Dr. Edmund Yiu is a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, The University of Hong Kong. He obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Business Economics with First Class Honours from the Department of Economics and Finance at the College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, in 2016. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, he pursued his master’s and doctoral studies at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. He obtained his Master of Science (MSc) in Economics with Distinction from the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Social Science in 2017. In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious Chancellor’s International Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Health Sciences (Health Economics) at Warwick Medical School, which he completed in 2022. Following his PhD, he joined Prof. Esther Chan’s team at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy at the University of Hong Kong as a Postdoctoral Fellow in September 2022 and completed his postdoctoral training in January 2024.

Edmund is passionate about Health Economics research, particularly in the area of mental well-being preference elicitation. During his PhD, under the mentorship of his supervisors at the University of Oxford and the University of Warwick, he used discrete choice experiment (DCE) and composite time trade-off (C-TTO) methods to model the first UK preference-based value set for the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS). This value set enables the estimation of Mental Well-being Adjusted Life Years (MWALYs), offering an alternative outcome measure to the Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) in cost effectiveness analysis of interventions aimed at improving mental well-being. The adoption of MWALYs in economic evaluations helps overcome the limitations of using existing preference-based instruments that are primarily focused on physical health, such as the EQ-5D, for estimating QALYs. His work was selected for presentation at academic conferences, including the International Health Economics Association (iHEA) World Congress and the Health Economists’ Study Group. Furthermore, Edmund was actively engaged in teaching Health Economics modules in the UK, imparting knowledge on health preference research and healthcare efficiency to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Edmund is currently using health preference survey methodologies (e.g. DCE and C-TTO) and a mixed methods approach to derive public preference weights in Hong Kong. These efforts aim to quantify the public’s perceived relative importance of mental well-being attributes to inform the design of interventions that most improve population mental well-being. He is also involved in various medication preference studies to understand barriers to medication adherence and the factors considered by patients in their choice of medication. Additionally, he is involved in a community pharmacy clinical trial project to validate pharmacy service questionnaires and investigate the cost-effectiveness of Minor Ailment service and Medication Management Services.

Honours and Awards

• Chancellor’s International Scholarship, University of Warwick, UK (Oct 2018 – March 2022)
• Outstanding Student Awards in Real Estate 2015/2016 (July 2016)
• BBA Scholarship 2014 / 2015 (July 2015)

Health Economics

• Health preference (preference elicitation using Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE), time trade-off (TTO), and other health preference survey methodologies)
• Quality of life (population mental well-being)
• Patient-reported outcome measures
• Qualitative research (think-aloud interview, focus group interview)
• Economic evaluations (cost-effectiveness analysis)
• Survey validation

Publication Highlights

• Yiu, H. H. E., Buckell, J., Petrou, S., Stewart-Brown, S. & Madan, J. (2023a) Derivation of a UK preference-based value set for the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS) to allow estimation of Mental Well-being Adjusted Life Years (MWALYs). Social Science & Medicine, 327 115928.
• Yiu, H. H. E., Yan, V. K., Wei, Y., Ye, X., Huang, C., Castle, D. J., Chui, C. S., Lai, F. T., Li, X., Wong, C. K., Wan, E. Y., Wong, I. C. & Chan, E. W. (2023b) Risks of COVID-19-related hospitalisation and mortality among individuals with mental disorders following BNT162b2 and CoronaVac vaccinations: A case-control study. Psychiatry Research, 329 115515.
• Yiu, H. H. E., Al-Janabi, H., Stewart-Brown, S., Petrou, S. & Madan, J. (2022) The use of composite time trade-off and discrete choice experiment methods for the valuation of the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS): a think-aloud study. Quality of Life Research, 31 (9): 2739-2751.

Selected Publications

• Huang, C., Wei, Y., Yan, V. K., Ye, X., Kang, W., Yiu, H. H. E., Shami, J. J., Cowling, B. J., Tse, M. L., Castle, D. J., Chui, C. S., Lai, F. T., Li, X., Wan, E. Y., Wong, C. K., Hayes, J. F., Chang, W. C., Chung, A. K., Lau, C. S., Wong, I. C. & Chan, E. W. (2023) Vaccine effectiveness of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac against SARS-CoV-2 omicron infection and related hospital admission among people with substance use disorder in Hong Kong: a matched case-control study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 10 (6): 403-413.
• Law, M., Ho, S. S., Tsang, G. K., Ho, C. M., Kwan, C. M., Yan, V. K. C., Yiu, H. H. E., Lai, F. T. T., Wong, I. C. K. & Chan, E. W. Y. (2023) Efficacy and effectiveness of inactivated vaccines against symptomatic COVID-19, severe COVID-19, and COVID-19 clinical outcomes in the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Regional Health–Western Pacific.
• Lo, C. W. H., Pathadka, S., Qin, S. X., Fung, L. W., Yan, V. K. C., Yiu, H. H. E., Bloom, C. I., Wong, I. C. K. & Chan, E. W. Y. (2023) Neuropsychiatric events associated with montelukast in patients with asthma: a systematic review. European Respiratory Review, 32 (169).
• Qin, S. X., Cheng, F. W. T., Kwok, W. C., Fung, L. W., Ma, T. T., Yiu, H. H. E., Bloom, C., McDonald, C. F., Cheung, C.-L., Lai, F. T. T., Chui, C. S. L., Li, X., Wong, C. K. H., Wan, E. Y. F., Wong, I. C. K. & Chan, E. W. Y. (2023) Effectiveness and Respiratory Adverse Events Following Inactivated and mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Patients with COPD and Asthma: A Chinese Population-Based Study. Drug Safety, 1-12.
• Ye, X., Yan, V. K., Yiu, H. H. E., Shami, J. J., Kang, W., Ma, T., Qin, X., Chui, C. S., Lai, F. T., Li, X., Wan, E. Y., Wong, C. K., Wong, I. C. & Chan, E. W. (2023) BNT162b2 or CoronaVac Vaccinations Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Stroke After SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection Among Patients With Cardiovascular Disease. Journal of the American Heart Association, 12 (9): e029291.
• El-Banna, A., Petrou, S., Yiu, H. H. E., Daher, S., Forrester, D., Scourfield, J., Wilkins, D., Evans, R., Turley, R. & Wallace, S. (2021) Systematic review of economic evaluations of children’s social care interventions. Children and Youth Services Review, 121 105864.
• Petrou, S., Yiu, H. H. & Kwon, J. (2018) Economic consequences of preterm birth: a systematic review of the recent literature (2009–2017). Archives of disease in childhood, archdischild-2018-315778.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1492-9414
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hei-hang-edmund-yiu-153372105/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Edmund_Yiu

Edmund is looking for potential Research Assistants with a strong interest in quality of life research, health preference research, patient-reported outcome measures, economic evaluations, and qualitative research. Interested candidates can email their CVs to hheyiu@hku.hk.