Acupuncture is the age-old practice of inserting needles in acupoints on the body to correct imbalances in the flow of qi through meridian channels. It is an intrinsic part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and has been used for thousands of years.

Professor Lao Lixing, who joined The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in late 2013 as the Director of the School of Chinese Medicine, is at the forefront of research globally in acupuncture and TCM. The School was established in 1998 to promote interdisciplinary research in Chinese medicine, and is under the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. Professor Lao is a world-renowned acupuncture/TCM researcher in the field of integrative medicine, and he has conducted numerous clinical trials for acute and chronic pain. His cutting-edge research methodology enables rigorous scientific evaluation on this ancient Chinese medical practice.

Through his research, Professor Lao hopes to integrate Chinese medicine into conventional medicine to treat acute and chronic conditions such as shock trauma, chronic pain, neurological disorders and cancer-related symptoms. Using the approach of evidence-based medicine, the Western Medicine and Chinese Medicine modalities may be integrated to produce optimal treatment plans for the patients. In 1996, his research findings provided important scientific evidence that led to the recognition of acupuncture as a medical device by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. Before joining HKU, his US research team also greatly advanced the understanding of the neuromechanisms of acupuncture in chronic pain.

Professor Lao graduated from the Shanghai University of TCM in 1983 and completed his PhD in physiology at the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB), USA, in 1992. He is also currently an adjunct professor of the School of Medicine, UMB, and a guest professor at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Shanghai University of TCM. Prior to joining HKU, he was a full professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Director of TCM Research Program in the Center for Integrative Medicine, UMB School of Medicine. A licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of TCM, he has practiced acupuncture and TCM for 30 years. He was a member of the Maryland State Board of Acupuncture for five years.

Professor Lao is a principal investigator on a number of clinical trials and pre-clinical studies in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine funded by the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Defense. He is also conducting translational research that bridges basic science, clinical trials, and "real world" acupuncture clinical practice.

Widely recognised for his contributions to acupuncture/TCM research methodology, Professor Lao publishes and lectures extensively. He has received awards for his outstanding contributions to TCM in both China and the US. He served as a co-president of the Society for Acupuncture Research from 2003-2007 and serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals. Recently, Professor Lao was elected Vice President of the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies and Secretary General of the Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine.