Professor Carly Lam joined The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1986. She completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (The University of Manchester), UK. She obtained her PhD from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She was appointed Head of School in 2007 and served till 2013.

Professor Lam has long-standing research interests in the areas of myopia control and prevention, children’s vision, and binocular vision and amblyopia training. She has a proven track record of securing funding from various sources, which include external competitive grants (for example, GRF, HMRF, RIF, InnoHK@Health) and over $18M of industrial grants. Professor Lam is also active in knowledge transfer activities with numerous patents granted and filed in Hong Kong, mainland China and other countries.

Professor Lam is currently the President of the Asia Pacific Council of Optometry, a Member of the College of Optometrists (UK) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometrists. Prof. Lam has served in APCO and the World Council of Optometry (WCO) in various roles for more than 10 years. 

She serves as the deputy Chair of the Scientific Board of CEVR. She also serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology, Annals of Eye Sciences, Review Board of the Journal of Optometry and Visual Performance and has served as a member of the editorial board of Clinical and Experimental Optometry during 2007 to 2013. She is the honorary advisor of The Hong Kong Society of Professional Optometrists, and an Honorary Member of The Association of Private Practice Optometrists. She has served as a member of the Grant Review Board of the Research Council of the Food and Health Bureau of the HKSAR.

Professor Lam has served in the regulatory bodies of Optometry in Hong Kong; as a member of the Supplementary Medical Professions Council in Hong Kong, and a member of the Optometrists Board of Hong Kong.

She is currently the external examiner for Optometry at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia. She is also currently an Adjunct Professor at Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at University of Waterloo, Canada and has served as Visiting Professor at Anglia Ruskin University, West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Nankai University Eye Hospital and Clinical College of Ophthalmology, Tianjin Medical University, Management and Science University and Tianjin Vocational Institute.

Professor Lam received the OPO Bernard Gilmartin Award from the College of Optometrists for Research Excellence in 2015, the Grand Prix of the 46th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, in recognition of her contributions to the development of the Defocused Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) lens for myopia control in children in 2018, and the Gold Medal and a special grand prize at the 39th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva in 2011 for the invention of the DISC lens.

• Myopia control and prevention
• Children’s vision
• Binocular vision and amblyopia training