Francisco is a psychopharmacoepidemiologist investigating a central question: how do psychiatric disorders—and the medications used to treat them—shape long-term physical health trajectories? His work addresses the under-recognized mind–body interface by producing causally-informative, clinically actionable evidence from large-scale real-world health data. Methodologically, he develops and applies advanced causal inference approaches to strengthen interpretation from observational data and to support decision-making in clinical and health-system settings.

At The University of Hong Kong, Francisco leverages unique, population-wide real-world databases to test hypotheses on how mental illness and psychotropic treatments influence risks for somatic outcomes—including cancers, infections, metabolic disease, and multimorbidity patterns. His goal is to translate this evidence into precision prevention and safer care: enabling risk-stratified monitoring, informing prescribing decisions, and supporting more integrated models of health that connect mental and physical well-being.

He has conceptualized, initiated, and overseen numerous studies as senior/corresponding author, resulting in publications in leading journals such as World Psychiatry (IF 65.8) and The Lancet Psychiatry (IF 24.8). In a first-author capacity, he led earlier works published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Nature Communications, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and Canadian Medical Association Journal. He has published more than 145 peer-reviewed journal articles and have an H-index of 34 (Google Scholar, Feb 2026). In recognition of his contributions, he was selected for the inaugural RGC Junior Research Fellowship (2020), the HMRF Research Fellowship (2023 call), and the World Health Summit Young Leaders in Global Health Award (2025). His cumulated competitive PI funding (excluding transfers) exceeds HKD 8 million.

Francisco contributes to the scientific community through grant review (SNSF, UKRI), peer review for major journals, editorial board service, mentorship, and public engagement—translating complex research into clear insights for scientists, clinicians, and the wider community.

The Epi-Multimorbidity Lab, headed by Francisco, is actively recruiting motivated postdoctoral fellows, PhD students or research assistants. Interested candidates should email fttlai@hku.hk their CV and samples of research works for an expedited review and consideration.

Editorship

• Editorial Board Member – Communications Medicine (ISSN: 2730-664X; since Jan 2024)
• Editorial Board Member – Journal of Multimorbidity and Comorbidty (ISSN: 2633-5565, since July 2023)
• Section Editor (Stress and Public Health) – Stress and Health (ISSN: 1532-3005, since July 2022)

Honours and Awards

• World Health Summit Young Leaders in Global Health Award 2025
• HKU Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Award (Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, 2023)
• HKU Faculty Outstanding Research Output Award (2021/22-2023/24)
• RGC Junior Research Fellowship (2020/21, inaugural class, formerly the RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship)
• Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship (for Postgraduate Students) 2018/19

• Psychopharmacoepidemiology
• Long-term safety of medications
• Psychosomatic multimorbidity

