Professor Xiang Yutao is a Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau. Professor Xiang has made significant contributions to the fields of public mental health, mood disorders, and evidence-based medicine.
He actively serves on several prestigious international and national professional panels, including as a Panel Member of the Urban Mental Health Session of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), a Panel Member of the Mental Health Session of the Chinese Medical Promotion Association, and an Overseas Panel Member of the Chinese Society of Psychiatry.
Professor Xiang leads a highly productive research lab that has published over 700 peer-reviewed articles in international journals. His work has been cited more than 45,000 times according to Google Scholar, and he holds an H-index of 91.
His academic excellence has been recognised with more than ten international scientific research awards, including the “Global Outstanding Young Psychiatrist Award in Developing Countries” conferred by the World Psychiatric Association. Since 2021, Professor Xiang has been consistently listed among “The World’s Top 2% Scientists” across all fields, as compiled by Stanford University.
The growing burden of mental health problems represents a critical public health challenge, demanding innovative and collaborative research approaches. This presentation will introduce a sustained interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau, which has significantly advanced the field of public mental health. Our work addresses how integrating diverse expertise, from psychiatry, epidemiology, psychology, public health and social sciences, can generate robust evidence to inform practice and policy.
Drawing from a large portfolio of studies, including nationwide surveys, multi-centre clinical studies and meta-analyses, we have systematically examined the prevalence, correlates, and network structures of mental health issues across diverse populations. These include healthcare professionals, university students, older adults, and individuals with chronic illnesses, with a particular focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research has utilised advanced methodologies like network analysis to elucidate the complex inter-relationships between symptoms of common mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and internet addiction, providing novel insights for targeted interventions. Key findings have informed us of mental health challenges in special populations, from "left-behind" children and "hikikomori" youth to frontline clinicians and cancer survivors.
This collaborative model has not only produced high-impact, translatable knowledge but has also fostered a powerful research network capable of rapid response to emerging public health crises. The partnership demonstrates the synergistic power of combining the unique strengths and perspectives of Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau to build an evidence-based mental health ecosystem for this region.
