Pharmacy is the science and practice of preparing and dispensing drugs. The word is derived from the Greek "pharm", variably meaning the "use of drugs, medicines, potions, or spells" and "witchcraft and the use of magic". In modern terms, this links health sciences with chemical sciences with the aim to ensure the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs.

In 2012, the Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) established the Centre for Safe Medication Practice and Research (CSMPR). The aim of the CSMPR is to improve the health and quality of life of patients through interdisciplinary collaborative work that addresses questions central to medication safety.

Professor Ian Wong Chi-Kei is Co-Director of the CSMPR, a Professor at the Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy, and holder of the Lo Shiu Kwan Kan Po Ling Professorship in Pharmacy at HKU. He is also Head of Research Department of Practice and Policy at the UCL School of Pharmacy, London.

His expertise is in children's health, using big data research to investigate optimum use of medications for children, and formulating and producing new medications for treatment of various conditions such as epilepsy, arthritis and acute pain in young patients. As part of this work, he conducts research at Queen Mary Hospital to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of medication in patients with these and other illnesses. He is also involved in key research into medication safety, and cardiovascular and metabolic pharmacology.

Professor Wong qualified as a pharmacist in 1992 and received his PhD from The University of Manchester in 1998 for his work at the David Lewis Centre for Epilepsy. In 2002, he was appointed as the Founding Director of the Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research at the School of Pharmacy, University of London, and the UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is recognised as a leading research centre in medicines for children.

After joining HKU in 2011 as Head of the Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy, Professor Wong led the accreditation of the BPharm programme by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong. He was also responsible for setting up the new Master of Clinical Pharmacy programme and the CSMPR. In 2015, in addition to his work at HKU, Professor Wong took up his dual role at UCL.

Professor Wong has also advised the Departments of Health in England and Hong Kong, the World Health Organization, the European Medicines Agency, and the pharmaceutical industry. He has 220 peer-reviewed papers published in prominent journals and is an Executive Editor of British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Professor Wong was cited among the top 1% of scholars in the Clarivate Analytics' Essential Science Indicators in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

In recognition of his research, Professor Wong has received numerous awards for his work as an academic pharmacist. He was awarded the Chemist and Druggist Pharmacy Practice Research Conference Medal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 2004, an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the UK in 2011, an Honorary Fellowship from the College of Pharmacy Practice in Hong Kong in 2013, and a Fellowship from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 2013. He is the only pharmacist to date to have received a UK Department of Health Public Health Career Scientist Award in 2002.

Professor Wong is Vice-President of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance. He has also been an expert witness for many legal cases in the UK and Hong Kong regarding medication safety on behalf of victims of medication errors and adverse drug reactions, and for pharmaceutical companies.