Edith M C Lau is director of the Center for Health and Medical Research, Hong Kong, and of CCBR-SYNARC (Asia Pacific).  She is also the co-director of the Hong Kong Orthopaedic and Osteoporosis Center for Treatment and Research. She is a board member of the International Osteoporosis Foundation and is the founding president of the Asian Pacific Osteoporosis Foundation and the Hong Kong Osteoporosis Foundation.

Dr Lau graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1979, and obtained her doctor of medicine degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1991. In 1982, she joined CUHK School of Medicine as a lecturer in community medicine; she was appointed professor of community medicine in 2001. In the same year, she set up the Hong Kong Jockey Club Center for Osteoporosis Care and Control, the first of its kind in Asia.  In 2004, Dr Lau founded the Hong Kong Orthopaedic and Osteoporosis Center for Treatment and Research.

Dr Lau has conducted research in the field of osteoporosis for more than 2 decades, focusing on the epidemiology and clinical aspects of osteoporosis in Asia.  She documented the epidemic of osteoporosis in Asia in the late 1980s, inspiring many investigators to initiate research in this area.  She was the principal investigator of the landmark Asian Osteoporosis Study, and, with funding from the US National Institutes of Health, initiated Mr Os (Hong Kong), the largest cohort study on osteoporosis in Asia to date. Dr Lau has published more than 200 articles in this field.