Dr Sarah Borwein

Director, TravelSafe Clinic Hong Kong. GeoSentinel Hong Kong Site Director. Past president, Asia Pacific Travel Health Society

Dr Borwein was born in Scotland and grew up in Canada but has lived and worked in Asia since 1998. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Toronto, an MSc in Development Economics from Oxford University, and an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. From 2001-2004, she was a staff physician at Beijing United Family Hospital, and Director of Infection Control there during the SARS epidemic of 2003.

She subsequently returned to Hong Kong, becoming a founding partner in what is now a large multidisciplinary primary care clinic. As part of that practice, she runs a comprehensive pre-and post-travel medicine clinic, TravelSafe. She also looks after a significant population of refugees and asylum seekers. 

In addition to patient care, Dr Borwein is involved with infectious disease surveillance both globally and locally. She has been the Hong Kong site director for the GeoSentinel network since 2007 and served as president of the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society from 2012-2014. Locally, she sits on the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection’s Scientific Committee for Vector-borne Diseases and is part of the Department of Health Sentinel Clinic surveillance system.  Her publications include a variety of travel medicine topics, including travel in pregnancy, travel for sporting events and contraception for female travelers.  She has authored the China destination chapter of the CDC Yellow Book since 2010.