Simon obtained PhD degree in biochemistry from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests lie in the discovery of drug-like agents from natural products for use in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. These natural products are either being developed as botanical or small molecule drugs and have been developed at different pre-clinical and early clinical stages. One invention has been successfully licensed to Technophage, a biopharmaceutical company in Europe. His dedication to education and research in the fields of pharmacology and toxicology has leaded to over 200 scholarly articles including Nature Genetics, supervision of 50+ postgraduates (>10 PhD), and 6 grant patents (2 in US).

Simon received several awards including the 16th CPS- French Servier Award for Young Investigator in Pharmacology and two Macao Science and Technology Awards in Natural Science (2012 and 2016). Also, he has been granted honorary professorship/member status by various prestigious universities around the world (e.g. University of Cambridge and Peking University). He has also served as a committee member for different professional associations (e.g Division of Neuropsychopharmacology, Chinese Pharmacological Society) and technical expert of accreditation assessment for the Innovation and Technology Commission (Hong Kong SAR government).

He is the founder of a “BioEdu” program, which has received funding from the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (Macau SAR Government) for the past 10 years (2007-present), to provide a broad range of science education services, including training workshops on cutting edge biotechnology, to over 20,000 teacher and student participants in Macau. Also, his research on “Application of zebrafish in drug screening for treatment of cardiovascular diseases” was selected as one of the most popular research projects during an activity entitled “Science is by your side: Vote for Your Favorite Local Science Researches”, held at Macao Science Center in 2009. He also founded “ISWEEEP” (The International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project Olympiad)” at Macao Regional Science Fair in 2016.