Dr Guy LJ CHEN
Associate Professor
BMed, MMed, PhD(CUHK), MRCSEd(Ophth), FCOphthHK, FHKAM(Ophth)





Contact :
(852) 3505 2879

lijia_chen@cuhk.edu.hk



Request An Appointment :
(852) 3943 5886

eyecentre@cuhk.edu.hk









Academic AppointmentsAssociate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Head, Graduate Division of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Associate Director, CUHK Jockey Club Children Eye Care Programme
Honorary Associate Consultant, Prince of Wales Hospital & Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, New Territories East Cluster
Honorary Resident, Hong Kong Eye Hospital
Honorary Associate Professor, Shantou University Medical College







BiographyDr CHEN is Associate Professor and Head of Graduate Division of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Honorary Associate Consultant of the New Territories East Cluster (Prince of Wales Hospital and Alice Ho Nethersole Hospital). Dr CHEN is Specialist in Ophthalmology, subspecialized in vitreoretinal diseases.
Dr CHEN is actively working on ophthalmic researches. His major research interest is molecular and clinical genetics of major eye diseases, including macular and retinal diseases (e.g., age-related macular degeneration and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, diabetic retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, etc.), glaucoma, myopia, and corneal dystrophy, etc. He is also working on the genetic profiling of myopia progression in children. Dr CHEN and co-workers have identified a large number of new disease genes/loci, new mutations, new association profiles, and biomarkers for major eye diseases.
Dr CHEN has published over 125 papers in SCI international indexed peer-reviewed journals, with an H-index of 32 (Dec 2020). He is the first or corresponding author of 50 publications. He has co-authored 1 paper in Lancet Oncology (impact factor [IF] 33.75), 7 papers in Nature Genetics (IF 27.60), 3 in Nature Communication (IF 12.12), 1 in Ocular Surface (IF 12.336), 2 in American Journal of Human Genetics (IF 10.50), 1 in PNAS (IF 9.41), 1 in Genetic Medicine (IF 8.90), 10 in Ophthalmology (IF 8.47), 3 in JAMA Ophthalmology (IF 6.19), 13 in Brit J Ophthalmol (IF 3.61), and 17 in IOVS (IF 3. 47).
Dr CHEN is active in research grant application. He is the principal investigators of 7 major local (Hong Kong), National (China), and International competitive research grants, with a total amount of more than HK$6.3 million.
Dr CHEN is also active in international service. He has delivered more than 30 lectures as invited speaker and chaired more than 10 sections in international conferences, mainly including the World Ophthalmology Congress, Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) Congress, and International Symposium of Ophthalmology.

Major Research Awards2019/11???????? Asia-Pacific Vitreo-retina Society (APVRS) Constable Lecture Award, 13th APVRS Congress, Shanghai, 2019.
The APVRS Constable Lecture is presented annually at the APVRS Congress in honor of Prof Ian Constable. The Lecture is to award up and coming vitreoretinal experts for their exemplary leadership and contribution to the field.
2019/09???????? Distinguished Young Fellow (2019), Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
2017/03???????? APAO Achievement Award 2017, the 32nd APAO Congress, Singapore.
2015/12???????? Gold Medal, Best Original Research of Trainee 2015, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Hong Kong.
2015/07 ??????? Winner of Global Research Award, 2015 Global Ophthalmology Awards Program (GOAP), From Bayer, Germany.

Research AreasGenomic studies and gene mapping of retina diseases, myopia, and glaucoma
Genetics of myopia progression in children
Pharmacogenetics of age-related macular degeneration
Molecular genetics and epi-genetics of diabetic retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, uveitis, cornea dystrophies, keratoconus, and hereditary optical neuropathies
Genetic prediction models for various eye diseases
Genetic profiling of quantitative traits in children
Investigations and territory-wide screening for eye diseases in children



Academic Activities
International/Asia-Pacific Coordinator Subspecialty of Visual Sciences, APAO 2019 Congress
Subspecialty Liaison, World Forum for Sight World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) 2018
Editorial Board Member Scientific Reports & Asia Pac J Ophthalmol
Member Asia-ARVO 2015 International Advisory Committee





Research Highlights
Research ProgrammesMolecular genomics and mechanisms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV)
Molecular genomics and mechanisms of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG)
Investigations and screening for eye diseases in children (Hong Kong Children Eye Study) & investigation of genetic factors of longitudinal development of ocular parameters in children.
Molecular genetics of complex eye diseases: high myopia, diabetic macular edema, and uveitis.


