Humanitarian Service Awardee 2024

Dr. LEUNG Chi-hung, Czarina (MBChB 2006) is the awardee in Humanitarian Service 2024 of the Distinguished Medical Alumni Award

For Dr Czarina Leung, nurturing the seeds of health is as crucial as healing the sick and critically ill. A well-respected Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctor and founder of “Be Priceless”, a non-profit delivering free SEED health education to vulnerable youth, she has dedicated the last four years of her life helping 2500 children from low-income, ethnic minority, and refugee communities achieve personal growth, well-being, and safety.

Dr Leung’s longing to improve the quality of life of at-risk individuals began long before she graduated from CUHK in 2006. Recognising the high cost of poor healthcare access during her first year in school, she saved up and packed up her bags to offer free medical services to marginalised and crisis-stricken communities in the Philippines, Uganda, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

A Critical Care Medicine Fellow who initially served in Hong Kong’s public hospitals, she was also known for deeply caring for the psychological well-being of her patients. She actively shared her compassion and expertise to the medical community, whether that’s highlighting and addressing the communication needs of mechanically ventilated patients in her research, molding the next generation of ICU practitioners as a CUHK Assistant Professor, or providing acute care training to health workers in Nepal, India, and Thailand.

Her time in ICU wards and conflict-affected areas only deepened her drive to empower people against these debilitating conditions. In 2018, she joined the World Health Organization as a consulting editor, helping build the disaster risk management capacities of health teams across vulnerable populations by developing frameworks and guidelines, one of which was a COVID-19 interim guidance for Cambodia’s preparedness and response team.

Dr Leung holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. She was recently inducted into the Johns Hopkins University’s Delta Omega Honorary Society and presented THE ONE Hong Kong 2023 Award for her outstanding contributions to advancing public health.

With 22 years of her life dedicated to humanitarian work, she is indeed an image of priceless service, reminding us that intensive care doesn’t always have to happen at the last minute – it can, and should, begin early and equitably.