Professor
Sophia Chan Siu-chee
GBS JP
陳肇始
Secretary for Food and Health
In office
1 July 2017 – 30 June 2022
Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam
Preceded byKo Wing-man
Succeeded byLo Chung-mau
(Secretary for Health)
Personal details
Born1958 (age 65–66)
Alma materUniversity of Manchester (MEd)
Harvard University (MPH)
University of Hong Kong (PhD)
Signature

Sophia Chan Siu-chee GBS JP (Chinese: 陳肇始; born 1958) is a Hong Kong professor and politician. She served as Secretary for Food and Health from 2017 to 2022.

She was educated at the St. Paul's Secondary School. She subsequently graduated from the University of Manchester with a Master of Education, the Harvard University with a Master of Public Health and the University of Hong Kong with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree. She was a Professor in Nursing and Director of Research in HKU's School of Nursing and an Assistant Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of HKU.[1]

She was involved in tobacco control and smoking cessation promotion and was a consultant to the World Health Organization on training health-care professionals in tobacco dependency treatment interventions through advocacy and education.[1]

In 2012, she was appointed as the Under Secretary for Food and Health.[2] In 2017, she was appointed Secretary for Food and Health of the administration of Carrie Lam.

Subsequently, in 2018 she declined to speak in support of banning bear-bile products, the production of which is considered inhumane and cruel, in Hong Kong.[3]

In February 2021, Chan gave approval for emergency use of the Sinovac vaccine,[4] and granted it an exemption from a rule that stated vaccines must have third phase clinical trial data published in a journal.[5]

In April 2021, Chan briefed varies industries (catering, agriculture and fisheries, Chinese medicine, and health services) on why the NPCSC implemented rules to only allow "patriots" to serve in the government, and asked for their full support. In addition, she said that she fully supports the changes.[6] In December 2021, Chan claimed that having only "patriots" serve in the government would help the global fight against COVID-19.[7]

On 31 December 2021, Chan warned the public not to gather in large groups; hours later, she attended the Hong Kong Dental Association's annual ball, as the guest of honor.[8]

In March 2022, Chan said that a COVID-19 lockdown in Hong Kong had not been ruled out, contradicting an earlier statement by Carrie Lam, who said that a lockdown would not happen.[9] The contradiction caused rumors and panic-buying at grocery stores and pharmacies.[9] Chan also said that traditional Chinese medicine could prevent Covid-19.[10]

In November 2022, Chan said that the government was not underprepared for the city's fifth wave, and when asked if the administration should apologize to relatives of those who died, Chan said it was time for people to move on.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "Professor Sophia CHAN, JP".
  2. ↑ "Under Secretaries, Political Assistants appointed".
  3. ↑ "LCQ22: Prohibiting the trade of products containing ingredients from bear bile".
  4. ↑ "Govt approves Sinovac jabs 'in the public interest' - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  5. ↑ "Covid-19: Hong Kong experts endorse China's Sinovac vaccine before trial results are published". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  6. ↑ "SFH meets with stakeholders on improving Hong Kong's electoral system (with photos/video)". Hong Kong Government. 7 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "'HK will help global Covid fight with revamped Legco' - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  8. ↑ Standard, The. "Sophia Chan attended ball hours after advising citizens to avoid gatherings". The Standard. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  9. 1 2 "Hong Kong government urges residents spooked by citywide lockdown not to panic". Reuters. 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  10. ↑ "How traditional Chinese medicine – TCM – is used to treat Covid-19". South China Morning Post. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  11. ↑ Standard, The. "HK govt not underprepared for city's fifth wave, former health chief says". The Standard. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
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