Results of Note?Dr CHEN is actively working on ophthalmic researches. His major research interest is ophthalmic genetics, including new gene identification, population genetic association and mutation profiles investigation, genotype-phenotype correlation, genetic prediction model, gene function and disease pathways of major eye diseases, including macular and retinal diseases (e.g., AMD and PCV, diabetic retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, etc.), glaucoma, myopia, and corneal dystrophy, etc. He is also working on the genetic profiling of myopia progression in children. Dr CHEN and co-workers have identified a large number of new disease genes/loci, new mutations, new association profiles, and biomarkers for major eye diseases.
Dr CHEN is the Principal Investigator (PI) of 6 external competitive research grants, including 1 General Research Fund (GRF) from the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong; 1 Youth Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); 3 Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) from Food and Health Bureau, Hong Kong; and 1 Research Award from the Global Ophthalmology Awards Program (GOAP) from Bayer, Germany. The total amount of the research funds is over HK$ 5 million
Dr CHEN has published over 100 papers in SCI international indexed peer-reviewed journals. He is the first or corresponding author of 40 publications. He has co-authored 1 paper in Lancet Oncology (impact factor [IF] 35.38), 7 papers in Nature Genetics (IF 25.45), 3 in Nature Communication (IF 11.87), 2 in American Journal of Human Genetics (IF 9.92), 1 in PNAS (IF 9.58), 1 in Genetic Medicine (IF 8.68), 1 in Ocular Surface (IF 9.10), 8 in Ophthalmology (IF 7.47), 16 in IOVS (IF 3. 81), and 9 in Br J Ophthalmol (IF 3.61), etc.
The H-Index of Dr CHEN is 26 as of May 2019


