In the research field, the Department strives to create an identity that embodies the creative interactions of molecular, socio-cultural, intervention and prevention sciences analogous to the biopsychosocial medical model in clinical psychiatric management. We rise to the community's unanswered silent needs for mental health service planning for severe mental illness and the highly prevalent mental disorders of all ages through our enormous research efforts in mapping the epidemiology of mental illnesses. The epidemiologic findings of the "Shatin Survey" launched in the 1980s, being the pioneering work in Hong Kong, served the cornerstone for subsequent regional mental health service planning. Over time the Department of Psychiatry has been recognized for its unique ability to articulate translational research themes that integrate multiple perspectives when considering clinical psychiatric problems of great public health significance. The diverse yet well-chosen themes address the epidemiologic profiles and correlates of dementia and common sleep disorders, effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatment for dementia, neuropsychiatric and genetic aspects of dementia and sleep disorders, biopsychosocial risk factors for suicide across life-span, transcultural psychiatry, eating disorders, stroke-related psychiatric morbidity and quality of life in severe mental illness.

RESEARCH AREAS

Neurodegenerative Disorders
Epidemiology
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Neuroimaging Studies and Neuromodulation Treatment
Consultation-liaison Psychiatry
Substance Use Disorders
Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Disorders

RESEARCH PROJECTS

	Genes & Molecules	Imaging	Cognition	Phenomena and Epidemiology	Neuro Modulation	Behavioral and Other Interventions
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Schizophrenia and Psychoses
Neurocognitive Disorders
Affective Disorders
Sleep and Circadian Medicine
Psychosomatic Medicine
Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders