- Fellowship in 2021 at Barts Liver Centre, Blizard Insitute
Dr Mak is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. She is a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and provides clinical service in Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. Dr Mak graduated from high school scoring all 5 subjects with grade A in the HKALE in year 2006. She received her primary medical education at The University of Hong Kong. She obtained her qualification of the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom in 2013 and the Postgraduate Diploma in Infectious Diseases by The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong in 2015. She completed her specialty training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in year 2018 and Advanced Internal Medicine in year 2019 at Queen Mary Hospital.
Dr Mak’s research interests include chronic hepatitis B, fibrosis assessment and treatment of chronic liver diseases, and biomarkers in gastrointestinal diseases. She has published more than 30 first-authored peer-reviewed articles in reputable journals. Highlights include original article and review article in Journal of Hepatology (impact factor 20.582), Hepatology (impact factor 14.679), invited editorials in Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology (impact factor 12.85), Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (impact factor 7.35) and the 'Joint recommendations on management of anaemia in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding in Hong Kong' as first author, on behalf of The Hong Kong Society of Gastroenterology, The Hong Kong IBD Society, The Hong Kong Society of Digestive Endoscopy, and The Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, which was published in The Hong Kong Medical Journal.
Dr Mak has received numerous academic awards, including the Dr Kate Cheng Memorial Prize for Postgraduate Diploma in Infectious Diseases, the Best Abstract in Clinical Medicine in the Medical Research Conference organized by The University of Hong Kong in 2017, 2019 and 2020, and 2021, the Young Investigators Award in the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology 3rd Clinical Forum on Inflammatory Bowel Disease in 2018, and the travel award for the 7th Annual Meeting of Asian Organization of Crohn's & Colitis. She was also awarded the Faculty Knowledge Exchange Award by Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong in 2019. She won the Young Investigator’s Award in the 30th Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, and the Distinguished Research Paper Award by the Hong Kong College of Physicians in year 2020. Dr Mak is a council Member of The Hong Kong Association for Study of Liver Disease. She is also an Associate Member, of the State Key Laboratory of Liver Research, The University of Hong Kong.
Representative publications
1. Mak LY, Huang Q, Wong DKH, Stamm L, Cheung KS, Ko KL, Yan R, Ouyang L, Fung J, Seto WK, Yuen MF. Residual HBV RNA and pgRNA viraemia is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B patients on antiviral therapy. J Gastroenterol 2021 [in press]
2. Mak LY, Yuen MF. Reply to “Can the ratio of serum HBV RNA to DNA reflect the reverse transcription efficiency of viral pgRNA?” Hepatology 2020 [in press]
3. Mak LY, Cloherty G, Wong DKH, Gersch J, Seto WK, Fung J, Yuen MF. HBV RNA profiles in chronic hepatitis B patients under different disease phases and anti-viral therapy. Hepatology 2020 [in press]
4. Mak LY, Yuen MF, Seto WK. Letter regarding “A new definition for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: An international expert consensus statement”. J Hepatol 2020 [in press]
5. Mak LY, Wong DKH, Pollicino T, Raimondo G, Hollinger FB, Yuen MF. Occult hepatitis B infection and hepatocellular carcinoma: epidemiology, virology, hepatocarcinogenesis and clinical significance. J Hepatol 2020; 73:952-64.
6. Mak LY, Hui RWH, Fung J, et al. Diverse effects of hepatic steatosis on fibrosis progression and functional cure in virologically quiescent chronic hepatitis B. J Hepatol 2020; 73:800-806.
Currently
Dr. Mak has enrolled in the degree of Doctor of Medicine which will be completed by year 2021. Dr Mak wishes to identify immunological and virological mechanisms underlying persistence of hepatitis B virus in humans, which will provide insights in how HBV viral proteins interact with the adaptive immune system and the mechanism leading to transition into clearance of infection from human liver. This will help to pave the way to discovery and selection of novel therapeutic targets, e.g. therapeutic vaccines, to promote functional cure in chronic hepatitis B infection.