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Professor Dominic Man-Kit Lam (born 6 December 1947 in Swatow, China) is a Chinese artist, scientist, philanthropist, educator, medical professor and entrepreneur. Lam’s accomplishments cross cultures and borders over his decades of work in the medical and artistic fields. Lam is most notable for inventing the painting technique called Chromoskedasic Painting.

For his scientific and philanthropic achievements, Lam has received many honors and awards, including the coveted US “High Tech Entrepreneur of the Year”, “Presidential Medal of Merit” from President George H.W. Bush, Asia Society’s “Man of the Year”, Honorary Doctorate of Science from Lakehead University, and the Asian Social Caring Leadership Award from the United Nations Global Impact and Nobel Foundation.

The 1970s: Focus on Education
Born in Swatow, China, Professor Lam grew up in Hong Kong and went to college in Canada at the age of 16. Within six years, Lam completed his Bachelors Degree in Mathematics (Lakehead University), Masters in Physics (British Columbia University) and Doctorate in Medical Biophysics (University of Toronto).

In 1970, Lam received Canada’s Centennial Award to study under Nobel Prize Winners Torsten Wiesel and David Hubel at Harvard Medical School, where Lam taught in 1972. In 1977, Lam took the post of Professor of Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Over the years, Lam published over 100 scientific articles, including 10 articles in Nature, a British publication ranked as the world's most cited scientific, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the US, in addition to over 20 scientific and artistic books.

The 1980s and 1990s: Biotech Years
Lam founded the Baylor Center for Biotechnology in Houston in 1983, and helped to establish the Woodlands Research Forest. In 1985, Lam invented an ophthalmic drug and started Houston Biotechnology inc., the first biotech company in Texas. Houston Biotechnology went public in 1988, raising US$33 million and Lam was acclaimed as one of the founders of modern Texas Biotechnology.

That same year, Nobel Prize Winners Professors Yang Chen Ning and Charles Kao invited Lam to found and direct the Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology (HKIB), with a HK$170 million grant from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, making Lam the one of the founders of the Hong Kong Biotechnology industry. HKIB inspired the establishment of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park at the same location in the 1990s.

Lam’s frequent visits to China for charities and lectures in the 1980s built an awareness of the seriousness of infectious diseases and the urgent need to eradicate or control them. Even though injectable vaccines were available, compliance was low due to high costs and inconvenience of vaccine administration.

Such concerns inspired Lam to develop Edible or Oral Vaccines, which Lam and his colleagues succeeded to deliver in the early 1990s, initially to make a mark in the battle against Hepatitis B. This invention was selected by Time Magazine as one of 10 most important for the 21st century and by prestigious MIT as one of the 5 patents that will transform business and technology.

Shuttling between America and Asia, Lam returned to Hong Kong in 1999 to continue his philanthropic and research program full time, including the development of edible vaccines and oral targeted immuno-stimulants for farm animals and aquaculture. Additionally, at the recommendation of Asian businessman Mr. Li Ka Shing, Dr. Lam founded LifeTech Group to develop and market healthcare products, with Li’s Hong Kong Concord Enterprises Co, Ltd. as a founding investor.

Culture, Art, Design and Education
Lam started learning Chinese painting at the age of four. In 1980, Lam invented a novel painting process called the “Chromoskedasic Process”, a color generating process that uses only black and white photographic paper and solutions. In 1982, Lam collaborated with Zhang Daqian, Zhao Shao’ang and Guan Shanyue on a painting entitled “Orchid, Bamboo, Plum, Ganoderme and Rock” to symbolize the unity of Chinese people worldwide. During the 1990s, based on his scientific knowledge of the eye and brain, Lam invented “Calligraphy of the Mind”.

Lam was selected as one of China’s 99 most accomplished and influential artists in the 20th century by the Chinese Academy of Art, The Artist Association of China and the National Palace Museum in 1999. Lam created two watershed paintings in 2002: “This Land is Our Land” (2.5 m x 9.5 m) and “A Galaxy on Earth” (8 m x 8.8 m) for the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing.

Around the mid-2000s, Lam created a series of paintings to commemorate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In particular, the painting “Olympic Spirit: Ode to Happiness” was a symbol of the 2008 Olympic Games, and “Millennium OdysseyⅡ: From the Great Wall to River Thames – Embrace the World” was awarded a Gold Medal by the International Olympic Fine Art Committee and exhibited at the Barbican Centre during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of man’s first landing on the Moon in 2009, Lam created a 15-metre Chromoskedasic Photopainting: “Voyage of Discovery: Universe” for his solo exhibition at Louis Vuitton Maison in Hong Kong. This painting was acquired by a Foundation for US$1 million and the proceeds were donated to charity. In 2012, Lam was invited to give the closing one-man show at the Shanghai Museum of Art.

Lam was selected by Professor Laurence Tam, the Founding Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, as one of the 8 representative artists in the history of Hong Kong in 2013. That same year, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of diplomatic recognition between China and France, Lam was invited by the French National Artist Association to participate in the International Masters Exhibition at Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. Four years later, in 2017, Lam was invited back to Paris to exhibit his sculptures at the Grand Palais in Paris.

For more than a decade, Lam has worked with Chow Tai Fook, one of the world’s largest jewelers, to create a line of gold-based jewelry and art: “Dominique for CTF”. Works such as Iridescent Gold are designed from Lam’s calligraphy and paintings. For art and designs, Lam received the “Outstanding Achievement Award (2013)” and “Outstanding Product Designer Award (2014)” by the Hong Kong Art and Design Festival. In 2017, in collaboration with CTF, Lam was invited to exhibit this gold and platinum “Doves of Peace” at the Louvre where he was awarded the Prix d’honneur for Sculpture by “Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts” (National Society for the Arts, founded 1861).

Lam is passionate about education. In addition to working as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Tutor at Harvard College since 1972, Lam was invited by President George H.W. Bush to be a member of his “Presidential Committee on the Arts and Humanities”, and its “Education Subcommittee” in charge of evaluating the US education system and its future strategic outlook.

Lam believes in using visual arts to foster children’s creativity. Apart from giving art classes, Lam initiated the Young Genius Art Competition through his World Culture Organization (WCO) in 2012. Since 2010, Lam has supported the Hong Kong International Students’ Visual Arts Contest-cum-Exhibition (HKISAC) organized by the Education Bureau and Po Leung Kuk and managed by Innoworld. This event attracts many thousands of entries each year from over 50 countries.

Charity and Philanthropy
Lam’s charity and philanthropy commenced in the 1970s when he began donate the proceeds of his auctions of art and paintings to support the Retina Research Foundation in America. Dr. David Paton, founder of Project Orbis and Professor Lam took the Flying Eye Hospital to China for the first time in 1982.

Lam established the World Eye Organization (WEO) in 1999, offering free services for prevention and treatment of visual disorders in China. Currently, WEO has nine charitable eye centers and provided eye-care and education to many rural areas in China, with plans to start such services in other parts of the world. WEO’s operations are mainly been funded by Lam through cash contributions, as well as auctions and sales of his paintings at Christie’s and other places.

Besides WEO, Lam contributes to other charitable organizations. Lam’s calligraphy of the 12 Chinese zodiacs was inscribed on bottles of French wine and auctioned for HK$1.88 million as a donation to Po Leung Kuk of Hong Kong. All of Lam’s royalties from “Dominique for CTF” products are donated to Youth Outreach, a non-profit organization that supports needy youths established by the Salesian Society where Lam went to high school. In recognition of his many charitable contributions to eye care and education over the past four decades, Lam received the “Asia Social Caring Leadership Award” from the United Nations and Nobel Foundation in 2016.