Representative Publications:( * co-first author ; # corresponding author )
Tang SM, Li FF, Lu SY, Kam KW, Tam PO, Tham CC, Pang CP, Yam JC, #Chen LJ. Association of the ZC3H11B, ZFHX1B and SNTB1 Genes with Myopia of Different Severities. Br J Ophthalmol. 2019 Jul 12. pii: bjophthalmol-2019-314203. [Epub ahead of print].
Wang YM, Ma L, Lu SY, Chan TCY, Yam JCS, Tang SM, Kam KW, Tam POS, Tham CC, Young AL, Jhanji V, Pang CP, #Chen LJ. Analysis of multiple genetic loci reveals MPDZ-NF1B rs1324183 as a putative genetic marker for keratoconus. Br J Ophthalmol. 2018 Dec;102(12):1736-1741.
Tang SM, Ma L, Lu SY, Wang YM, Kam KW, Tam POS, Young AL, Pang CP, Yam JCS, #Chen LJ. Association of the PAX6 gene with extreme myopia rather than lower grade myopias. Br J Ophthalmol. 2018 Apr;102(4):570-574.
Tang FY, Ma L, Tam POS, Pang CP, Tham CCY, Chen LJ#. Genetic Association of the PARL-ABCC5-HTR3D-HTR3C Locus with Primary Angle-Closure Glaucoma in Chinese. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017 Aug 1;58(10):4104-4109.
Ma L, Brelen ME, Tsujikawa M, Chen H, Chu WK, Lai TY, Ng DS, Sayanagi K, Hara C, Hashida N, Chan VC, Tam PO, Young AL, Chen W, Nishida K, Pang CP, Chen LJ#. Identification of ANGPT2 as a New Gene for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy in the Chinese and Japanese Populations. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017 Feb 1; 58(2):1076-1083.
Ma L, Liu K, Tsujikawa M, Chen H, Brelen ME, Chan VC, Lai TY, Sayanagi K, Hara C, Hashida N, Tam PO, Young AL, Chen W, Nishida K, Pang CP,
Chen LJ#. Association of ABCG1 with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy in Chinese and Japanese. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016 Oct 1;57(13):5758-5763.
Huang L, Zhang H, Cheng CY, Wen F, Tam PO, Zhao P, Chen H, Li Z, Chen LJ, Tai Z, Yamashiro K, Deng S, Zhu X, Chen W, Cai L, Lu F, Li Y, Cheung CG, Shi Y, Miyake M, Lin Y, Gong B, Liu X, Sim KS, Yang J, Mori K, Zhang X, Cackett PD, Tsujikawa M, Nishida K, Hao F, Ma S, Lin H, Cheng J, Fei P, Lai TY, Tang S, Laude A, Inoue S, Yeo IY, Sakurada Y, Zhou Y, Iijima H, Honda S, Lei C, Zhang L, Zheng H, Jiang D, Zhu X, Wong TY, Khor CC, Pang CP, Yoshimura N, Yang Z. A missense variant in FGD6 confers increased risk of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. Nat Genet. 2016 Jun;48(6):640-7.
Chen LJ, Ma L, Chu WK, Lai TY, Chen H, Brelén ME, Rong SS, Young AL, Tam PO, Zhang M, Pang CP. Identification of PGF as a New Gene for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration in a Chinese Population. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016 Apr 1;57(4):1714-1720.
Khor CC*, *Do T, Jia H*, Nakano M*, George R*, Abu-Amero K*, Duvesh R*, Chen LJ*, Li Z, Nongpiur ME, Perera SA, Qiao C, Wong HT, Sakai H, Barbosa de Melo M, Lee MC, Chan AS, Azhany Y, Dao TL, Ikeda Y, Perez-Grossmann RA, Zarnowski T, Day AC, Jonas JB, Tam PO, Tran TA, Ayub H, Akhtar F, Micheal S, Chew PT, Aljasim LA, Dada T, Luu TT, Awadalla MS, Kitnarong N, Wanichwecharungruang B, Aung YY, Mohamed-Noor J, Vijayan S, Sarangapani S, Husain R, Jap A, Baskaran M, Goh D, Su DH, Wang H, Yong VK, Yip LW, Trinh TB, Makornwattana M, Nguyen TT, Leuenberger EU, Park KH, Wiyogo WA, Kumar RS, Tello C, Kurimoto Y, Thapa SS, Pathanapitoon K, Salmon JF, Sohn YH, Fea A, Ozaki M, Lai JS, Tantisevi V, Khaing CC, Mizoguchi T, Nakano S, Kim CY, Tang G, Fan S, Wu R, Meng H, Nguyen TT, Tran TD, Ueno M, Martinez JM, Ramli N, Aung YM, Reyes RD, Vernon SA, Fang SK, Xie Z, Chen XY, Foo JN, Sim KS, Wong TT, Quek DT, Venkatesh R, Kavitha S, Krishnadas SR, Soumittra N, Shantha B, Lim BA, Ogle J, de Vasconcellos JP, Costa VP, Abe RY, de Souza BB, Sng CC, Aquino MC, Kosior-Jarecka E, Fong GB, Tamanaja VC, Fujita R, Jiang Y, Waseem N, Low S, Pham HN, Al-Shahwan S, Craven ER, Khan MI, Dada R, Mohanty K, Faiq MA, Hewitt AW, Burdon KP, Gan EH, Prutthipongsit A, Patthanathamrongkasem T, Catacutan MA, Felarca IR, Liao CS, Rusmayani E, Istiantoro VW, Consolandi G, Pignata G, Lavia C, Rojanapongpun P, Mangkornkanokpong L, Chansangpetch S, Chan JC, Choy BN, Shum JW, Than HM, Oo KT, Han AT, Yong VH, Ng XY, Goh SR, Chong YF, Hibberd ML, Seielstad M, Png E, Dunstan SJ, Chau NV, Bei J, Zeng YX, Karkey A, Basnyat B, Pasutto F, Paoli D, Frezzotti P, Wang JJ, Mitchell P, Fingert JH, Allingham RR, Hauser MA, Lim ST, Chew SH, Ebstein RP, Sakuntabhai A, Park KH, Ahn J, Boland G, Snippe H, Stead R, Quino R, Zaw SN, Lukasik U, Shetty R, Zahari M, Bae HW, Oo NL, Kubota T, Manassakorn A, Ho WL, Dallorto L, Hwang YH, Kiire CA, Kuroda M, Djamal ZE, Peregrino JI, Ghosh A, Jeoung JW, Hoan TS, Srisamran N, Sandragasu T, Set SH, Doan VH, Bhattacharya SS, Ho CL, Tan DT, Sihota R, Loon SC, Mori K, Kinoshita S, Hollander AI, Qamar R, Wang YX, Teo YY, Tai ES, Hartleben-Matkin C, Lozano-Giral D, Saw SM, Cheng CY, Zenteno JC, Pang CP, Bui HT, Hee O, Craig JE, Edward DP, Yonahara M, Neto JM, Guevara-Fujita ML, Xu L, Ritch R, Liza-Sharmini AT, Wong TY, Al-Obeidan S, Do NH, Sundaresan P, Tham CC, Foster PJ, Vijaya L, Tashiro K, Vithana EN, Wang N, Aung T. Genome-wide association study identifies five new susceptibility loci for primary angle closure glaucoma. Nat Genet. 2016 May;48(5):556-62.
Rong SS, Tang FY, Chu WK, Ma L, Yam JC, Tang SM, Li J, Gu H, Young AL, Tham CC, Pang CP, Chen LJ#. Genetic Associations of Primary Angle-Closure Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ophthalmology 2016 Jun;123(6):1211-21.
Ma L, Li Z, Liu K, Rong SS, Young AL. Kumaramanickavel G, Pang CP, Chen H, Chen LJ#. Association of genetic variants with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: a systemic review and updated meta-analysis. Ophthalmology 2015 Sep;122(9):1854-65.
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