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Professor Christopher K.S. Leung 梁啟信教授

Professor-Christopher-Kai-Shun-Leung_155

Department Chairperson and Clinical Professor

Director of HKU Eye Centre

Chief of Service (Ophthalmology), Queen Mary Hospital
Honorary Consultant (Ophthalmology), Grantham Hospital


MD,MB ChB, MSc (Molecular Medicine), BMedSc, FCOphthHK, FHKAM (Ophthalmology)

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Phone : 2518 1430 / 3962 1413
Email : cleung21@hku.hk

ORCID: 0000-0003-4862-777X

Christopher Leung is a clinician-scientist with research focus in glaucoma detection and diagnostic imaging of the optic nerve. He read a MSc in Molecular Medicine at Imperial College London and obtained his medical training (MB ChB) and doctoral education (MD) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Awarded with the Croucher Foundation Fellowship, he completed a clinical and research fellowship at the Hamilton Glaucoma Center, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The research team led by Dr. Leung has been playing a leading role in introducing key concepts and new technologies for early diagnosis of glaucoma and detection of its progression. His research group is expanding to investigate new treatment strategies for neuroprotection in glaucoma and optic neuropathies.

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Research

Dr. Leung is the recipient of 28 local and international awards and honors in research and professional services including the World Glaucoma Congress Science Award (2009), Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Clinician-Scientist Research Award (2010), World Glaucoma Congress Young Clinician Scientist Award (2011), Asia Pacific Glaucoma Society Young Investigator Award (2012), American Academy of Ophthalmology Secretariat Award (2012), Stuart Brown Lecturer (2013), American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement Award (2015), World Information Technology and Services Alliance Global Information and Communications Excellence Award (2019), and Hong Kong Information and Communications Technology Awards – Smart Living Grand Award (2019), among others. He has published more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific articles; obtained 20 external competitive research grants in the capacity of principal investigator from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund (equivalent to the United States National Institutes of Health R01 grant), Hong Kong Medical and Health Research Fund, Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund, The Glaucoma Foundation (New York, USA), and The American Health Assistance Foundation, among others; and delivered more than 200 invited lectures at 146 scientific meetings over 66 cities in 27 countries. Supported by the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities, he founded 2 start-up companies to translate patented vision diagnostic technologies into clinical applications. At HKU Ophthalmology, he directs the Glaucoma and Optic Nerve Diagnostics Lab, Optic Nerve Protection and Regeneration Lab, and Virtual Reality Lab.

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Services

Dr. Leung provides clinical services at Queen Mary Hospital, Grantham Hospital, Hong Kong Eye Hospital, Caritas Medical Center, and Gleneagles Hospital. As a Volunteer Faculty of Orbis, Dr. Leung has been deployed to train ophthalmologists on the Flying Eye Hospital and in local hospitals in Mainland China and Vietnam. He is Section Editor of British Journal of Ophthalmology, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Medicine, Contributing Editor of International Glaucoma Review, Editorial Board Member of Journal of Glaucoma, Ophthalmic Epidemiology, and Translational Vision Science and Technology. Dr. Leung is an Executive Member and Chair of Program Committee (2020-2022) of the Glaucoma Research Society, a restricted membership society for leading glaucoma researchers in the world. He was Section Leader and Consensus Development Panel Member at the World Glaucoma Association Consensus Meetings.

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Teaching

Dr. Leung has supervised 17 PhD students; he was Head of Graduate Division and MSc Program Director in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been Course Instructor for the College of Ophthalmologists of Hong Kong, training resident ophthalmologists to sit for professional examinations. He also taught instruction courses organized by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and World Glaucoma Association. He had been appointed as Examiner for postgraduate programs in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Shantou University, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the University of Manchester. 

Selected Publications

(*corresponding authors)​

  1. *Leung CKS, Guo PY, Lam AKN. Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Optical Texture Analysis: Involvement of the Papillomacular Bundle and Papillofoveal Bundle in Early Glaucoma. Ophthalmology. 2022 Apr 22:S0161-6420(22)00300-1. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2022.04.012

  2. *Leung CKS, Lam AKN, Weinreb RN, Garway-Heath DF, Yu M, Guo PY, Chiu V, Wan K, Wong M, Wu K, Cheung CY, Lin C, Chan C, Chan NC, Kam KW, Lai G. Retinal nerve fiber layer Optical Texture Analysis (ROTA) - A new paradigm for diagnostic evaluation of optic neuropathy. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2021 

  3. Mak H, Yung JS, Weinreb RN, Ng SH, Cao X, Ho TY, Ng TK, Chu WK, Yung WH, Choy KW, Wang CC, Lee TP, *Leung CKS. MicroRNA-19a-PTEN axis is involved in the developmental decline of axon regenerative capacity in retinal ganglion cells. Molecular therapy – Nucleic Acid 2020;21:251-263.

