To enhance scientific research and academic scholarship, our department has organized biweekly departmental lectures/ seminars. Our faculty members, scientific officers, research associates, and postdoctoral fellows, as well as guest speakers from Hong Kong, Joint Shantou International Eye Center (JSIEC), mainland China, and all around the world, will be invited to give lectures and share their work with us.

Topics will include COVID-19, genetics, genomics, microbiota, stem cells, AI, imaging, virtual vision, robotics, statistics, herbal molecules, eye diseases, children eye diseases, surgical advancements, and novel therapeutics.

There will be 2-3 lectures/ seminars per session, usually on Friday during 18:00-19:30.

Dr Guy LJ CHEN (convener) and Dr CHU Wai Kit (co-convener)

Previous DOVS Department Lectures & Seminars

Date : 19 November 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr Marten E BRELEN (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr BRELEN is an Associate Professor at Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  His research interests include development of new electrodiagnostic recording techniques and novel eye sensors. Dr BRELEN is the Head of retina service at the CUHK Eye Centre and is the Team Head for the vitreoretinal service at Prince of Wales Hospital. He is also a visiting Professor at the Joint Shantou International Eye Centre in China. 

Topic: Developing a novel portable ERG recording platform


DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr HUANG Yuqiang  (JSIEC)

Topic: Seasonal variations and climatic factors on acute primary angle closure admission: the JSIEC study and experience


Date : 5 November 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Professor Micheal NG (JSIEC)

Prof NG joined the Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong as Research Professor since 2018. Prof. NG’s research focuses on ocular genetics, herbal medicine, stem cells and optic nerve regeneration, and he has written 3 book chapters and published 91 articles in indexed peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS, Nature Communication, Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids, Stem Cells, Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity.  

Topic: Ophthalmic Genetic Studies in JESIC

Date : 17 September 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr Poeman PM CHAN (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr CHAN is an Assistant Professor at Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  His research interests include: risk assessment and cost effectiveness of treatment in ocular hypertension; cost-effectiveness analysis of glaucoma treatment. He was an invited participant of the WGA Consensus Meeting in 2019. He serves as glaucoma subspecialty liaison for the WOC 2018, Secretary of glaucoma subspecialty for the APAO Congress in 2018 and 2019. 

Topic: Coming up with research ideas during customary clinical practice


Date : 3 September 2021

DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr HUANG Zijing  (JSIEC)

Topic: VEGF-independent targets and mechanisms for ischemic retinopathy


DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr QIU Kunliang (JSIEC)

Dr QIU is a Consultant at Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong. His main research interest is ocular imaging, especially the imaging of myopia and glaucoma. He has been working in the field of ocular imaging for more than 15 years in Hong Kong, Netherlands, and Mainland China, focusing on development and application of image analysis techniques. Dr QIU has authored >30 research papers in peer-reviewed journals.  

Topic: Patterns and temporal trends of childhood myopia progression

Date : 20 August 2021

DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr TANG Fangyao (DOVS, CUHK)

Topic: Artificial Intelligence in Diabetic Retinal Disease


DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr Danny SC NG (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr NG is an Associate Professor of Practice in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He is a clinician scientist with expertise in retinal disease and vitreoretinal surgery.  Dr. NG had more than 50 publications in peer reviewed scientific journals, authored 3 book chapters, delivered over 40 conference papers and presented in over 25 invited lectures at international scientific congresses.

Topic: Retina and CSCR


Date : 6 August 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Professor Micheal TK NG (JSIEC)

Prof NG joined the Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong as Research Professor since 2018. Prof. NG’s research focuses on ocular genetics, herbal medicine, stem cells and optic nerve regeneration, and he has written 3 book chapters and published 91 articles in indexed peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS, Nature Communication, Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids, Stem Cells, Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity.  

Topic: Stem cell and molecular treatments for retinal ganglion cell protection


DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr ZHANG Riping (JSIEC)

Topic: Comparative study on myopia surgery

Date : 23 July 2021

DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr LU Shiyao (Guangzhou First People Hospital)

Topic: Eye genetics


DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr Kelvin KL CHONG (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr CHONG is an Associate Professor at Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He serves as the head of the Orbital and Oculoplastic Division at Prince of Wales Hospital. His clinical and research interest focus on oculofacial plastic conditions including thyroid eye disease, orbital tumors, trauma, tearing disorders and minimally invasive eyelid, lacrimal and orbital surgeries.  He has >40 SCI indexed peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters. 

Topic: Thyroid eye disease – 2021 updates


Date : 9 July 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr Kelvin HN WAN (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr WAN is an Assistant Professor at Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  His research interest is in cataract & refractive surgery and ocular surface diseases.  He completed the Academic Development Mentorship Scheme of the AAPPO and received the Best Self-Initiated Project and the Overall Bronze Medal Awards.  Dr. WAN has >40 articles in peer-reviewed journals and is the recipient of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society International Young Investigator Award. 

