Digby: A Remarkable Life

Abstract

This monograph chronicles the life of an eminent pioneer of surgery, K.H. Digby, the important milestones in his professional life and the hardship he faced to fulfill his dreams.

Digby was a remarkable man with great compassion, highly regarded by colleagues, students, and patients, and an innovative and inspiring teacher. This biography, containing previously unpublished photographs, is a tribute to one of the pioneers of modern surgery.

In 1913, Digby took on the challenge travel to the Far East to take up the appointment at the newly established University of Hong Kong. During his career in academia spanning four decades, he endured many challenges that tested his mettle and the limits of his professionalism, especially in his internment during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. This biography is a testament to his perseverance and commitment to medical education and surgical practice in Hong Kong.

A fine anatomist and a precise surgeon, Digby was well remembered for his surgical ingenuity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, common duct stones of liver origin, and in particular his unique "no-touch technique", operating with perfect anatomical dissection. He contributed invaluable insight on the role of subepithelial lymphatic glands in immune reactions and was recognized as the first to describe "Hong Kong Disease" in the Hong Kong Chinese population in medical literature.