Dr Sam is a medical graduate from the University of Nottingham in the UK, and completed his postgraduate training in Medical Microbiology in London. He joined the University of Malaya in 2005. He is head of the diagnostic virology and advanced (molecular) diagnostics units in the University of Malaya Medical Centre, a 1000-bed tertiary referral centre. His clinical diagnostic work includes expanding molecular diagnostic services and involvement in hospital responses to emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19. He teaches both undergraduates and postgraduates. His research interests cover clinical, epidemiological, diagnostic and pathogenesis aspects of chikungunya virus and other arboviruses, respiratory viruses (including influenza and SARS-CoV-2), and enterovirus A71, and he has held several national and international grants.

Dr. Zaira Zaman Chowdhury is working as a Senior Lecturer in  Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), a potential National HICOE and UM COE. Earlier, she was appointed as Senior Research Fellow under the same institution. She has completed her Post Doctoral Research Fellowship from 1/10/2013-31/03/2015 in Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University Malaya. Previously, she was appointed as Research Officer in Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University Malaya from 1/04/2013 to 30/09/2013.  She has started her career with University Malaya from November 2008 Research Assistant in the Department of Chemistry under supervision of Prof. Dr. Sharifuddin Mohd. Zain. She received her PhD in Environmental Analytical Chemistry from University of Malaya in 2013, whilst MSc. In Polymer Engineering and Technology from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2003, and BSc. in Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Technology from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2001 and Bachelor in Education (BEd.) in 2007 from Royale University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has completed her training in Environmental Analytical Chemistry from TAFE, Sydney, Australia. She has received Cambridge International Diploma for Teacher & Trainers (CIDTT) from Cambridge University, UK with “Distinction” in 2006-2007. She has experience in the development of fiber polymer composites, waste water treatment and adsorbent preparation for batch and fixed bed adsorption system. She has worked for synthesis of micro and nano structured carbon and biomass processing using catalyst. She has conducted some research to illustrate the catalytic application of carbon as well as extraction of nano and micro dimensional cellulose. She has contributed more than 117 papers in ISI & Scopus top ranking journal with 95 international Conference Proceedings. At present she is guiding 12 PhD and 11 Mphil scholars. She has 49,715.65 RM International Grant achieved from International Industries and Universities. As a Principal investigator, she had 163,336 RM earlier. At present  (2021) she had internal funding of 3,56,000 RM and external funding of 3,37,215.86 RM as PI and co-researcher.  She has 2 International Patent having H index 25.Dr. Zaira has received several esteemed award such as Dr. Zaira has received several esteemed award such as International Education Excellence Award in nanotechnology 2021 from CPAC from UK, , Distinguished  Researcher Award in  Nano-catalyis and Water Treatment, Excellent Scientific Award in 2020 for "Carbon Chemistry and Water Treatment, IMRF Brezileius Award in Nanotechnology and Catalysis 2019, India; Best Researcher Award in Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering 2019, India; ISPA Gunasekaran Award 2018, India; Best Scientist Award in Nanotechnology 2018,  India; Elsevier’s Atlas award in 2015, Gold Award and Silver Award from Malaysian Inventions and Design Society (MINDS) and University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP, 2013). She has received CIMA Appreciation Award from Malaysian Inventions and Design Society (MINDS) and University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP, 2013). Recently she has received Bronze Award from International Engineering Innovation and Invention Exhibition (IENVEX), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP 2014). In 2016, she has received best paper award on Fourth Generation Nanoantioxidant Synthesis from New Zealand. 

Cecilia Cheong Yin Mei (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the English Language Department, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya. She is currently the Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Studies, overseeing 9 undergraduate programmes. She was formerly the Faculty's Head of Multimedia Planning Unit, where she headed a few committees.  Her research interests include (Critical) Genre Analysis, Multimodal Discourse Analysis, English for Specific Purposes, and Communication and Professional Discourse.   She has been a Principal Investigator of various research projects, particularly involving the study of various professional genres and multimodal texts and discourses.  She was a Co-Investigator of the University’s Research Grant sub-programme on Health Tourism in Malaysia; the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education’s Strategic Plan for the Development of English Language at Public Higher Education Institutions; and West Chester University, USA’s Research and Creative Activities (RACA) project on the meaning of ‘quality’ in online courses at a Malaysian university.  She is currently the Principal Investigator (UM) and Consultant of Universitas Medan Indonesia's International Grant project on the analysis of communicative competence of air navigation students of Medan Aviation Polytechnic based on the Indonesian Aviation Curriculum.  Cecilia has supervised postgraduate students' research to completion, and currently supervises several PhD and Masters students’ research on Critical Genre Analysis, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Multimodality.  She has taught ESL and EFL for thirty years at various levels, from secondary school to university and adult learners.  Courses and workshops she conducts include genre and discourse analysis, applied linguistics and Language for Specific Purposes.  She is also the faculty Coordinator of Epigeum UK's English for Academic Studies programme.  Cecilia used to sit on the University's e-Learning Committee where she conducted various workshops on the use of ICT and the use of Moodle’s Spectrum platform for teaching and learning purposes, and e-learning courses at her faculty; and was the faculty Coordinator of Online Distance Learning (ODL).  In recognition of her excellent work service, she was awarded the Excellence Service Award in 2000, 2005, 2015 and 2021; Certificate of Excellence Service in 2014 and 2016; Certificate of Faculty Excellent Services in 2020; and Best Postgraduate Supervisor Award in 2021 respectively. Currently, she is the Deputy Head of the University's Student Holistic Empowerment (Cluster 4) courses, and the Open and Distance Learning Programmes Coordinator of her Faculty, responsible for setting up and overseeing the implementation of ODL academic programmes.  Cecilia is also an Associate Fellow of UM's Quality Management & Enhancement Centre (QMEC) as a UM Quality Excellence Index (UMQEI) Assessor and Program Quality Assurance Expert (ProQAE) since 2018, where she is actively involved in the implementation of Outcome Based Education, conducting workshops on the creation of new academic programmes based on OBE, and headed panels of assessors for the (re-)accreditation of academic programmes at the University. At the national level, Cecilia is the Vice President and Secretary (overseeing) of the Malaysian Association of Applied Linguistics (MAAL) which is affiliated with the International Association of Applied Linguistics (Association Internationale de Linguistique, AILA). She is Co-Chairperson of the Steering Committee that organised the very successful international 21st AILA World Congress 2024 (11-16 August 2024 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), which also celebrated the 60th Anniversary of AILA that was attended by over 1,800 scholars and researchers in Applied Linguistics from around the world. Cecilia is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA)'s The English Teacher journal, and also sits on the editorial board of the ASEAN Journal of Applied Linguistics (ASJAL) journal, and an external reviewer for WOS/ISI-indexed journals, the Language Teaching Research, Sage Open, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education and Journal of Psycholinguistic Research; and Scopus-indexed journals, Pertanika’s Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH) and GEMA Journal of Language Studies; and many other MyCite and peer-reviewed journals. She is also a certified trainer of the Human Resource Development Corporation Malaysia (HRD Corp).