. She contributed to the formation of the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital and headed its newly established Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology since July 2012.

Professor Karen K.L. CHAN assumed headship in 2021. She also serves as the chairman of the HKCOG gynae-oncology board. Professor CHAN is the President of HKCOG and the past president of the Hong Kong Society for colposcopy and cervical pathology. She is the secretary-general for Asia- Oceanic Organization in Genital infections and Neoplasia (AOGIN) and a council member of Asian Society of Gynaecological Oncology. She is also a member of the Policy Committee for the International Papillomavirus Society. Professor CHAN also serves on the Cancer Coordinating Committee for the Hong Kong government.