Prof. Francisco Lai

Prof Lai is an academic psychopharmacoepidemiologist focusing on real-world evidence
(RWE) for central nervous system (CNS)/ psychotropic drugs, the long-term safety of medications, and psychosomatic or other patterns of multimorbidities. He was trained extensively in quantitative social sciences during his undergraduate years and transitioned into the field of epidemiology and health/ medical research during his postgraduate studies. Since joining The University of Hong Kong (HKU), he has conceptualized, initiated, and overseen numerous research studies as the lead (senior/ corresponding) author which led to publications in high-impact journals, such as World Psychiatry, PLOS Medicine and Sleep Medicine Reviews. In a first-author capacity, He has led research published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Canadian Medical Association Journal, and Nature Communications. I published more than 135 scholarly journal articles, with an H-Index of 32 (Google Scholar, as of May 2025). His research has been shortlisted for the HKU Research Output Prize multiple times since 2022, and the societal impact of my works on pharmacovigilance during public health emergencies have also been recognized by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Award in 2023. In 2025, he received the Young Leaders in Global Health Award from the Academic Alliance of the World Health Summit (co-patronized by the Chancellor of Germany, President of France, and Director-General of the World Health
Organization) in recognition of his achievements in advancing population health.