Croucher Senior Research Fellow 2006

Professor Dennis Yuk-ming LO
Department of Chemical Pathology
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming is the Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine and Professor of Chemical Pathology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also the Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine and the Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences at CUHK. Professor Dennis Lo’s main research interest is the study of cell-free DNA and RNA molecules which exist in the plasma of human subjects. He discovered in 1997 that an unborn fetus will release its DNA into the plasma of a pregnant woman. This finding has opened up a new approach of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. He has also applied a similar strategy to the detection of cancers which are common in Hong Kong, including nasopharyngeal cancer and liver cancer.

Professor Lo received his preclinical medical training from the University of Cambridge. He then moved to Oxford University where he pursued his clinical medical training. Following qualification, he further obtained his Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Oxford. Professor Lo began his academic career in Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow in Natural Sciences at Hertford College, followed by appointments to the University Lecturership in Clinical Biochemistry and a Fellowship at Green College. Professor Lo was an Honorary Consultant Chemical Pathologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, the main teaching hospital of Oxford Medical School. He returned to Hong Kong in 1997 and joined the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In recognition of Professor Lo’s outstanding research, he has been awarded a State Natural Science Award (Class II) from China in 2006. He was an Honoree of the Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award by the Junior Chamber International in 2001. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) and a Fellow of the Royal Colleage of Pathologists (U.K.). He is a Past President of the Hong Kong Society of Clinical Chemistry and is a Member of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.