Dr Siti Hajar is a Professor at the Department of Social Administration and Justice, University of Malaya. Her core area of expertise is Social Policy. Over the 20 years, she has been involved in developing and promoting the teaching, learning and research opportunities in the field of social policy and social work. She teaches social policy, social welfare system, social planning, social evaluation and monitoring, research methodology and social theories. Her research interests focus on social care programs for the at-risk children in Malaysia, children well-being and social development for vulnerable social groups.  

Noran N Hairi is the Deputy Dean for Research at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, and Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. Medically trained at Universiti Malaya (UM), she served in Malaysia’s Ministry of Health before earning both an MPH and an MPH (Epidemiology) with distinction from UM, and a PhD from the University of Sydney, Australia. Noran is best known for her work on the epidemiology of ageing, with a particular focus on sarcopenia, and frailty. She has made significant contributions to research on elder abuse, neglect, and financial mistreatment among older adults. She led the Prevent Elder Abuse and Neglect Initiative (PEACE), which adopted a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to address late-life abuse through professional training, public awareness campaigns, and policy advocacy. PEACE provided a platform for legislators and policymakers, leading to calls for better elder protection framework. The PEACE 1.0 study identified financial exploitation as the most common form of elder abuse, prompting the PEACE 2.0 project, a collaborative effort with Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK) under Bank Negara Malaysia. Currently, the PEACE 3.0 team is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to evaluate elder abuse assessment tools. She has published extensively, supervised over 80 postgraduate students, and held key leadership roles including Dean (Health and Wellbeing Research Cluster), Chair (Research Cluster), and Head of Research Centres such as the Julius Centre University Malaya and the Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice. Dr. Noran has contributed significantly to research, policy development, and public engagement in Malaysia. As a Member of the National Senior Citizens Advisory and Consultative Council (MPPWEN) and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, UK, she is deeply committed to advancing public health and championing critical ageing issues. Her work focuses on elder protection, combating age discrimination, and promoting social inclusion, reflecting her dedication to research excellence, education, and collaborative leadership to improve the lives of older adults.

Dr. Lim is a Consultant Neurologist and Professor at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, where he runs a very busy government clinic and private practice seeing many patients (around 70 every week) with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other Movement Disorders, including complicated cases requiring advanced treatments such as deep brain stimulation. Dr. Lim earned his medical and research doctorate degrees from the University of Melbourne and was admitted to Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians after completing advanced training in adult Internal Medicine and Neurology in Melbourne. Dr. Lim trained in general neurology and subspecialized in Parkinson’s & Movement Disorders, at world-renowned centres in Melbourne and Toronto (the latter supported by the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship, under Prof. Anthony Lang). He has published widely in the field of Movement Disorders (Parkinson's as well as a variety of rarer movement disorders), with approx. 150 peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters, including first-author publications in Lancet Neurology, Archives of Neurology/JAMA Neurology, Movement Disorders, etc. and co-authorship in journals such as Nature Genetics, Nature Reviews Neurology, Annals of Neurology, and Brain (10K+ citations, h-index 46). He is on several Editorial Boards including Parkinsonism & Related Disorders and Neurotorium, and is an Associate Editor for Nature Partner Journal (npj) Parkinson's Disease and Neurology Asia (for several years previously also for Science Advances), and Guest Editor for the Journal of Parkinson's Disease. Dr. Lim is the current Chair of the Asian-Oceanian section of the International Parkinson & Movement Disorder Society (MDS) (which has approx. 3.5K members, from the Clinical and Basic science communities), and serves on several MDS Committees/Task Forces (for Evidence-Based Medicine; Progressive Supranuclear Palsy; Movement Disorders in Asia; Palliative Care; etc.). He is a Steering Committee member, and Co-Lead of the Under-Represented Populations Working Group, of the Global Parkinson's Genetics Program (GP2). He is a holder and/or Reviewer of grants for PD-related funding organisations such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), and the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Cure Parkinspn's Trust (CPT). With a strong commitment to teaching/training, Dr. Lim has organized numerous teaching courses on Parkinson’s & Movement Disorders, and delivered and/or participated in hundreds of international-level lectures and expert panels throughout Asia-Oceania, North America, and Europe. These have often been under the auspices of the MDS, as MDS Visiting Professor, MDS Ambassador, or MDS Virtual Professor. As a versatile speaker with broad-ranging expertise, he has been invited to give numerous Plenary Lectures, including at the flagship MDS Annual Congress (Toronto 2011, Dublin 2012, Nice 2019, Philadelphia/Virtual 2020, Copenhagen 2023, Honolulu 2025) and at the World Parkinson's Congress (Kyoto 2019). In 2025, together with Profs. Nobutaka Hattori and Pramod Pal, he Chaired a highly successful 9th Asian & Oceanian Parkinson's & Movement Disorders Congress (AOPMC) in Tokyo. He has provided movement disorder fellowship/observership training to neurologists from multiple underserved countries, including Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, and Nigeria, often under the auspices of the MDS (Visiting Trainee Grants or Centre-to-Centre Programs). Dr. Lim is a Medical Advisor to the Malaysian Parkinson’s Disease Association, and a founding member (and Immediate-Past Chair) of the Malaysian Movement Disorder Council. He was elected as a Fellow of the Malaysian Academy of Sciences in 2017. In recognition of his leadership in the Movement Disorders field, he was invited to be an Expert Panelist/Consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 to address global policy, implementation and research related to PD. Dr. Lim's research interests are multi-dimensional, with a focus on the following areas: (i) PD (particularly genetics and genotype-phenotype correlations; evidence-based medicine/clinical trials; non-motor features including gastrointestinal aspects; comorbidities; patient-centred care; and rating scales/disease staging); (ii) Parkinson-plus syndromes and other miscellaneous/"orphan" movement disorders, including progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).