Leadership
Professor Chak-sing Lau, BBS, JP

Chak-sing Lau is known as a pioneer for establishing and advancing rheumatology in Hong Kong, Asia and beyond. He is the Dean of Medicine and Chair and Daniel CK Yu Professor in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed).

CS Lau was Chairperson of the Department of Medicine and Chairman (2019 – 2022) of the Board of HKUMed. He was also the Chief of Service (2018 – 2022) in the Department of Medicine at Queen Mary Hospital. He presided over the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (2016 – 2020), a statutory body for medical and dental specialist training in Hong Kong which is also a key advisory body to the HKSAR Government on health-related policies. Today, he sits on numerous strategic committees/working groups of the Health Bureau, Hospital Authority and Department of Health. In 2023, he was appointed as a Member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) representing the health sector, and a general Member of the 14th Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPPCC on a 5-year term.

Like a true visionary, he rose to the challenge upon realising that he was one of only two clinical academics in the field of rheumatology in the public sector of Hong Kong on his return to the city in 1992. He took it upon himself to remedy the situation and in so doing he put the University and the city on the world map by building a thriving community of rheumatologists to populate our hospitals and community as well as weaving an extensive collaborative network of researchers from all around the world.

CS Lau set up the Hong Kong Arthritis & Rheumatism Foundation in 2001, the first and only local charity organisation that raises funds to support the psychosocial and therapeutic needs of patients with rheumatic diseases. He co-founded both the Asian Congress on Autoimmunity, Huaxia Congress on Diagnosis and Management of Rheumatic Diseases, and Ten Topics in Rheumatology in Asia; and in 2011 the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration – a multi-national, multi-centre research collaboration. He spearheaded the development of the Region’s first treatment recommendations for rheumatoid arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis and took on the helms of the Asia Pacific League of Rheumatology Associations (APLAR) between 2006 and 2008.  In recognition of his stellar achievements in the field of rheumatology, his Division was awarded the prestigious APLAR Centre of Excellence for Research, Training and Education and Patient Care in 2016.

Beyond the Asia Pacific region, he was a member of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) and currently an Advisory Member of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) Congress Committee, and the Scientific Committee.  In 2022, he was selected an Honorary Member of EULAR, and was most recently elected as Member of Academia Europaea in 2023.  CS Lau also sits on the editorial board of multiple top-ranked rheumatology journals. He is the reviewer of rheumatology related research grant proposals for the Dutch Arthritis Association, Dutch Organisation for Health Research and Development, and Medical Research Council (UK).

Within the Faculty he served as the Assistant Dean in Information Technology and Planning in 2001, and Student Affairs in 2005. In 2010 he was the Director for the Faculty’s Bau Institute of Medical and Health Services Education, and in 2013 he took on the role of Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning and was instrumental in reforming the MBBS Curriculum to incorporate a one-year enrichment experience for all medical students. Within the University, he has been a member of the Senate since 2016, and the Court in 2017. He plays an active role on various administrative committees including the Committee for the review of the Faculty of Dentistry (2011) and the Faculty of Engineering (2018), and the Taught Postgraduate Curricula of the Faculty of Dentistry (2019). He also chaired the Review Committee of science Majors Curriculum of the Faculty of Science in 2018 and is the current Chairman of the Committee on Higher Doctorates.

In his spare time, CS Lau is a keen long-distance runner. Befitting his calling, he not only heals and teaches the art of healthy mind and body, he lives, breathes and practises it every single day.