On June 16, 2026, the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong (HKU SPH) hosted a seminar titled “The Economics and Psychology of End-of-life Care” by Professor Eric Finkelstein, Professor of Health Economics, Health Services Research and Population Health at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, and Duke University Global Health Institute, and Executive Director of the Lien Centre for Palliative Care at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. The event took place at the HKU medical campus and saw an in-person participation of over 60 attendees. 

The event commenced with opening remarks from Professor Hui-Ling Yen, Interim Director and Professor of HKU SPH. Professor Finkelstein unpacked the powerful economic and non-economic drivers pushing the over-medicalisation of death and dying. Drawing on his work for the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death, he shed light on why overtreatment at the end of life is rising globally, and how we can better align medical systems with what matters most to patients.  He addressed persistent inequities, noting that patients from poor or uninsured households are frequently underserved and systematically report lower quality of care scores. 

Following the seminar, a Q&A session was moderated by Professor Jacqueline Yuen, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine at HKU, with a joint appointment at HKU SPH. The session sparked meaningful engagement and dialogue with the audience on the current challenges and opportunities in end-of-life care.