Otorhinolaryngologist/Head & Neck Surgeon (subspecialized in Rhinology & Endoscopic Sinus/Anterior Skull Base Surgery)Deputy Dean of Student Affairs (Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya)Interim Medical Director of University Malaya Specialist Centre (July-September 2021)Head of Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Malaya Medical Center (2018-2022)Chair of Conjoint Board of Universities for Otorhinolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery Malaysia (2021-2022)UM Health Task Force Leader (Facilities) - (2021-2022)Chair of Task Force Facilities for JP-UMHMC (UM Health Management Committee) (2022-present)Member of Medical & Dental Advisory Committee University Malaya Specialist Centre (2018-2022)Member of Medical Advisory Committee Faculty of Medicine.  

Dr. Sonia Kumari is Senior Lecturer at Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Malaya. She holds PhD (Financial Development and Economic Growth, UNIMAS, Malaysia), MEcon (Public Policy, UKM, Malaysia) and BEc (Management Economics, UKM, Malaysia).  Her research expertise includes, Financial Development ; Financial Integration; Financial Inclusion; Sustainable Finance; Climate Finance; and Financial management of small businesses, with main focus on multidisciplinary themes related to emerging and developing economies. Her previous work experience includes: Associate Economist at the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) ; Visiting Research Fellow at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy; Visiting Research Fellow at Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI), Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; Lecturer at Help University, Malaysia.  She has taught several courses at Undergraduate level including:  Microfinance and Social Enterprise, Analysis of Development Projects, SME Development, Agriculture Business Management, Agriculture Development, Development Economics and Research Methodology (at University of Malaya); Principles of Business Management, Principles of Macroeconomics and Principles of Microeconomics (at Help University). Postgraduate courses: Sustainable Finance (Universiti Malaya).  She supervised over 50 UG projects including industrial placement projects (at University of Malaya); over 15 Masters Research Projects (at University of Malaya); and 1 Doctoral completion (current PhD supervision = 8).   Produced over 30 publications, including book chapters, articles in internationally refereed journals, policy briefs and reports. She has also reviewed several papers for journals and conferences.  She has led research projects on: "Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth" and "Government Supports And Food Operator's Performance In Klang Valley" (University Grant). She is also a co-researcher for projects such as "Role of Social Enterprise in Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development in Malaysia" (University Grants); Developing Environmental Reporting Framework for the Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia: Using Q-Methodological Approach" (FRGS, Government of Malaysia) and "Catching-up along the Global Value Chain: models, determinants and policy implications in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" (European Commission Grant). She has research collaborative links in several countries including South Africa, China and Bangladesh.  She is an Associate Editor for Journal of Institutions and Economies.  

  Rumana Akhter Saifi, MSS, MA, MPH (Epid-Biostatistics), PhD (Demography) Area of Interest: Demography, Implementation Research, Population and Reproductive Health, Epidemiology and Bio-statistics   CAREER SUMMARY: I come with 17 years of experience in research, teaching, and research administration. I am a Faculty at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine Faculty of Medicine (FOM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My present teaching portfolio at FOM includes (1) Medical statistics (2) Research Methodology (3) Practicum in Health Research Ethics (4) Qualitative Inquiry In Public Health (5) Ethics, Law, and Health (6) Principles and Methods of Social Epidemiology and (7) Implementation Research. Over the years, I have also been developing and teaching courses on the Philosophy of Health Systems and Health Policy Research, Applied Statistics in Social Research, and Time Series Analysis. I am committed to expanding the local reach of Implementation Science and have been serving as a Faculty Scholar for the Malaysian Implementation Science Training (MIST) program, a collaborative effort of UM and Yale University, US. As the former Head and Associate Head of CERiA: Centre of Excellence for Research in Infectious Diseases and AIDS. Faculty of Medicine (FoM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I have overseen the entire research portfolio of CERiA. CERiA has been the leading Centre in Malaysia conducting HIV and infectious disease-related research in various fields including bio-medical, social-behavioral, clinical, and implementation research. In my role, I have overseen the progress of research projects starting from grant writing to IRB submission, to data collection, to analysis, to dissemination, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Additionally, my responsibilities include review of grant agreement(s) to ensure compliance; review of financial statements; and preparation of financial audit, and program reports. During my time at CERiA, it has been identified as the most productive research centre of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya that conducts innovative and interdisciplinary research combining epidemiological, biomedical, and socio-behavioral approaches, focusing HIV prevention and treatment in key populations. With an excellent academic background, I started my career with ICDDR, B in Bangladesh. I stood 9th in Secondary and 6th in Higher Secondary Examination in Dhaka Board, Bangladesh. Over time, I specialized in mixed-method research. My major research expertise includes designing and conducting primary research projects, monitoring of outcomes, evaluation of programs, scaling-up interventions, analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data, designing and conducting large data collection surveys, managing and analyzing large data sets, and data trend analysis. For the last 17 years, my research focus has been on population health and health policy across diversified cultural contexts from cross-border areas of irregular migrants to conservative Muslim rural areas to urban metropolitan to urban slums to hard-to-reach areas; and across various disadvantaged population groups from young adolescents in early marriage to men who have sex with men (MSM) to sex workers to transgender to injection drug users to prisoners to fishermen. Working in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and New Zealand for the last 17 years gave me the opportunity to understand both developing and developed country settings. I’m acting as a faculty member of the Master of Health Research Ethics Program, jointly developed by Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US, and the Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center. I’m acting as a faculty scholar on a Fogarty Science of Implementation Training program jointly developed by Yale School of Public Health and Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, and Universiti Malaya, Malaysia which ultimately aims to create a regional implementation research center hub in Malaysia. My academic background is a blend of Demography, Public Health, Epidemiology, and Social Science. I hold a Doctor of Philosophy in Demography and Masters in (1) Public Health (Epidemiology and Bio-statistics) (2) Population and Reproductive Health Research and (3) Social Science.