ZAILAN SIRI was born in Melaka, Malaysia, in 1977. He received the BSc degree in Computational and Industrial Mathematics from the University of Malaya, Malaysia, in 2001, and the MSc in Applied Mathematics from Univeristi Putra Malaysia in 2004. In 2012, he received  PhD degrees in Applied Mathematics from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.  In 2002, he joined the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a Tutor, and in 2004 became a Lecturer. Since July 2012, he was a Senior Lecturer. He has taught a variety of courses in Applied Mathematics at undergraduate programme and supervised some postgraduate MSc and PhD candidate.   His current research interests include Computational Fluid Dynamics, Numerical Methods/Analysis and Mathematical Modelling on Retirement Sheme in Malaysia. He is a Life Member of the Malaysia Mathematics Society and Golden Key Association. 

Dr. Md Jasim Uddin obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Greenwich, UK. Dr. Uddin has more than 12 years of experience in the areas of Pharmaceutics, Drug Delivery and Formulation Science. His research is mainly focused on the development of transdermal microneedle arrays (using 3D printing or moulding) for the transdermal delivery of active substances (e.g., small molecules or macromolecules). Due to his industrial experiences as a Formulation Scientist, at the Department of Drug Product Design, and the Worldwide Research & Development Unit at Pfizer UK, he also has a strong background in formulation, material sciences and characterization. He has established a strong collaborative network with colleagues in several UK-based academic institutions such as the Queen’s University of Belfast, and the Universities of Kent, Strathclyde and Greenwich. Furthermore, Dr. Uddin has received significant recognition through several poster and presentation awards (e.g., CRS Annual Meeting, PharmSci) over the last few years. As a part of his management & leadership experiences, he has contributed to the organization of several international conferences. He won the Young research scholar award (2022) from the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), UNESCO, the Young Promising Researcher Award (2020) in the ICIBLS, Inventor I & Young Inventor Award (2020) in PHARM-IIDEx, Malaysia etc. He is a scientific advisor of the Drug Delivery & Therapeutics (An non-profit organization to promote science for research, innovation & technology transfer) and has actively played his role in the Special Issue, Recent Advances in Vaccine Delivery 2022, Pharmaceutics, MDPI (Guest Editor), Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, Taylor & Francis Group, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, Springer Nature Publishers etc.

  Dr Benedict Francis is an associate professor and consultant psychiatrist at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and was selected for the Brightsparks scholarship to pursue his Masters in Psychological Medicine at his alma mater, the University of Malaya. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship program in Aged Healthcare Services at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, in 2019. Dr Benedict is one of the research leads at the Psychological Medicine Research Unit and has been involved as principal investigator and sub-investigator for several international, multi-centre clinical trials including the ESCAPE-TRD, REMISSIO, ASPIRE, SUSTAIN-3, ROUTE 6, and CONNEX-2 trials. He has also published in several international and regional peer-reviewed journals and presented in international congresses. Dr Benedict has and continues to exhibit stellar leadership in his field. He was part of the Ministry of Health’s  National Advisory Board committee that drafted the guidelines for prescribing and dispensing Esketamine, a novel adjunct antidepressant treatment. In addition, he has been part of several steering commitees that paved new directions in mental health. For example, he was appointed to be part of the Southeast Asian steering committee to develop a patient decision aid for people living with schizophrenia. He is also part of the regional Asia Pacific steering commitee to develop a module for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). In 2023, he received the Excellent Service Award from the University of Malaya in recognition of his contributions. Dr Benedict is regarded as a Key Opinion Leader in the field of treatment resistant depression and schizophrenia and is a regular invited speaker at both local and regional events. He is actively involved in several associations at various levels. He is a life member of the Malaysian Psychiatric Association and a corresponding member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is also a member of the Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Recently he was inducted as Fellow of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists.