DR. MAHASSAN BIN MAMAT

Dr Mahassan Mamat is a Senior Lecture at the Biology Division, Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He completed his Doctorate, Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in University of Malaya. His core area of research field is in Comparative Neurobiology. His focus is on diversity and neuroanatomy of fish which involved morphology, neuroanatomy, immunohistochemistry, histology and brain topograhy using scanning electron microscope technique. Involved in administrative works as a Deputy Director (Academic), Head of Biology Division, Secretary and Treasury in residential college. Also, involved almost 11 years as Fellows in a residential college in UM (Sultan Nazrin Shah College (KK12), Bestari College (KK4) and Ungku Aziz College (KK11)) since 2002 until 2017.

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PROF. DR. MAZNAH BINTI DAHLUI

Professor Dr. Maznah Dahlui is a distinguished Public Health Physician and an Honorary Professor at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. Her extensive career encompasses significant contributions to health economics, policy evaluation, and public health initiatives. Academic and Professional Background Dr. Dahlui began her career in 1989 with the Ministry of Health Malaysia, where she completed her Houseman-ship and Medical Officer trainings before advancing to the role of Deputy Director at the Food Safety and Quality Division. She later transitioned to the National Institutes of Health, where she played a key role in training healthcare workers on research methodologies and professional ethics. In 2003, she joined the University of Malaya, where she has held several leadership positions, including Head of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (2011–2016) and Deputy Dean (Postgraduate) of the Faculty of Medicine (2016–2020). She was in UM senate for several years during those period. In 2022, up to now, she serves as the Head of the Department of Research Development and Innovation at the University Malaya Medical Centre. In this role, she coordinates research initiatives, promotes AI applications to enhance healthcare quality, and implements the Case-mix System as an effective mechanism for costing healthcare services and improving hospital management efficiency. Dr Maznah had served University Airlanga of Surabaya, Indonesia as a Visiting Professor from 2018 to 2024 and as an Adjunct Professor at Taylor's University, Malaysia since 2020 until today. Leadership in National Committees Her academic excellence and leadership have been recognized through her election as a Fellow of the Academy of Science Malaysia, Fellow of the Public Health Medicine Association, Fellow of Medicine and Distinguished Fellow of Royal College Physicians, UK (Public Health). Dr. Dahlui's expertise has been instrumental in shaping national health policies and programs. She has served as the Chair of the National Clearinghouse for Adolescent Health in Malaysia, reflecting her commitment to improving youth health services. Additionally, she has been a key member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Health Technology Economic Evaluation (TACHTEE) since 2015, providing guidance on the economic assessment of health technologies. In 2024, she has been appointed to chair the National Committee to develop a national grouper as a mechanism for provider payment in healthcare. This initiative is a crucial step in improving efficiency and equity in Malaysia’s healthcare financing. Contributions to Public Health and Healthcare Reform Throughout her career, Dr. Dahlui has been actively involved in evaluating and monitoring national health strategies, including the National Strategic Planning of HIV/AIDS. Her collaborations with international organizations such as UNFPA, UNESCO, the World Bank, and WHO have led to several consultancy projects focused on the evaluation and monitoring of health programs. Her research interests extend to cancer screening, infectious diseases (HIV and Hepatitis C), mental health, and obesity prevention, where she applies economic evaluation approaches to enhance health policy decision-making. She serves as the Vice President (Administration) of the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health, a prestigious international association dedicated to advancing public health education and training to strengthen the competencies of practitioners across the region. Dr. Dahlui is a strong advocate for the implementation of social health insurance (SHI) as a key reform in Malaysia’s healthcare financing. She argues that SHI is essential for ensuring equity in health access and sustaining the healthcare system in the long run. By promoting a structured and sustainable financial model, she aims to address the challenges of rising healthcare costs while ensuring that all Malaysians receive quality healthcare services. In summary, Professor Dr. Maznah Dahlui's leadership in public health is marked by her strategic roles in national committees, her dedication to health economics, and her commitment to healthcare reform to ensure sustainability and equity in Malaysia’s health system.

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PROF. DR. SANJAY RAMPAL A/L LEKHRAJ RAMPAL

Dr Sanjay Rampal was appointed Executive Director of the Department of Research Development under the Office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Universiti Malaya in March 2025. He is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and a Public Health Physician at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. Dr Rampal was medically trained in India and served in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia from 1998 to 2005. The clinical experiences from his early medical career helped him realize that treating one patient at a time was insufficient and that more could be done by intervening at a population level. He improved his basic epidemiology and biostatistics knowledge by completing an MPH degree in 2004 from Harvard University. He joined Universiti Malaya in 2005, intending to strengthen the research skills of the Malaysian medical and public health community. He completed his PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University in 2014. He was Certified in Public Health (CPH) by the US National Board of Public Health Examiners in 2013. Dr Rampal’s research has focused primarily on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular disease. He has investigated the etiological and prognostic roles of various factors with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These factors include gender, ethnicity, nutrition, obesity, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, dyslipidemia, and other structural determinants of health. He has further investigated the role of these traditional cardiovascular risk factors in cancer development. He hopes to leverage this information further to design and implement better prevention programs that reduce the number of new patients our healthcare system sees. In recent years, he has applied his epidemiological expertise to communicable diseases. He investigated the roles of Obesity and Diabetes on the prognosis of Dengue Severity. His methodological interests include improving research methodology, biostatistics, epidemiological designs, regression models, causal inference, multiple imputations, measurement error, and propensity scoring. Dr Rampal lectures in epidemiology, biostatistics, and research methods at Universiti Malaya. He has supervised 21 Doctoral, 10 4-year Master of Public Health, and 35 Master’s candidates to completion. He actively supervises 10+ postgraduate students. Since 2005, he has provided many methodological and biostatistical consultations to graduate students and clinical researchers. Dr. Rampal has published 89 WOS and 94 SCOPUS papers (h-index: 32 WOS, 39 SCOPUS; WOS Citations without Self-citations: 17,330) and supervised over 65 postgraduate students.   Dr Rampal is a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia and was the past honorary secretary for the College of Public Health Medicine from 2006-2009 and an executive member from 2016 to 2024. He has chaired the Public Health Medicine Specialty Education Subcommittee at the Malaysian Medical Council since 2020. He was also a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for Health Technologies Economic Evaluation, Ministry of Health Malaysia, from 2017 to 2024. He had previously chaired the Malaysian National Conjoint Committee for Public Health Postgraduate Medical Program and the Public Health Society of the Malaysian Medical Association.   Dr Rampal heads the Western Pacific Regional Training Centre of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases(TDR). He is also an advisory member of the Global Health Program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and an international advisory committee member of the ASEAN University Network Health Promotion Network. He is also a member of the International Epidemiology Association and a past member of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and the Society for Epidemiologic Research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Rampal improved the prevention and control of COVID-19 through active research and translation. He had actively communicated with the public through the media on COVID-19 issues. He was a member of the following committees: 1) Science and Technology Expert Panel for Disaster Risk Reduction under the Health and Emerging Threat Cluster of the Malaysia Disaster Management Agency; 2) National COVID-19 Epidemiological Analysis Task Force under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation; 3) AFC Covid-19 Advisory Expert Group; 4) UMMC COVID-19 Task Force; and 5) the Journal of Global Health Science Commission on COVID-19 Response.

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