It’s Not Just Science. It’s About The People. — Lunch with Dr. Donald Li, Chairman of Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures.

A family doctor for over 40 years, Chairman of independent policy think tank — Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre and an active member of several public health bodies, Dr. Donald Li dedicates his work to giving back to Hong Kong through medicine, policy research, and community service. Over a casual lunch, Dr. Li shared with us the essence of healthcare in building trust, the way to understanding people by creating a “common language”, and even some life-saving tips on insurance plans! And there’s more: read on to get into the core of our chit-chats with Dr. Li and our lovely volunteers!

Share one guiding philosophy that you have.

“Beyond the glittering glamor, don’t forget the people. You really need to take care of your patients and understand them. And give them advice.

It’s not just science it’s about the people.”

How do you make yourself stand out as a family doctor?

“At the end of the day, whether people like you as a person and trust you is important.

Trust is the essence.

If your patient trusts you, you can fulfill their needs and answer their questions. And make them feel better.”

What is one habit that has significantly improved your life? Besides exercising.

“The balance of work and life is important. We are very disciplined during our work. There’s no taking chances and all that. So, out of the office I enjoy doing other things.

I enjoy good food, I do cooking, I do relaxation and I go to the market. And then of course I mentioned about horseracing.

It is something that is definitely not what a doctor should be doing. But that allows your mind to be off. I think the mental balance to be able to do things that you normally don’t do so that your mind switches to another channel and allows you to relax more.”

If you have to give a lesson on something that’s unrelated to your current career, what would it be?

“I would say policy research. The way it’s related. It’s not medicine but a lot of things we talk about is education. How do we establish development in youth and other things?

We need policy. And how we establish policies is by research.

What’s the best way to do the research is something that I would like to share and that would be my experience in working with Bauhinia Foundation for the past ten years. It started with just a few people and we now have 30 staff. And the kind of things we do, how we look at everyday newspaper and have meeting and all that. So, something that I can share is that policy research and how to extend broaden ourselves.”

What is one action that you hope everyone can take away from this meeting?

“Well, think out of the box basically. Look at life, try and enjoy life and see what you want. We have aspirations, we have goals, we have things we want to do, but then think that if I have achieved a certain goal, I have managed to get where I want.

What are the other things that I may have neglected? What are other things that I should also think about?

And maybe there are undiscovered joys in life. So I think it’s very good if you can think that way. First of all, you have much more interests and you probably enjoy what you’re doing. And hopefully being a happier person increases our happiness index in Hong Kong.”

Are there any other fields you want to discover?

“I want to get back to music. Back in the day I used to play the cello and the clarinet but I’ve put that down for 30 years. I still enjoy listening to music and all that so I think that’s one area I want to rediscover. But still I think upon retirement it will be food related. I may start a restaurant.”

Thank you Dr. Li for having lunch with us! Thank you to all the amazing volunteers who helped to raise 87 volunteer hours to Youth Empact, Food Angel, Hong Kong Playground Association and more!

Check out Time Auction for our line-up of meetings with more amazing people — volunteer 10 hours and join us for a treat!