Proving the sceptics wrong
Twenty years ago, Judy Ho Wai-chu was told by a superior that she could never become a surgeon because the profession was a men's club.
Today, Dr Ho is one of only two female consultant surgeons serving in Hong Kong public hospitals. When she tells her story to medical students, she urges them to judge people by their ability, not their gender.
The consultant surgeon at Queen Mary Hospital said she had been forced to work twice as hard to prove herself in the male-dominated field.
After graduating from the University of Hong Kong in 1984, Dr Ho spent three months in surgery during a one-year internship. She has been hooked on her job ever since.
While waiting for a vacancy in surgery, Dr Ho spent six months in anaesthetics. She said she would never forget the day that a consultant anaesthetist scolded her for an hour when she told him she wanted to become a surgeon.
'He said he had come across some women trying to do surgery, but they all quit in the middle of it. He said I would never succeed.'
But Dr Ho proved him wrong. In 2003, she was promoted to chief of colorectal surgery at Queen Mary Hospital. She is now a leader of nine surgeons and an instructor of University of Hong Kong medical students.
Dr Ho has given up on the idea of having a child, so she can concentrate 100 per cent on surgery. She remains single.
'This is a personal choice and I don't regret it. I am happy with what I have chosen,' she said.
Dr Ho's fellow female consultant surgeon, Lee Yee-man, said: 'A surgeon's decisions are very important to patients. A surgeon has to be very decisive and tough.
'Whether someone can become a good surgeon depends more on their personality, not gender. So far, I have not come across any discrimination in my work.'
Dr Lee is among Hong Kong's 17 female specialists in general surgery. She is married, but not sure when to have a baby.
