Dr Gavin – bringing the dead back to life in his books
Dr Gavin Chan has fascinating two faces – firstly as the Consultant of Department of Pathology at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH), and secondly as the author of around 20 books on detective stories, blood cells adventure and mysteries of the mortuary. His stories are popular amongst youngsters, and have been acclaimed by the Youth Literary Awards, Golden Book Awards and Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards. In recent years, he has focused his work to demystify the mortuary, bringing warmth and love to this stigmatised place.
As a keen writer since teenage, Dr Chan took part in essay competitions at school and contributed articles to newspapers and magazines before establishing himself as a teenagers’ author under the pen name Dr Gavin. His stories were drawn from his work as pathologist, with many classic characters hence created. These included the pathologist Dr Gavin who brought justice for the speechless dead, and blood cell Macrophage who defied his destiny of being a body scavenger and embarked on a self-exploring journey with other blood cell characters.
Dr Chan wrote his stories by pen in the early days before he learned to type Chinese in computers, “when there were too many mistakes on one page, I need to take the tedious trouble to hand copy it all out onto a new sheet of squared paper.” During the busy schedule of resident years and specialist examinations, his passion for writing stayed him up overnight to jot his stories on squared paper before going to work at daybreak.
Tales from the crypt
From short stories to long novels, Dr Gavin series of books help popularise medical knowledge to young readers through cases loaded with suspense, conflicts, and power struggles in the healthcare system, which have been recognised by various awards of favourite books for students. His more recent books – The Last Room and Mortuary Attendant – have undergone a significant change in writing style to tell stories on mortuary inspired from his experiences of managing the hospital mortuary.
During the internship, Dr Chan has once thought that the patient exited healthcare system after pronounced dead in the ward. When he becomes a pathologist, the time he manages the bodies and bereaved families has made him realised that care for the patients and relatives extends beyond death. “For a better management of the bodies, you need to treat them through the perspectives of bereaved families,” Dr Chan reflects. “By putting yourself in the shoes of the bereaved families, you will respect and care about the body as a patient and not a corpse. You will also be more understanding and supportive to the grievances of the relatives.”
Through the collaborative efforts of Dr Chan and his mortuary team, the environment of QMH mortuary was greatly improved to support the bereaved families. The bodies are better care of. They also renamed the hospital mortuary as ‘Bereavement Suite’ to emphasise it as a place for a dignified farewell to the loved ones.
The Dr Gavin series brought a blend of education and entertainment to a generation of teenagers. In future, Dr Gavin will continue to write on social issues that touch him most. “Only by writing on things that move me can I move the readers,” he explains.
Interview video