Dr. Karen Lam is Chair Professor in Medicine, Rosie TT Young Professor in Endocrinology & Metabolism, Clinical Director of the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, and Academic Lead of the Clinical Trial Center, at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Dr. Lam obtained her MBBS (Hons) and MD degrees at HKU. She underwent training in endocrinology at the University Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital and, as a British Commonwealth Fellow, at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, where she started her research career which was further enhanced by her tenure as a Fogarty International Research Fellow of the NIH at Tufts New England Medical Center. Currently she leads a research team focusing on clinical, basic and translational research in diabetes and obesity, whose seminal discoveries of adipocyte fatty acid binding protein as a circulating adipokine involved in the pathogenesis of obesity-related disorders, and the presence of FGF21 resistance in obesity have, in particular, been widely replicated by the international research community. Her team has established two large cohorts, the CRISPS and HKW Diabetes Registry, for prospective studies on genetic and environmental determinants of diabetes and related medical problems.
Dr. Lam was the Founding President of Diabetes Hongkong, a Past President of the Hong Kong Society of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Reproduction, and Founding Chairman of the Specialty Board on Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. At HKU, she was the first woman to head the Department of Medicine and the Founding Director of the Research Centre of Heart, Brain, Hormone & Healthy Aging. Currently, she serves on the Publication Core Committee of the Endocrine Society, and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.