Our Researchers
Our Researchers
https://med.cuhk.edu.hk/research/our-researchers/professor-ronald-mahttps://med.cuhk.edu.hk/research/our-researchers/professor-ronald-ma
Professor Ronald MA
Department of Medicine & Therapeutics
Ronald MA is Professor at the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK and Honorary Consultant Physician, specialist in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong.
Professor MA completed his medical training at the University of Cambridge, UK and trained in Internal Medicine in London. He subsequently returned to Hong Kong, where he completed his endocrinology fellowship training. Through support from a Croucher Foundation Fellowship, he furthered his research interest in the area of diabetic complications at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, under the mentorship of Professor George KING.
Professor MA’s research focuses on the epidemiology and genetics of diabetes and its complications, gestational diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome. In the course of his research, Professor MA has published over 200 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Nature Genetics, the Lancet, Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, JAMA, PLoS Medicine, Diabetes and authored 10 book chapters. His research focuses on the epidemiology and genetics of diabetes and its complications, and in the discovery of novel biomarkers for predicting diabetes and diabetic complications in the Chinese population. His group was the first to identify a genetic variant near the PAX4 gene as a novel predictor of type 2 diabetes in Chinese and other Asian populations. He is currently leading a multi-disciplinary project team to identify novel molecular markers for diabetic complications, funded by the Theme-based research scheme. Professor MA is a recipient of several awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the International Diabetes Epidemiology Group (IDEG), Young Investigator Award from the Asia Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Diseases, Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award, Hong Kong (2009), the Albert Renold Fellowship from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (2010), the Research Excellence Award (2011) and the Outstanding Fellowship of Faculty of Medicine from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2014), and the Sir David Todd Lectureship from the Hong Kong College of Physicians (2015).
Professor MA currently serves as the President of the Hong Kong Society of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Reproduction, a member of the Executive Board, the Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD) and Council Member of the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD). Professor MA is a past president of Diabetes Hongkong, a charitable voluntary organization dedicated to promote social awareness of diabetes and to serve diabetic patients, and is the immediate Past President of the International Diabetes Epidemiology Group (IDEG). He has advised the World Health Organization as a member of the Working Group on the Science and Evidence for Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO), and is co-chair of the International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (FIGO) Adolescent, Preconception and Maternal Nutrition Working Group.