Research Projects
Postmarketing safety of biologics in inflammatory arthritis


Programme(s) to which this project applies:

☑ MPhil/PhD ☑ MRes[Med] ☑ URIS

Objectives and Significance

Regional, population-specific medication safety assessment is essential to optimize prescribing practice and reassure medication adherence.

Research Plan and Methodology:

Using territory-wide, population-based electronic health records, this study will apply multiple classic and novel pharmacoepidemiology study design, including propensity-score-technic based cohort study, case-control study, self-controlled case series study and/or interrupted time series analyses to investigate the postmarketing medication safety of biologics used in inflammatory arthritis.

Essential skills will be trained and developed including routine care data manipulation, statistics and programming , mindsets for pharmacoepidemiology study design and results interpretation.

Dr SX Li, Department of Medicine

Dr Li’s primary research interests lie in health technology assessment (HTA), health economics and real-world outcome (HEOR) research using decision analytic models and routine health data (healthcare big data). Dr Li has expertise in healthcare data analytics, cost-effectiveness assessment for healthcare interventions, and health service and policy research. Since joining HKU, Dr Li has led and contributed to many HEOR projects, all of which involves dynamic interactions with local and international academic collaborators, local government, industry partners, NGOs and other key opinion leaders.

Dr Li’s recent research focuses on biologics utilization and safety, the regional economic burden and cost-effective solutions for autoimmune diseases, and the development of outcome-based risk-sharing model for innovative and curative therapies. As a core member of CARE Programme (COVID-19 Vaccines Adverse Events Response and Evaluation Programme), Dr Li has led and contributed to several territory-wide, population-based vaccine safety assessment, particularly for patients with immunological conditions. Dr Li also acts as a Co-principal investigator of AI and Pharmaceuticals in Non-Communicable Diseases at the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D²4H).

Dr Li’s research work has been supported by RGC/Early Career Scheme (PI), RGC/Research Impact Fund (PC), RGC/Collaborative Research Fund (co-PI), Health and Medical Research Fund of the Food and Health Bureau of Hong Kong SAR Government (PI). Dr Li has published actively in the field of HTA and health policy. She has co-authored more than 140 research articles in top-tier specialty journals including Lancet, JAMA, BMJ and Nature families.

Biography
HKU Scholars Hub
Lab
ORCID
sxueli@hku.hk

For more information or to express interest for this project, please email the supervisor or the specified contact point in the project description.  Interested candidates are advised to enclose with your email:

  1. your CV,
  2. a brief description of your research interest and experience, and
  3. two reference letters (not required for HKUMed UG students seeking MRes[Med]/URIS projects).

Information on the research programme, funding support and admission documentations could be referenced online at the Research Postgraduate Admissions website. General admission enquiries should be directed to rpgmed@hku.hk.

HKUMed MBBS students interested in the Master of Research in Medicine (MRes[Med]) programme may visit the programme website for more information.  

HKUMed UG students interested in the Undergraduate Research Internship Scheme (URIS) may visit the scheme’s website for more information.