Our People

Prof. Vincent Mok’s research aims to understand mechanisms of dementia and to investigate strategies that may help to prevent dementia. He is the first to report the association of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and cognitive impairment in Asia and the first to report the community prevalence of CSVD among Asians (Chinese). Such findings have significantly increased the awareness that strategies targeting CSVD (e.g. blood pressure lowering) can help to prevent dementia in this region, where the burden of dementia is particularly huge. Prof. Mok conducted one of the largest single-centre studies investigating the prevalence and mechanisms of early and delayed cognitive decline in the context of stroke and found that concurrent presence of amyloid plaques as detected by in-vivo amyloid PET imaging and CSVD are important factors associated with early and delayed cognitive decline after stroke, respectively. Such findings provide a road map of how to prevent vascular cognitive impairment. Prof. Mok, along with Dr Adrian Wong (Clinical Psychologist) validated the Hong Kong-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (HK-MoCA) and developed norms for HK-MoCA performance according to age and education. HK-MoCA is currently the commonest brief cognitive assessment used for the assessment of cognitive function and the detection of mild cognitive impairment in HK.

Prof. Mok has been involved in the validation and clinical application of a novel artificial intelligence (AI) derived MRI-based Index, which was developed by a spin-off company of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), for the detection of early Alzheimer’s disease. He has also been involved in developing and validating an AI derived retinal imaging analysis for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, he also specializes in Parkinson’s disease and was one of the pioneers of developing Deep Brain Stimulation programme in Asia for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

He received the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award (Science & Technology) in Natural Sciences (1st Class) from the Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China in 2011 for his research in cerebrovascular disease, Outstanding Fellow Award from the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK for his exceptional academic leadership in areas of research, education and service in 2016, Endowment as Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine by CUHK in 2017, the Excellent Research Award and the 10th Health and Medical Research Fund Anniversary Award by the Food and Health Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for his research in vascular cognitive impairment in 2017 and 2021, respectively. He was conferred the Chief Executive’s Commendation for Community Service by the Government of the HKSAR in 2022 for his contribution in combating COVID-19 pandemic. He was appointed as the Master of the S.H. Ho College in 2022. He received 7 times Teacher of the Year Award and the Master Teacher Award from the Faculty from the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK. He was also one of the pioneers in developing the Global Physician Leadership Stream (GPS) programme, which is a flagship undergraduate programme of the Faculty in providing medical leadership training and exposures for medical students. As a core member of the founding GPS team, the Faculty and University awarded him the prestigious Faculty Education Award (Collaborative Team) and University Education Award (Collaborative Team) in 2023, respectively.

Prof. Mok has authored more than 400 publications in peer-reviewed international journals (with book chapters), with publications at Lancet, JAMA, Lancet Neurology, Nature Reviews Neurology, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, JAMA Neurology, JAMA Psychiatry, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (JNNP), Annals of Neurology, Neurology and Stroke.