Prof. Vincent Mok's research aims to understand mechanisms of dementia and to investigate strategies that may help to prevent dementia. He is the first to report the association of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and cognitive impairment in Asia and the first to report the community prevalence of CSVD among Asians (Chinese). Such findings have significantly increased the awareness that strategies targeting CSVD (e.g. blood pressure lowering) can help to prevent dementia in this region, where the burden of dementia is particularly huge. Prof. Mok conducted one of the largest single-centre studies investigating the prevalence and mechanisms of early and delayed cognitive decline in the context of stroke and found that concurrent presence of amyloid plaques as detected by in-vivo amyloid PET imaging and CSVD are important factors associated with early and delayed cognitive decline after stroke, respectively. Such findings provide a road map of how to prevent vascular cognitive impairment. Prof. Mok, along with Dr Adrian Wong (Clinical Psychologist) validated the Hong Kong-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (HK-MoCA) and developed norms for HK-MoCA performance according to age and education. HK-MoCA is currently the commonest brief cognitive assessment used for the assessment of cognitive function and the detection of mild cognitive impairment in HK.

Prof. Mok has been involved in the validation and clinical application of a novel artificial intelligence (AI) derived MRI-based Index, which was developed by a spin-off company of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), for the detection of early Alzheimer’s disease. He has also been involved in developing and validating an AI derived retinal imaging analysis for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, he also specializes in Parkinson's disease and was one of the pioneers of developing Deep Brain Stimulation programme in Asia for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.