The founder and chairman of the Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry talks about how her philanthropic ambitions all started
A glance at prominent breast cancer surgeon Ava Kwong’s demanding resume—she currently serves as director of the Tung Wah Hospital Breast Centre, chief and clinical associate professor of the Breast Surgery division and assistant dean at the University of Hong Kong, and honorary consultant in breast surgery at Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital—just to name a few—and one will be even more impressed that she has any time for charitable work.
But the role of philanthropist is perhaps the one dearest to her heart. In 2007, faced with the lack of resources and knowledge of hereditary cancers in the city, she founded the Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry (HKHBCFR), a charitable organization and research platform that aims to bring in genetic testing for families at risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. To date, the registry has supported over 3,000 families for genetic testing.
And there is a lot more to be done, Ava explains, as we sat down to talk about the register’s upcoming developments and where her charitable ambitions all started.
When did you first start volunteering?
I started volunteering as a teenager, when during school holidays I did voluntary work in schools for special needs children. Later as I graduated as a doctor I was also involved in mentorship programmes to share my experiences with my mentees. I established the Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry, which is an NGO as well as an academically based registry, in 2007.
What drives you to volunteer?
This is never an easy question to answer. I believe this is the way I have been brought up by my parents, to always give and be generous to other people. My experience being in the medical field certainly strengthened this as I do serve a lot of patients from the public sector. One realises that what we have cannot be taken for granted, that many have to live with close to nothing and others have to battle when health fails them.
Tell us about the Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry and your role there.
I am the founder and chairman; HKHBCFR is not only an NGO but also a registry collecting information from families who are at hereditary risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer, so that research work in collaboration with academic centers locally including the University of Hong Kong and internationally including Stanford University School of Medicine can be done.
Our work includes supporting high-risk families for genetic counselling and testing, training of medical personnel in the field of genetics, public awareness and education, supporting preventative and screening programmes for those who have a hereditary risk for such cancers and an recently we launched a drug programme for ovarian cancer patients where we sponsor targeted drugs which specifically work for BRCA-related ovarian cancers to the underprivileged so they can get access to the medication.