After graduating from VTC ten-plus years ago, Roy Yip has been developing Chinese medicine and supervising the manufacturing process the whole time. Though he once left the industry and joined a food factory for a short while, he decided to go back to Chinese medicine while working towards his master degree in the subject. His unremitting passion in the sector explains his unswerving faith and willingness to invest time and efforts – while working full-time and pursuing further education on the side, he would stay up all night to conduct experiments. “I’m deeply in love with this sector,” he said time and time again during the interview, and his passion dates back to his VTC days when he was in the Foundation Diploma studies.
Always follow your passion
After HKCEE, Roy chose to study at VTC. Most students are keen on enrolling in business, accounting or finance programmes, but Roy said, “I really found no interest in those subjects.” An avid science lover since young, he was active in science and math clubs during his secondary school years. Among all his school hours, he enjoyed those spent on experiments most. His friends also told him to choose his field of study according to his interest. They said, “Your job isn’t necessarily related to your college major. It’s important to follow your passion. Otherwise, you’ll have a tough time keeping up with the coursework, even if it promises good prospects.” He chose the Foundation Diploma – Applied Science stream at last, followed by a Higher Diploma in Chemical Technology with Management at IVE upon completion.
When you have an intense interest in a subject, your passion will fuel your pursuit. You tend to perform better and make progress more easily that way. Your love for it would help you overcome all the challenges with perseverance. Roy reads lots of books outside of the classroom to broaden his horizons thanks to his love for science. During his IVE years, he was never afraid of trying alternative approaches during the practical training sessions, just to learn more. “Most of my classmates worked in laboratories for work placement. But I chose to work in a Chinese medicine factory. My job was mainly to help the factory with the papers and documents for renewal of their Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification.” He did so well on his job that the factory asked him to stay and work till the end of summer. That was when Roy developed a strong interest in the sector.
“The government was proposing a Chinese medicine port at that time and I believed over-the-counter Chinese medicine had huge untapped potential. I discussed with my friends after the work placement and I found that other industries didn’t fit the bill for me. With my keen interest in the subject to begin with and the support from my family, I decided to pursue my career in this sector.”
The love makes it all worthwhile
After graduating in 2010, Roy has been working in an array of Chinese medicine factories. Right now, he is the Quality and Business Development Manager at Hong Kong Zihua Pharmaceutical Ltd, in charge of quality management, auditing and R&D. In fact, he once quitted Zihua and worked in a food factory upon a friend’s request. But he found Chinese medicine was still the true love of his life and re-joined the company soon after.
“The job is more challenging in a pharmaceutical factory as it covers a wide range of duties, including product development, quality management and accreditation. On top of that, the Department of Health has applied more stringent regulations on pharmaceutical practitioners in terms of qualification and experience. That makes the industry more professional than ever, with more opportunities arising,” Roy explained. His interest in the industry grows by the day. Whenever he encounters any issue that he cannot resolve, he would turn to other experienced colleagues for advices. But still, he found his knowledge inadequate. That was why he took up the Master of Science in Chinese Medicines programme at The University of Hong Kong to enrich his knowledge.
The classes ran from 7 pm to 10 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. After a day of hard work, Roy had to travel all the way from his office in Kwun Tong to the campus in Pokfulam three nights a week. Besides acquiring professional knowledge, Roy also learned the importance of time management in due course. He would study his notes when travelling and put every second of his time to good use. Sometimes he needed to stay at the university till 11 pm for experiments. He then came up with a time-saving solution – he stayed up to finish the experiments with his classmates till the morning, taking a bus to Central in the small hours for breakfast and then heading back to his office on the first train in the morning, so that no time was wasted on commuting between his home and office.
It was tough working full-time and studying after work. But Roy never thought about giving up. In his final-year project, he even chose to work on an original research paper over a review paper based on published literature that entails less effort. “It’s more challenging, but it also treads new territories because of that,” he said. He helped his professor in a research on compound medications as auxiliary treatment for cancer, in hope of reducing the toxicity of conventional chemotherapy and boosting its effectiveness with Chinese herbs. “I’m still passionate about researches at this moment because I get to challenge myself with different possibilities.”
Learning from failure
Perseverance matters in research and experiments. The same also applies to pharmaceuticals. “Out of 20 ideas, there may be only one that was accepted. Then you’d spend six months collecting and analysing raw data, only to find out even that idea doesn’t work. While some may consider it frustrating, I find the process enjoyable. You only get one correct answer when you achieve success. But when you fail, there are countless possible reasons. I can learn more by studying why I failed and how to avoid the same mistakes. As you accumulate enough experience, you would fail less and get closer to success.”
In the two-year master programme, Roy learned about not only the theories of traditional Chinese medicine, but also the interpretations of Chinese medical indications and prescriptions from a Western perspective that are truly useful to his job. If he has the chance, he would love to study mechanical engineering in future to further automate the production of Chinese medicine for better quality control and productivity. Roy keeps updating and upgrading himself because he believes lifelong learning is essential for survival in an ever-changing society. “Technologies advance by the second. You must keep abreast of the times with continual education in order to cope with the challenges that lie ahead.”
