He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Inventors.
From 1995 to 1998, he conducted postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in the United States.
From 1999 to 2003, he was a co-principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins Singapore International Medical Center.
From 2001 to 2003, he concurrently served as assistant professor in materials science at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
[1] Mao was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2014 and a member of the National Academy of Inventors in 2015.