Professor Albert Lee

ACLM

Where did you study, and where have you practiced in recent years?

Prof. Lee

​​​​I obtained my medical degree (MB BS) at the University of London (University College London-Middlesex Hospital) in 1984.  I was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 1993, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (2005) and London (2013), and Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, UK in 2005 (awarded Honorary Fellowship in 2018).  I studied Master of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. For legal study, I obtained my LLB from University of London in 2015 and Master of Law (LLM with distinction) in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution at City University of Hong Kong in 2017 and Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK in 2016.

I am currently working as Clinical Professor in Public Health and Primary Care of the Chinese University of Hong (started first as clinical associate professor 1995-2003 then clinical professor from 2003). I have also served as Consultant in Family Medicine since 1999.

ACLM

What field of medicine do you specialise in?

Prof. Lee

I am in the field of family medicine/general practice and public health, and also health service management. Currently I am advocating for healthcare reform to develop a more robust primary health care system by helping one district to develop a pilot model of district health care in Hong Kong.  Internationally, I am advocating for cross sectors collaboration of UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

ACLM

What sparked your interest in legal medicine?

Prof. Lee

Serving as medical expert witness has sparked off my interest in legal medicine. I gained deeper interests in legal medicine with deeper involvement of rights of patients as well as public health interventions for health protection and promotion. I am also interested to strengthen medical education on healthcare law and ethics.

ACLM

How has understanding the law affected your practice?

Prof. Lee

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It has enhanced my understanding of duty of care and reasonable standard of care to enhance better quality of care. Legal study has also equipped my understanding of public health law and rights to health. Understanding of law would allow me to approach the UN Sustainable Development Goals with greater emphasis on human rights and law. I am also teaching healthcare law and ethics for undergraduates and postgraduates.

ACLM

What aspects of legal medicine are you planning to further your studies or research in?

Prof. Lee

I am interested in research regarding consent process particularly for adolescents not reaching legal age of consent. I am also interested in different ways of resolving medical disputes and the role of alternate dispute resolution.  For public health law, I am interested in research of balancing the rights of individuals and society for public health interventions. I am also planning to contribute in education development for medical and health professionals to acquire deeper knowledge in legal medicine by conducting workshops and academic publications aiming for practitioners.

ACLM

Do you have any further comments or suggestions to share with the ACLM community?

Prof. Lee

I had opportunity to spend a week doing internship at a law firm dealing with medico-legal issues. I have witnessed the immense stress on doctors with malpractice law suits/inquires.  I hope there would be some form of medico-legal clinic perhaps under ACLM for our doctors or healthcare professionals to have some preliminary advice and ‘counselling’ in facing medical mishaps.  Similarly for patients requiring major surgery or procedures, they will like to have some discussion with their general practitioners.  Medical lawyers can provide the expert advice on medico-legal aspects but medical professionals with training in legal medicine would facilitate the (defendant) doctors to understand their cases in clinical context as well as legal perspective.  This type of initiative will not only help doctors and other health professionals in Australia and also Asia Pacific countries with similar medical curriculum as in Australia, e.g., Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei as there are no equivalent college in those countries.