Philip Chi Lip Kwok

Dr Philip Chi Lip Kwok is a Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences in the School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney. He obtained his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree with First Class Honours in 2002 from this Faculty. He became a registered pharmacist after one year of training in a community pharmacy. Dr Kwok then undertook his PhD studies on pharmaceutical aerosol electrostatics in the Faculty of Pharmacy at The University of Sydney and graduated in 2007. He was a research associate in the same group until August 2011 and became an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy at The University of Hong Kong in September 2011. Dr Kwok returned to The University of Sydney at the end of July 2017. His research is in pulmonary drug delivery. In particular, he specialises in the engineering, physicochemical characterisation, and electrostatics of pharmaceutical aerosol formulations. He has collaborated with academic and industrial researchers, both locally and internationally, on formulation-focused as well as cross-disciplinary projects.

Research interests

Dr Kwok's research focuses on drug delivery to the lungs as aerosols to treat local or systemic diseases. This route of administration is challenging because the aerodynamic size and dispersibility of the particles need to be optimal. These goals can be achieved through the use of various particle production techniques (e.g. spray drying, spray freeze drying, nanoparticle formation etc) and the incorporation of excipients, if required, to obtain formulations with desirable aerosolisation, stability, and drug release qualities. The physicochemical properties are evaluated by a range of characterisation methods to obtain optimised formulations, which can be tested on cellular/animal models or potentially in clinical trials.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy University of Sydney (2003 — 2007)
• Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours 1) University of Sydney (1998 — 2001)

Awards and honours

• Asian Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (AFPS), Nagai-Shukri Best Paper Award and AFPS Nagai-Shukri Oral Presentation Award, AFPS Conference 2009, Fukuoka, Japan.
• New Investigator Best Oral Presentation, Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association Conference 2007, Sydney, Australia.
• Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), 2003–2006.

Publications

Book Chapters

• Kwok, P., Chan, H. (2019). Solid State Testing of Inhaled Formulations. In Anthony J. Hickey, Sandro R.P. da Rocha (Eds.), Pharmaceutical Inhalation Aerosol Technology, (pp. 523-540). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
• Buttini, F., Colombo, G., Kwok, P., Wui, W. (2013). Aerodynamic Assessment for Inhalation Products: Fundamentals and Current Pharmacopoeial Methods. In Paolo Colombo, Daniela Traini, Francesca Buttini (Eds.), Inhalation Drug Delivery: Techniques and Products, (pp. 91-119). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
• Kwok, P., Chan, H. (2011). Pulmonary Delivery of Peptides and Proteins. In Chris Van der Walle (Eds.), Peptide and Protein Delivery, (pp. 23-46). London, UK: Academic Press.

Journals

• Lim, S., Park, S., Lee, C., Ho, P., Kwok, P., Kang, L. (2021). A 3D printed human upper respiratory tract model for particulate deposition profiling. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 597, 120307.
• Ke, W., Chang, R., Kwok, P., Tang, P., Chen, L., Chen, D., Chan, H. (2021). Administration of dry powders during respiratory supports. Annals of Translational Medicine, 9(7), 596.
• Kwok, P. (2021). Advances in inhalation drug delivery. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 27(12), 1435.