Dr Jaime Jacqueline Jayapalan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya (UM). She has extensive professional experience in academia and research, including visiting scholar positions in Sri Lanka and India. Dr Jayapalan's academic journey began with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from the School of Health Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia, where she graduated with First Class honours in 2005. She then pursued a master’s degree in medical sciences from the Faculty of Medicine at UM (2009). Subsequently, she obtained a PhD in Biochemistry/ Proteomics (2015) and recently, a Master of Business Administration degree in Human Resource Management from the same institution (2021). In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr Jayapalan has been actively involved in securing research grants and has successfully obtained funding from various sources. These grants have provided essential financial support for her research endeavours and have facilitated the advancement of scientific knowledge in her field. Notably, she received funding from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, for projects such as the identification of prostate cancer biomarkers, the exploration of predictors for early detection of cardiovascular changes in high-adiposity female adults, and the investigation of biochemical, metabolic, and proteomics changes in different phenotypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. She has also been awarded scholar grants by the Asian Universities Alliance for her outstanding research contributions. With over 725 citations and an H-index of 16 according to Google Scholar, Dr. Jayapalan has made a significant impact on her field. Dr Jayapalan's dedication to research, combined with her impressive academic credentials, publication record, and extensive funding success, establishes her as a prominent and respected figure in the field of molecular medicine. Her expertise and contributions have greatly advanced the understanding of cancer biomarkers and hold significant potential for improving diagnostic methods and treatment strategies in the future.

Dr. Abdul Muneem is currently serving as a Lecturer at the Department of Fiqh and Usul, Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya (UM). He holds both a PhD and a Master’s degree from the same department, reflecting his strong academic foundation in Islamic jurisprudence. He completed his undergraduate studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in 2015. Following his graduation, Dr. Abdul Muneem joined the International Shariʿah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA)—now known as ISRA Institute—as a Sharīʿah Management Trainee in 2015. This role allowed him to delve deeply into research and industry practices within the field of Islamic finance. He also gained hands-on experience through an internship at the Sharīʿah Research and Advisory Department of AmBank Islamic Berhad in 2017. Dr. Abdul Muneem has made meaningful contributions to the development of Islamic finance through his research and academic publications. His areas of expertise include Islamic banking, Islamic finance, takaful, and broader Sharīʿah-related legal issues. His current research focuses on emerging topics such as Islamic financial technologies (fintech), Islamic crowdfunding, digital assets, zakat, and other contemporary issues in Islamic finance. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles in prestigious academic journals indexed by Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), as well as reputable local journals such as MyCite.

Dr Reena Rajasuriar is a Clinical Pharmacist by training and an Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, University Malaya (UM).  She also holds an adjunct position as a Fellow at the Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, Australia.  She leads the research unit at the Department of Medicine, UM and is Head of the Immunotherapeutics Laboratory (ITL), a core immunology research laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, UM.    Dr Rajasuriar completed her PhD in Immunogenetics at Monash University, Australia and now leads a translational research program in HIV and Aging at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA).  Her training as a clinical and basic scientist has afforded Dr Rajasuriar the expertise to perform multidisciplinary research spanning basic, clinical and implementation studies.  Her research focuses on understanding drivers of accelerated aging in people living with HIV and its interaction with functional aging outcomes.  She is also invested in understanding how integrated HIV care can best be implemented in resource limited settings to promote healthy aging.   Dr Rajasuriar has published extensively on the intersection of HIV and aging, and is an international leader in advancing the knowledge in this field, having delivered multiple plenaries at international forums, co-authored multiple opinion pieces and viewpoints as well as contributed to the development of consensus statements around this subject matter.  Together with members of her team, she was instrumental in developing the first ECHO training program on HIV and Aging for the Asia Pacific region to advance capacity building for health professionals providing care for people with HIV.  She is also the Principal Investigator of the only HIV and aging cohort in the Asia Pacific region studying aging from a multidimensional perspective, with over a decade of follow up (2014-2024).   Dr Rajasuriar’s work is funded by various national and international funding bodies including the National Institutes of Health, US, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia.  She has received multiple accolades including the Australia-APEC Women in Research Fellowship (2015), the Loreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Malaysia Fellowship (2016), the IAS Research-for-Cure Academy Fellowship (2018), the CIRA International Visiting Fellowship to Yale (2019), the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) Scholars Award (2023) and most recently, the Fulbright Malaysian Scholar Award (2024).