Associate Professor Dr Nadia Atiya obtained her medical degree from the National University of Ireland and practised as a medical doctor in the Irish healthcare system (University Hospital Limerick and South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital) before returning to Malaysia in 2009. She subsequently obtained her master's degree and specialist qualification in Medical Microbiology from the University of Malaya. Dr Nadia is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and a Consultant Clinical Microbiologist and the Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). She also serves as the Head of the Diagnostic Mycobacteriology Unit at the Department of Medical Microbiology, UMMC and Deputy Chairman of the UMMC Tuberculosis Committee. She is certified and registered as a medical specialist in medical microbiology in the National Specialist Register (NSR) of the Malaysian Medical Council. She is a life member of the College of Pathologists, the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia and the Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases and Chemotherapy. She is also a member of the Malaysian Medical Association, the American Society for Microbiology, and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. In 2022, she was elected to a 6-year term as a member of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) Council, which serves as part of the legislative body of ISID and as the consultant body for ISID's executive committee.  In 2022, she was selected by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), a global network of science, engineering & medical academies (hosted by The World Academy of Sciences secretariat), as one of 21 outstanding young physician leaders under the age of 40 from around the world who are pursuing careers in medical education, clinical leadership, public health, health policy and health services management and show great promise for leadership in their chosen careers. This selection came with an invitation to attend the IAP Young Physician Leaders (YPL) programme and present at the World Health Summit 2022 (co-organised by the World Health Orgnanization) in Berlin, Germany, sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  She is a two-time recipient of the University of Malaya Faculty of Medicine Best Para-Clinical Lecturer Award, voted by the UM medical students in the graduating class of 2018 and 2020.  In recognition of her excellent service, and contributions to clinical service, teaching and research, she was awarded the University of Malaya Excellent Service Award in 2017 and the University of Malaya Certificate of Excellent Service in 2020. She has written and reviewed SOPs as well as has been involved in introducing new laboratory diagnostic tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial infections at UMMC.  She has also served as the Chairman of the UMMC Technical Evaluation Committees for the evaluation of tenders for the provision of mycobacteria identification test kits. She is regularly consulted on laboratory testing for mycobacterial infections as well as interpretation of mycobacteria test results by her medical colleagues.  She has been invited to speak on her areas of expertise, tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial infections, at both national and international events, including the National Tuberculosis Conference 2023 (organised by the Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia), the Asian Collaborative Training on Infectious Diseases, Natural Disasters & Refugee Management (ACTION) 2019 and the International Congress of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (ICPaLM) 2021 (organised by the College of Pathologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia). In 2019, she was the Chair of the Organising Committee for the inaugural “A Practical Approach to the Management of Patients with Tuberculosis (TB): A Case-Based TB Workshop”, a national level TB workshop which was well-attended by Malaysian doctors and healthcare professionals from both the government and private sectors. She has wide experience in medical education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is actively involved in teaching and supervising both undergraduate (medical, dental, nursing, and biomedical science) and postgraduate students including Ministry of Health doctors pursuing their clinical master’s and specialist training in medical microbiology at UMMC/UM. She has served as the Medical Microbiology Coordinator as well as an Internal Examiner and member of the Board of Examiners for various clinical master’s programmes, including the Master of Pathology (Part 1), Master of Surgery (Part 1) and Master of Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (Part I) programmes. She was the Co-chairman of the Master of Pathology (Medical Microbiology) Part II (Final) Conjoint Examination 2019/2020 Committee. As a member of the UM Faculty of Medicine’s Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Committee since 2016, she is actively involved in training both medical students and her fellow lecturers in PBL. She was previously the Coordinator for the MBBS Year 2 programme, the Student Mobility Coordinator and the Communications & Social Media Coordinator at UM Faculty of Medicine.  She finds teaching the most enjoyable aspect of her job and is especially passionate about getting her medical students to excel beyond the classroom. Since 2016, she has coached and trained many medical students for various national and international inter-medical school competitions. She was the Head Coach and Academic Advisor to the UM medical students who were crowned Champions of the National Intervarsity Microbiology Quiz Challenge 2019 (1st place among 38 teams representing 14 medical schools from local public and private universities). She was also Head Coach and Academic Advisor to the UM medical students who clinched 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal in the individual category and emerged as semifinalists in the team category at the prestigious Siriraj International Medical Microbiology, Parasitology & Immunology Competition (SIMPIC) 2021.  She is also passionate about nurturing interest in research among her medical students and has supervised many of them during their research elective attachments, all of whom were awarded travel grants to present their research study findings at major microbiology/infectious diseases conferences. She is also actively involved in student-led events including being recently invited to speak at the “Alternative Pathways for Medical Graduates Forum (Clinical Academic Career Pathway), MMI Into the Future 2020”,  organised by the medical student-led organisation, Malaysian Medics International and serving as an Advisor for the “An Insight into Medicine (AIM 2020) Pre-Medical Student Workshop for Pre-University Students Interested in Pursuing a Career in Medicine”, organised by the University of Malaya Medical Society. She is currently involved in both national and international collaborative research projects. Together with her collaborators, she has been awarded several research grants (including grants under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme [FRGS] from the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia), amounting to over RM1 million. She has published papers in international peer-reviewed journals including Tier 1 journals such as Scientific Reports and The Journal of Hospital Infection. She has reviewed for Tier 1 international journals including PLOS ONE and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open. She is currently a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Infectious Diseases and the Journal of Health and Translational Medicine. She is a classically trained pianist and has passed the Grade 8 Piano and Theory of Music examinations conducted by the United Kingdom’s Associated Board of the Royals Schools of Music. 

Dr. Hairul Hasnan is a distinguished educator and accomplished music professional, holding a doctorate degree in Music and a master's degree in Music Production from the University of York, a prestigious institution in the UK. His academic journey began with a Bachelor's degree in Physics with Electronics, before he pursued his passion for music with a subsequent Bachelor's degree in Music. With a diverse background, Dr. Hasnan embarked on a rich career path, starting as a full-time musician at Radio Televisyen Malaysia, Malaysia's national broadcasting station. During his tenure, he actively participated in numerous recording sessions in studios and delivered captivating live performances with the RTM combo. As a seasoned music producer, Dr. Hasnan boasts an impressive portfolio of studio recordings, including the recent release of a 10-song album for Reening Lau, generously funded by Cendana (Cultural Economy Development Agency, Malaysia). He has also lent his production expertise to the debut EP of TitikDinginDamai titled "Belumkata", both of which are available for streaming on various digital platforms. His proficiency lies in pop and rock music, with a specialization in drums for both recording and live performances. Presently, Dr. Hasnan is deeply involved in the Malaysian indie scene, nurturing emerging talents such as We Are Avalanche and Laras dari Rasian. Beyond his creative endeavors, Dr. Hasnan actively engages in professional development initiatives. He has conducted numerous music production workshops, including sessions at Lembaga Kebudayaan Sabah, Radio Televisyen Malaysia, and several private companies. Additionally, he serves as the Secretary for the Audio Engineering Society (AES) Malaysia. Dr. Hasnan's contributions extend to scholarly pursuits as well. He authored the first Malay-language book on music production, titled "Asas Rakaman dan Produksi Muzik", a pioneering work in the field. Furthermore, his research on Nonlinear Mixing Systems, conducted during his tenure at the University of York, was presented at prestigious events such as the AES Convention 2019 in Dublin and the Art of Recording Conference at Berklee College of Music. Currently, Dr. Hasnan serves as a Senior Lecturer, imparting his expertise in audio engineering and music production at the esteemed University Malaya.

  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.