Topic: Overview of Clinical Eye Research on COVID-19


DOVS Seminar

Speaker : Dr Ruby CHAN (DOVS, CUHK)

Topic: Ocular Microbiome

Date : 18 June 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Professor CHEN Haoyu (JSIEC)

Prof CHEN is Professor and Associate Director, Joint Shantou International Eye Center, Shantou University & the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He takes care of ocular trauma and vitreo-retina service, clinical research, basic research, undergraduate education, and post-graduate programs at JSIEC. Meanwhile, he is also an established ophthalmic researcher internationally known in molecular medicine, ophthalmic imaging, computer software, with over 168 original articles, 9 reviews, and 10 book chapters. 

Topic: Impact of Intraocular Foreign Body on the Retina


Speaker : Dr LP CEN (JSIEC)

Dr. CEN is a Professor at The Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His current research interests include optic nerve injury and repair, neuro-ophthalmology, uveitis, retinal imaging, artificial intelligence, clinical and biological big data, and has been funded by 8 national and provincial research grants as principle investigator. He is the author for >30 publications in international journals including Nature Communications, PNAS, Ophthalmology and Stem Cells.  

Topic: Artificial Intelligence for Retinal Disease Detection


Speaker : Dr QIU Kunliang  (JSIEC)

Dr QIU is a Consultant at Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong. His main research interest is ocular imaging, especially the imaging of myopia and glaucoma. He has been working in the field of ocular imaging for more than 15 years in Hong Kong, Netherlands, and Mainland China, focusing on development and application of image analysis techniques. Dr QIU has authored >30 research papers in peer-reviewed journals.  

Topic: Patterns and Temporal Trends of Childhood Myopia Progression


Date : 4 June 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr Patrick IP (LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU), Dr Gilbert T CHUA (LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU)

Dr. Patrick IP is a Clinical Associate Professor of Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, The Unversity of Hong Kong and a Consultant in Paediatrics, Queen Mary Hospital. Dr IP is a specialist paediatrician with special interest in Community Child Health, Developmental Paediatrics and Child Protection. He has been working in the field for 20 years and has much experience and publications on early childhood development, neurodevelopmental disorders, child maltreatment and global health issues. 

Topic: From Panic to Success: Insight form the Children’s COVID-19 Consortium


Speaker : Dr ZHANG Youjuan  (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr. Youjuan ZHANG received her bachelor’s degree in medicine (major in nursing) and social science (major in human resource management) in Shandong University, and the Ph.D degree in the Nethersole School of Nursing, CUHK. Her doctoral study was to develop and validate a food frequency questionnaire for dietary assessment of northern Chinese high-risk coronary heart disease individuals. Her current research focuses on studying myopia-related lifestyle factors, including second-hand smoking, diet, breastfeeding and electronic devices usage. 

Topic: Association of Breastfeeding and Children Ocular Health

Date : 21 May 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Professor ZHAO Hui (School of Biomedical Sciences, CUHK)

Prof ZHAO is an Associate Professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong.  Professor Zhao’s research interests cover developmental biology and cancer biology.  His laboratory studies the mechanism of neural crest differentiation, germ layer formation and cell migration, and how these multiple events affect the embryonic patterningHe has published over 70 papers in high impact journals including PNAS, Development, EMBO Journal, Nucleic Acids Research and Journal of Biological Chemistry. 

Topic: Function of Zinc Finger SWIM-Type Containing 4 (Zswim4) during Early Embryonic Development


Speaker : Dr HE Jingna  (DOVS, CUHK)

The academic interests of Dr. HE focus on pathology and treatment in glaucoma and dry eye disease. Dr. HE’s earlier work studied: 1) the role of OPTN mutations in the pathology of primary open angle glaucoma; 2) oxidative stress and autophagy in Human Trabecular Meshwork cells; 3) bacteriological profile of ocular surface flora in conjunctiva and Meibomian gland. Dr. HE’s work is supported by several CUHK internal grants such as Direct Grant for Research. 

Topic: Research Update


Date : 7 May 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Dr CHU Wai Kit  (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr CHU is an Assistant Professor at Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His academic interests focus in gene functions in various eye diseases as well as developing novel treatments for these diseases. He was awarded with the United College Early Career Excellence Award and the SH Ho Visiting Professorship in 2019 and 2020 respectively. He is currently journal editor of Scientific Reports and Hong Kong Journal of Ophthalmology.

Topic: Genome Editing in Eye Diseases

Date : 23 Apr 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Prof XIE Ting (Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Prof XIE is Head of Division of Life Science and the Kerry Holdings Professor of Science at HKUST.  He is one of the leaders and pioneers in studying the stem cell niche and its mechanisms controlling self-renewal. He was among the first to experimentally demonstrate the existence of the stem cell niche. Prof Xie has published over 70 articles in high-profile journals, including Science, Nature and Cell. 

