Charles Wong

APSR / Hong Kong Young Investigator Award I am honoured to have received the APSR / Hong Kong Young Investigator Award at the APSR 2021 Congress, which was held in a hybrid format for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite not being able to meet face-to-face, the virtual world connected respiratory colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region together again. The special APSR 2021 Congress in its virtual format was a great opportunity for me to present our study entitled “Microbiology and treatment outcomes of pleural infection in a tertiary hospital in Hong Kong: a 10-year review”. I was privileged to spotlight the topic because research in pleural infection is urgently needed. Its poor prognostic impact with high short-term mortality has contributed to the increasing healthcare burden, even in the modern world with the advent of antibiotics and newer treatment modalities. Our presentation highlighted that much effort has to be made to improve the outcome of this disease entity in order to build a better future for our community – in concordance with the theme of the Congress this year, “Our future”.

I enjoyed the oral session in which our study was presented. The session was excellently chaired by Professor Masaki Fujita from Fukuoka University Hospital. The discussion was filled with a lot of inspiring comments.

I would like to thank the APSR for the award, and Professor Kwun Fong for his joint funding in this award. I would also like to thank my seniors and colleagues, in particular, Dr Loretta Yam and Dr Loletta So for their support and guidance in my research work. The APSR Hybrid Congress 2021 was a great success. It was my honour to have contributed to this Congress. We look forward to another fruitful Congress in Seoul next year. Arigatou.

Charles Wong