Selected Publications

• Lai FTT, Tian W (PhD Supervisee, co-first author), Hu Y, Wei C, Sun Q, Song S, Zhou L, Wei Y, Luo S, Ng APP, Chan JKN, Lo HKY, Chan EW, Wong SSC, Chang WC. Incidence of gynecological cancers following prolactin-increasing antipsychotic use: a population cohort study. World Psychiatry. 2025 Oct;24(3):447-448. doi: 10.1002/wps.21365. PMID: 40948078; PMCID: PMC12434348. [2024 IF = 65.8; 1/288 in Psychiatry]
  Synopsis:
  Landmark territory-wide EHR study—the first cohort and largest real-world head-to-head comparison—showing prolactin-increasing antipsychotics are associated with twofold higher gynecological cancer incidence versus prolactin-sparing agents, establishing a major safety signal (notably endometrial and ovarian cancers).
• Hu Y (PhD Supervisee), Tian W, Wei C, Sun Q, Song S, Zhou L, Chu RYK, Liu W, Liu B, Ng APP, Lee KCK, Lo HKY, Chang WC, Wong WCW, Chan EWY, Wong ICK, Lai FTT (corresponding author). Clozapine use and risk of infections in patients with schizophrenia in Hong Kong: a population-based cohort study. The Lancet Psychiatry. 2025 Sep;12(9):628-637. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(25)00201-9. Epub 2025 Jul 28. PMID: 40744048. [2024 IF = 24.8; 2/288 in Psychiatry]
  Synopsis:
  Addressing a major evidence gap, this territory-wide cohort is the first to map the spectrum of infections linked to clozapine (vs olanzapine) in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, demonstrating elevated overall infection incidence and highlighting older adults as a high-risk group—supporting strengthened prevention strategies alongside clozapine use.
• Hu Y (PhD Supervisee), Gao L, Zhou L, Liu W, Wei C, Liu B, Sun Q, Tian W, Chu RYK, Song S, Cheng FWT, Chan JKN, Ng APP, Lo HKY, Lee KCK, Chang WC, Wong WCW, Chan EWY, Wong ICK, Chai Y, Lai FTT (corresponding author). Rare but elevated incidence of hematological malignancy after clozapine use in schizophrenia: A population cohort study. PLOS Medicine. 2024 Dec 5;21(12):e1004457. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004457. PMID: 39636825; PMCID: PMC11620352. [2024 IF = 9.9; 13/332 in Medicine; General & Internal]
  Synopsis:
  This first analytic cohort study establishes population-calibrated absolute risk for clozapine-associated hematological malignancy (IRR 2.22 vs olanzapine) and was cited by European Medicines Agency as supporting evidence for an EU safety signal, triggering further evaluation including PSUR-based cumulative review and consideration of product information/RMP updates.
• Xu C (MMedSc Supervisee), Leung JCN, Shi J, Lum DH, Lai FTT (corresponding author). Sedative-hypnotics and osteoporotic fractures: A systematic review of observational studies with over six million individuals. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2024 Feb;73:101866. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2023.101866. Epub 2023 Oct 23. PMID: 37926010. [2024 IF = 9.7; 7/285 in Clinical Neurology]
  Synopsis:
  PROSPERO-registered systematic review synthesizing multi-design observational evidence (>6 million participants) identifies a modest but clinically relevant fracture risk signal for sedative-hypnotics, varying by drug class and exposure intensity.
• Wei C (PhD Supervisee), Chu RYK, Lai RL, Chu F, Leung I, Leung WCY, Cheng FWT, Lam TCH, Wong ICK, Chan EW, Lai FTT (corresponding author). Sex-specific elevated incidence of glaucoma associated with topiramate versus valproate or lamotrigine in epilepsy, not migraine: A population-based cohort study. Epilepsia. 2026 Jan 10. doi: 10.1002/epi.70087. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41518480. [2024 IF = 6.6; 25/286 in Clinical Neurology]
  Synopsis:
  Leveraging UK-wide GP EHRs (provided by IQVIA), we demonstrate a clinically actionable safety signal: topiramate confers a ~2% absolute excess 1‑year glaucoma risk and 2.7–3.6× higher hazard versus valproate/lamotrigine—dramatically concentrated in women and epilepsy (not migraine)—enabling immediate risk‑stratified ASM selection and targeted eye monitoring.

Funding (Selected)

• Health and Medical Research Fund – Research Fellowship Scheme (Health Bureau, HKSAR Government, Ref: 09230317). “Association of multimorbidity intervals and mental-physical disease sequences with adverse health outcomes: a longitudinal healthcare big-data study with multinational population-based electronic health records”.
  [Role: PI; HKD 890,000, 1 Apr 2026 – 29 Feb 2028]
• Health and Medical Research Fund (Ref: 21221112). “Multimorbidity Incidence and other Prognostic Outcomes following adverse events of special interest after Covid-19 Vaccination versus historical cases: a retrospective cohort study (MIPO-CoV)”.
  [Role: PI; HKD 1,499,748, 1 Nov 2024 – 31 Oct 2026]
• Health and Medical Research Fund (Ref: 20212591). “Acceleration of multimorbidity incidence after COVID-19 infection and modification by vaccination status: a territory-wide retrospective cohort study”.
  [Role: PI; HKD 1,238,936, 15 Dec 2023 – 14 Dec 2026]
• Health and Medical Research Fund (Ref: 19201271). “Applying machine learning to identify and characterize multimorbidity profiles with increased cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and all-cause mortality risks in a retrospective cohort of antipsychotic users”.
  [Role: PI; HKD 802,608, 1 Nov 2022 – 31 Oct 2024]
• Health and Medical Research Fund (Health Bureau, HKSAR Government, Ref: COVID19F01). “COVID-19 vaccines Adverse events Response and Evaluation (CARE) Programme”.
  [Role: PI by Grant Transfer from Prof Ian CK Wong; HKD 9,640,026, 1 Apr 2021 – 31 Mar 2025]