Dr. Lam ranked first for the Most Influential Ophthalmologists in “Asia-Pacific Eye 100” in 2022 and has been selected “Top 100 Most Influential Ophthalmologists in the World” for seven consecutive terms since 2014. He was the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) for 13 years (1998–2011) and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center for 4 years (2012-2016).    

Dr. Lam is passionate about eliminating cataract blindness in China. He was the Founding Member and Advisor of the Lifeline Express, a hospital eye-train, providing free operations for the underprivileged cataract patients in China. He was in charge of training volunteer eye doctors for the first decade since Lifeline Express’s establishment, and also participated heavily in performing free cataract surgeries on the train. He founded the Project Vision Charitable Foundation in 2004, a charity program with sustainable development as the local doctors are taught to perform cataract surgeries. Since 2004, 32 centers have been established in 12 provinces with over 200,000 charity cataract surgeries done and over 160 eye doctors trained to perform cataract surgery independently.

Over the years, a number of awards have been bestowed to Dr. Lam, including: “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong and the World” (1994; 1995) , two important awards by International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) including “G.O.H. Naumann Award (for Leadership in Global Eye Care) (2022) and the prestigious “Mark Tso Golden Apple Award” (for the Best Clinical Teacher in the AP region) (2011), three important awards by Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) including “Arthur Lim Award” (leadership award in ophthalmic teaching and training in Asia Pacific Region) (2020), “Jose Rizal Medal” (the highest achievement and contribution award) (2014) and "De Ocampo Lecture Award" (the highest academic achievement award) (2003) and “Hong Kong Humanity Award” (2007).