It is the first time the council has had a change at the top since 2012, when Lau was first elected. He later won three more three-year terms.

Alex Lam Chi-yau, a patients’ rights campaigner and also a member of the council, said Tang was a suitable candidate for the job.

“Under her leadership, the council will be able to safeguard medical standards in Hong Kong,” he added.

Tang is the chairwoman of the council’s education and accreditation committee, which helps determine and recommend suitable doctors for the city’s specialist register.

She is also the head of the council’s special registration committee, set up in 2021 to make recommendations on whether a medical qualification from an institution outside Hong Kong was eligible for a special registration scheme in the city.

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“Her involvement in [both committees] meant that she is very familiar with medical standards,” Lam said.

The source, who asked not to be named, said no other council members were as well-fitted for the role as Tang.

“I cannot think of other members who have the qualifications, standing and competency of Professor Tang,” the source added.

Cheng Chi-man, the chairman of the Medical Association and a council member, also welcomed Tang’s appointment.

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Tang has held a variety of leadership roles in the medical sector.

She was the dean of HKU’s medical faculty from 1998 to 2001 and president of the Academy of Medicine, which oversees specialist training, from 2004 to 2008.

She became the founding chief executive of the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital in 2011.

The chairman of the council is elected by a vote of members under the Medical Registration Ordinance.