Dr Max Lam

Plenary Speaker

Dr Max Lam is a young investigator in neuropsychiatric genomics whose work spans various significant roles, including the Principal Investigator at the CONCISE Mental Health StudyBeyond these roles, Dr Lam extends his expertise as a Visiting Scientist at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, The Broad Institute ofMIT and Harvard, and the Division of Psychiatry Research, Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York, USA.

Dr Lam has significantly contributed to cognitive and psychiatric genetics throughout his career. His work has elucidated the genetic architecture of cognitive function, identified genomic loci associated with cognitive ability, and identified actionable variants for nootropic drug targets. His research into psychiatric genetics has extended biological insights into schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses across diverse ancestries, highlighting the need for large-scale genomic studies worldwide.

Dr Lam’s work has been pivotal in understanding cognitive and clinical predictors of psychopathology. His early career focused on large-scale research efforts investigating schizophrenia and psychosis risk in Singapore, producing one of the first normative cognitive datasets in an Asian cohort. This work has led to identifying specific predictors of functional outcomes in young individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis, contributing significantly to the understanding of cognitive impairments across psychiatric illnesses.

With a h-index of 27 and over 9,511 citations as of August 2024, Dr Lam's academic publications showcase his role as a leading scientist in neuropsychiatric genomics. His leadership in the field is further exemplified by his role as mPI of the NIH-funded Cognitive Genomics Consortium, The PRECISE-SG100K Cognitive Flagship Programme, and his numerous first and last-authored manuscripts, which have provided substantial insights into the genetics of cognitive performance and psychiatric disorders. Dr Max Lam's contributions to science advance our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of neuropsychiatric conditions and cognitive functions. His work aims to pave the way for future research directions and therapeutic interventions in neuropsychiatry.