Topic: Niche Concept: from Stem Cells to Eye Diseases


Date : 9 Apr 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Professor YANG Zhenglin (The Key Laboratory for Human Disease Gene Study of Sichuan Province and Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China)

Topic: How to Identify and Characterize Eye Disease Genes


Date : 1 Apr 2021

Speaker : Dr ZHANG Qinrong (Departments of Physics and Molecular & Cell Biology, Li Ka Shing Center, University of California, Berkeley, USA)

Topic: Adaptive Optical Microscopy for Bio-imaging

Date : 30 Mar 2021

DOVS Lecture

Speaker : Professor Rachel R. CASPI(Laboratory of Immunology, Immunoregulation Section, National Eye Institute, NIH, USA)

Dr. CASPI is a tenured Senior Investigator and serves as Section Head of the Immuoregulation Section and Chief of the Laboratory of Immunology at NIH. Her research centers on tolerance and autoimmunity to immunologically privileged retinal antigens in animal models of autoimmune uveitis. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 2010 Friedenwald award, one of the two highest awards in the field of vision research, and has >200 publications. 

Topic: Microbiota and the Eye: The Good and the Bad 


Speaker : Dr CHONG Wai Po  (Laboratory of Immunology, State-Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, China)

Topic: Regulating Autoreactive T cells in Ocular Inflammation


Date : 19 Mar 2021

Speaker: Dr Heather MAK (DOVS, CUHK)

Topic: Research Update


Speaker: Dr RAN Anran (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr RAN is Postdoctoral Fellow of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a board-certified ophthalmologist in China with more than 6 years’ experience in glaucoma imaging.  Dr Ran’s major research interest is detecting diseases with artificial intelligence-based ocular images analysis. She published 24 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with an H-index of 10 (Nov 2021). She is also the principal investigator of a local research grant (Hong Kong). 

Topic: Research Update

Date : 19 Feb 2021

Speaker : Dr Alex LAM (DOVS, CUHK)

Topic: Virtual Reality in Ophthalmology


Speaker : Ms Elaine TO (DOVS, CUHK)

Topic: Research Update


Date : 5 Feb 2021

Speaker : Dr Jason CS YAM (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr YAM is an Associate Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  His research interests include: 1) Children Eye Studies: territory-based epidemiology, etiology, prevention, intervention, and molecular genetics of children eye diseases; 2) Myopia: epidemiology, risk factors, genomic investigations, gene mapping and interventions in prevention of progression. He had more than 60 publications and authored 3 book chapters; and co-authored 1 book. 

Topic: Risk Factors and Prevention of Myopia


Speaker : Dr ZHANG Xiujuan (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr ZHANG is a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include ocular imaging and community health in pediatric ocular diseases such as myopia, amblyopia and strabismus.  She has led several epidemiological studies on ocular diseases and blindness prevention. She has more than 20 publications. She is an Editor of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. 

Topic: Research Update

Date : 22 Jan 2021

Speaker : Dr Carol YL CHEUNG (DOVS, CUHK)

Dr CHEUNG is an Associate Professor at Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her main research interest is “imaging of the eye”, based on the concept that the eyes are the “window” to the human circulation and nervous systems. Dr CHEUNG has authored more than 220 original research articles and 25 review articles in SCI international indexed peer reviewed journals, and 12 book chapters. 

Topic: Deep Learning Based Ocular Image Analysis for Supporting Eye Disease Screening and Triage: Where Are We Now?


Speaker : Dr THAM Yih Chung (Ocular Epidemiology Research Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Assistant Professor, Eye ACP, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore)

Dr THAM is a clinically trained-optometrist with PhD training in ophthalmology and ocular epidemiology from the National University of Singapore. He is currently a senior clinical research fellow at Singapore Eye Research Institute, and an Assistant Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School. His current research scope focuses on visual impairment and age-related eye diseases, but also extends into the areas of clinical imaging and deep learning.

Topic: Screening and Referral for Disease-related Visual Impairment using Retinal Photograph-based Deep Learning


Date : 15 Jan 2021

Speaker : Prof Calvin CP PANG (DOVS, CUHK)

Prof PANG is the S.H. Ho Research Professor of Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Director, Shantou University / The Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Shantou International Eye Center. His research areas include genomics, gene mapping and identification, whole-genome association studies, exome sequencing, on various eye diseases. Prof PANG has contributed more than 480 publications in SCI international peer review journals and 22 book chapters.

Topic: Prevention and Treatment of Impaired Vision in the Coming Decade


Speaker : Prof Christopher KS LEUNG (DOVS, CUHK)

Prof LEUNG is the Head of Department and Clinical Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology, LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. He is is a clinician-scientist with research focus in glaucoma detection and diagnostic imaging of the optic nerve.  The research team led by Prof. LEUNG has been playing a leading role in introducing key concepts and new technologies for early diagnosis of glaucoma and detection of its progression.  

Topic: The Changing Landscape of Diagnostic Standards for Glaucoma – Before and Beyond 2020