I joined the Department of Anatomy at The University of Hong Kong as a Lecturer on February, 1991. In 1995, I was promoted to Assistant Professsor and one year later (1996) I was promoted to Associate Professor. I was appointed as an Assistant Dean, Academic Networking and Student Affairs, LKS Faculty of Medicine from 2008 to 2013. Later I was also re-appointed as Assistant Dean, Biomedical Science and Helath Professional Curricula and Assessment , LKS Faculty of Medicine from 2013 up the present. My current field of study publishes in the area of nutrition and food science. My publications in this field of research are in the top 5% of the journals including my papers in medical education and ethics. I have a total of 139 full research papers, 167 refereed abstracts and proceedings, One invited review paper in SCIENCE (co-first author, refer to no.10), 7 book chapters, 22 post-graduate students, about HK$ 8.5M grant and a regular reviewer of international refereed journals (about 10 /year).

My research interest is on the mechanisms of inflammation and oxidative stress in the liver and carotid bodies. Currently, my work concentrates on the role of antioxidants from herbs and multi-functional drugs M30 on inflammation and oxidative stress in liver diseases, particularly in non-alcoholic liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is one of the leading causes of chronic liver injury across the world. It is also strongly related to other pathological conditions, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Pathogenesis of NAFLD remains not fully characterized but is generally attributed to the occurrence of insulin resistance, lipid metabolism dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation, and necro-apoptosis. Every potential therapeutic strategy should target one or some of these pathological events in the liver. Over the past decades, application of herbal treatment for NAFLD received increasing attentions due to its wide availability, low side effects, and proven therapeutic mechanisms and benefits.

NAFLD is now recognized to be one of the risk factors in metabolic syndrome and also in liver cancer. The exact mechanism in the development of NAFLD remains poorly understood including the precise therapeutic management. Hence, my research investigates the signaling pathways that participate in the lipid dysfunction and imbalance, autophagy and apoptosis. About 90% of my publication is derived from the field of nutrition and food science. Another research interest is on the aspect of medical education and ethics.