Prof. Nancy Ip is currently The Morningside Professor of Life Science, the Director of the Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). She received her PhD degree in Pharmacology from Harvard Medical School, after which she held the position of Senior Staff Scientist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in New York. Since joining HKUST, she has served as the Vice-President for Research and Development, the Dean of Science, Director of the Biotechnology Research Institute, and Head of the Department of Biochemistry.

Prof. Ip’s major research interests are in neural development and function, as well as drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. She is well-known for her seminal discoveries in the biology of neurotrophic factors, which are proteins that promote the survival, development, and maintenance of neurons in the nervous system. She has also made important contributions towards understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying brain development and synaptic plasticity, and their dysregulation in neurological disorders.

As a highly accomplished researcher, Prof. Ip has published over 260 papers with 18,900 SCI citations, and holds 44 patents. She has been elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also an elected Councillor for the Society for Neuroscience, and was the Senior Editor of the Journal of Neuroscience. Furthermore, she has been a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council since 2012, and is currently on the Global Future Council on the Future of Neurotechnologies and Brain Science. Prof. Ip is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the National Natural Science Awards, the L’OREAL-UNESCO for Women in Science Award and the 10 Science Stars of China by Nature.