Prof.RonaldMa Hong Kong, China

Ronald Ma is a clinician-scientist and a specialist in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. He completed his medical training at the University of Cambridge, UK and trained in Internal Medicine in London, followed by endocrinology fellowship training in Hong Kong. He then pursued a research fellowship in diabetic complications at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Dr Ma’s research focuses on the epidemiology and genetics of diabetes and its complications, gestational diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and the developmental origins of diabetes. He is currently leading a multi-disciplinary project team to leverage on the Hong Kong Diabetes Register and accompanying biobank to identify novel molecular markers for diabetic complications, and is the principal investigator of the Hong Kong Diabetes Biobank. He has also initiated several mother-offspring cohorts to examine the long-term effects of gestational diabetes and PCOS, and multi-omic studies to identify novel biomarkers. He is also leading local initiatives to enhance local biobanking capacity in Hong Kong and related research. He has published over 450 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals (>35,000 citations, H-index 79). He received the Croucher Senior Medical Research Fellowship (2020) to further his research on Precision Medicine in Diabetes, and the Xiaoren Pan Distinguished Research Award for Epidemiology of Diabetes in Asia from the Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD). Dr Ma plays an active role in diabetes advocacy. He is a Past President of the International Diabetes Epidemiology Group, a Past President of Diabetes Hongkong, and member of the Executive Board, the Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD). He has served as a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Diabetes, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Pregnancy and NCD Committee, as well as council member of IADPSG. He has served as consultant for the WHO on childhood obesity, the International Diabetes Federation, as well as FIGO on NCD prevention. He serves on the Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases for the Hong Kong Health Bureau. He led the workgroup on Type 1 Diabetes in Adults for the IDF Diabetes Atlas, and in an international initiative on Precision Medicine in Diabetes. He currently serves as editorial board member of PLoS Medicine, Diabetologia, Diabetes, Obesity Reviews, Journal of Diabetes Investigation and Maternal-Fetal Medicine.