Professor Clara Lau is currently the Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, and School of Chinese Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before she joined HKU in April 2024, she was previously the Associate Director of Institute of Chinese Medicine and the State Key Laboratory of Research on Bioactivities and Clinical Applications of Medicinal Plants at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She had also served as Deputy Program Director/Program Director (2005-2015) of a part-time MSc in Chinese Medicines and Herbal Drugs at the School of Chinese Medicine, CUHK. Prior to this, she was a lecturer in Pharmacognosy at the School of Pharmacy, University of Bradford, UK (1997-2000), and an Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2000-2008).

With BPharm and PhD in Pharmacy (Pharmacognosy) from King’s College London, University of London, United Kingdom, Prof. Lau has a continuous interest in medicinal plants, including both western herbals and traditional Chinese herbal medicines. She has over 29 years' experience in natural products research, and aimed to provide scientific evidence to support the traditional use of these herbal medicines. Her main research areas include anti-cancer herbs/natural products, and the beneficial herb-drug combinations. She has published over 285 refereed journal articles (h-index=48) and 11 book chapters, and edited 1 book. She has successfully supervised or co-supervised 39 MPhil or PhD postgraduates in Chinese Medicine, Pharmacognosy or Biochemistry. She is the co-inventor of 9 granted or published US non-provisional or PRC patents.

She currently serves as member of ChP-USP Advisory Group on Monographs for Traditional Chinese Medicine Ingredients and Products; Secretary General and Executive Council Member of The Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine (CGCM); President, and Executive Committee Member of the Board of Directors for Good Practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Association (GP-TCM RA); Council member of Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association (MCMIA); Advisor for Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong on Registration of Proprietary Chinese Medicines.

Memberships & Editorships

Memberships:

• Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (August 1994 - 2012)
• Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (March 2012 - present)
• Member of American Society of Pharmacognosy (1996 - present)
• Member of Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association (MCMIA) (September 2014 – present)
• Member (February 2015 - April 2018) and Life member (April 2018 – present) of Good Practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Association (GP-TCM RA)
• Member of The Specialty Committee on Immunology of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (November 2014 – November 2028)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) (March 2007 - present)

Editorships:

• Associate Editor of “Journal of Ethnopharmacology” (since January 2022)
• Associate Editor of “Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine” (since August 2017)
• Consulting Editor of “Pharmacological Research” (since August 2019)

Editorial Board member of the following journals:

• Phytomedicine (since January 2017)
• Scientific Reports (since March 2017)
• Journal of Natural Products (since January 2018)
• Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (since August 2019)
• Integrative Medicine Research (since January 2021)
• World Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (since March 2024)
• Guest Editor of Phytomedicine special issue 2022 “Good Practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Association 10 years celebration” (August 2021 – May 2022)
• Guest Editor of Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue 2023 “Women Scientists in Ethnopharmacological Research” (October 2022 – September 2023)
• Editor of the book series “Natural Products Chemistry of Global Plants” (May 2022 – present)

Prof Lau has a continuous interest in medicinal plants and has over 29 years' experience in natural products research. Her major research areas include investigations on potential anti-cancer activities of natural products. Throughout these years, her research team has successfully set up in vivo and in vitro platforms for studying the direct cytotoxic, immunomodulatory, anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic activities of herbal medicines/natural products. In fact, Prof Lau’s research team has been investigating on the use of herbal medicines/natural products in cancer treatment for over 20 years. In addition, her research team has systematically demonstrated the new adjuvant values of several Chinese herbs in conventional therapies on both efficacy augmentation and toxicity reduction, and has emphasized the importance of the adjuvant role of herbal medicines in cancer treatment.

Main research topics:

• Study of herbs and natural products with potential anti-cancer activities, including discovery and development of anti-angiogenic natural products, evaluation of anti-tumor and anti-metastatic activities of natural compounds;
• Research on adjuvant potentials of herbal extracts in cancer management;
• Investigation on beneficial herb-drug combinations.

Representative research grants:

• PI, Health and Medical Research Funded project “Verification of the beneficial effect and safe use of combined FOLFOX and Patriniae Herba extract in colorectal cancer – Proof-of-concept for clinical use” (Ref. no: 09203106; September 2022 – February 2025).
• Co-I and Deputy Project coordinator, ITF grant – Innovation and Technology Support Programme (Collaborative project) “Evaluation of the adjuvant value of a Chinese herb in advanced esophageal cancer management”, with Industrial sponsor Nong’s Company Limited (Ref. no: ITS/079/17FX; March 2018 – February 2021).
• PI, ITF grant – Innovation and Technology Support Programme (Collaborative project) “To develop an innovative multi-targeted herbal formula for the management of metabolic syndrome”, with Industrial sponsor Venture Tycoon Limited (Ref. no: ITS/036/15FX; February 2016 – July 2017).
• PI, Health and Medical Research Funded project “Is it safe to use estrogenic Chinese herbal medicines in breast cancer patients? – a preclinical evaluation” (Ref. no: 12130471; July 2015 – June 2017).
• PI, Health and Medical Research Funded project “Investigation of the protective effects of Herba Cistanche on statin-induced muscle toxicity” (Ref. no: 11120831; January 2014 – December 2015).
• PI, Health and Health Services Research Funded project “Investigation of the Inhibitory Effects of Metronomic Zoledronate in Combination with Coriolus versicolor in Cancer Propagation and Bone Metastasis in Breast Tumour Rodent Model” (Ref. no: 10110891; January 2013 – December 2014).
• PI, Health and Health Services Research Funded project “Evaluation of efficacy of combination of Turmeric and chemotherapeutics in colorectal cancer treatment--a preclinical study” (Ref. no: 09100341; January 2012 – December 2013).
• PI, Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases funded project “Mechanistic studies on bakuchiol and macrocarpal C with regards to their anti-dermatophyte effects in vitro and tinea pedis-treating activities in vivo” (Ref. no: 10090502; January 2011 – December 2012).
• Co-I and General manager, Diabetic foot ulcer project (non-clinical), part of UGC AoE Project (April 2008 – March 2011) - Chinese Medicine Research & Further Development.
• PI, RGC earmarked grant project “The anti-leukemia and immunomodulatory activities of Agaricus blazei Murill extracts” (Ref. No. CUHK4531/05M; October 2005 – March 2008).
• PI, ITF University-Industry 50:50 matching grant project “Development of a Ganoderma (Lingzhi) and Coriolus (Yunzhi) formula as an anti-cancer agent”, with Industrial sponsor Vita Green Health Products Company Limited (Ref. No. UIM/73; April 2002 – September 2005).