Kelvin Kong on "Hearing Versus Listening": National Press Club Address

Kelvin Kong, Worimi man, ENT Surgeon and recipient of the Australian Society for Medical Research 2021 Medal, addresses the National Press Club on "glue ear" in Indigenous children.

A/Professor Kong, BSc, MBBS (UNSW) FRACS (ORL-HNS) is an ENT Surgeon based in the Hunter region of NSW; he regularly travels to remote Australia to provide specialist ENT services to Indigenous patients. His clinical practice is complemented by his ongoing research into the causes and treatment of ear disease, together with his involvement in community outreach programmes designed to improve access to healthcare and break cycles of disadvantage for Indigenous Australians.

He was the first Indigenous Australian surgeon and is now one of Australia’s leading ENT surgeons with a driving passion to reduce the disparity between health and learning outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

A Worimi man from the Port Stephens region, north of Newcastle, A/Professor Kong comes from a medical family, whose support and encouragement he credits for his success His mother Grace is a community nurse and women’s health worker, his father Tony is a GP in Malaysia, and his twin older-sisters are also doctors: Marlene is a GP working in Public Health in Sydney and Marilyn is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Grafton.

His research focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of otitis media, “glue ear”, in children under three. Otitis media is experienced at higher levels in Indigenous than non-Indigenous communities and affects as many as 70% of children in remote communities. It can lead to hearing impairment and/or loss, and failure to treat it can have negative impacts on children’s education, childhood development and social outcomes. He is also working on studies of pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance among Indigenous and non-Indigenous trial groups with the hope of informing new treatments.