  4. Wu K, Lin C, Lam AKN, Chan L, *Leung CKS. Wide-field Trend-based Progression Analysis of combined retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell inner plexiform layer thickness – A new paradigm to improve glaucoma progression detection. Ophthalmology 2020. 127:1322-1330.

  5. Lam AKN, To E, Weinreb RN, Yu M, Mak H, Lai G, Chiu V, Wu K, Zhang X, Cheng TPH, Guo PY, *Leung CKS. Use of Virtual Reality Simulation to Identify Vision-Related Disability in Patients with Glaucoma. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2020 138:490-498.

  6. Chan KC, Yu Y, Ng SH, Mak HK, Yip YWY, van der Merwe Y, Ren T, Yung JSY, Biswas S, Cao X, Chau Y, *Leung CKS. Intracameral injection of a chemically cross-linked hydrogel to study chronic neurodegeneration in glaucoma. Acta Biomaterialia 2019;94, 219-231.

  7. Zheng F, Wu Z, *Leung CKS. Detection of Bruch’s membrane opening in healthy individuals and glaucoma patients with and without high myopia. Ophthalmology 2018;125:1537-1546.

  8. Hou HW, Lin C, *Leung CKS. Integrating macular ganglion cell inner plexiform layer and parapapillary retinal nerve fiber layer measurements to detect glaucoma progression. Ophthalmology 2018;125:822-831.

  9. Yu M, Lin C, Weinreb RN, Lai G, Chiu V, *Leung CKS. Risk of Visual Field Progression in Glaucoma Patients with Progressive Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thinning: A 5-Year Prospective Study. Ophthalmology. 2016;123:1201-10.

  10. Weinreb RN, Leung CKS, Crowston JG, Medeiros FA, Friedman DS, Wiggs JL, Martin KR. Primary open-angle glaucoma. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16067.

  11. Wu Z, Xu G, Weinreb RN, Yu M, *Leung CKS. Optic Nerve Head Deformation in Glaucoma: A Prospective Analysis of Optic Nerve Head Surface and Lamina Cribrosa Surface Displacement. Ophthalmology 2015;122:1317-29.

 

Selected Research Grant Awards

(Principal Investigator)

​       Hong Kong Research Grants Council  

  1. General Research Fund (2021/22)  Metformin as a neuroprotective therapy for glaucoma – A randomized controlled trial (Project Reference: 14101621)

  2. General Research Fund (2018/19) – Retinal nerve fiber layer optical texture signature as a novel biomarker for detection of glaucoma progression (Project Reference: 14101518)

  3. General Research Fund (2017/18) – Measurement of the rates of retinal nerve fiber layer thinning to guide management of myopic glaucoma patients (Project Reference: 14101117)

  4. General Research Fund (2016/17) – Progressive retinal nerve fiber layer thinning as a biomarker to guide intraocular pressure lowering treatment in ocular hypertensive (Project Reference: 14100916)

  5. General Research Fund (2015/2016) – Progressive lamina cribrosa deformation – A biomarker for fast progressors in glaucoma?  (Project Reference: 14101215)

  6. General Research Fund (2014/2015) – Impact of PTEN/SOCS3 deletion on dendritic regeneration: A time-lapse in vivo imaging study (Project Reference: 14109814)

  7. Germany/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme (2011/12) – In vivo imaging of retinal neurons in Thy- 1 YFP Transgenic mice after traumatic injury and transorbital alternating current stimulation (Project Reference: G_HK025/11) 

  8. General Research Fund (2010/2011) – Characterization of the glaucoma gene at the GLC1M locus for Juvenile Onset Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (Project Reference: 14109814)                                                                     Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau 

  9. Medical and Health Research Fund (2018/19) – Nicotinamide riboside as a neuroprotective therapy for glaucoma: a randomized controlled trial (Project Reference: 06171076)

  10. Medical and Health Research Fund (2014/15) – A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Efficacy and Safety between Pattern Laser Trabeculoplasty and Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (Project Reference: 02130446)

  11. Heath Services Research Fund (2010/11) – Evidence-based adjustment of topical glaucoma drop use among Hong Kong Patients (Project Reference: HHSRF 07080601)                                                                                           Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission 

  12. Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (2020/21) – AIROTA Diagnostics Limited (Project Reference: TSSSU/CUHK/20/01)

  13. Innovation and Technology Fund (2016/17) – Evaluation of visual disability in a virtual reality environment (Project Reference: ITS/338/15)

  14. Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (2016-2019) – ACE VR Limited (Project Reference: TSSSU/CUHK/16/08) 

                         Research Laboratories

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