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 Kathreena Kadir  BDS(Mal), MClinDent(OMFS)(Mal), Fellowship in Oral & Maxillofacial Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery (Shanghai), AM   Dr Kathreena Kadir obtained her Bachelor of Dental Surgery from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur in 2005. She then served the Ministry of Health for four years before returning to the same university to pursue her Master’s in Clinical Dentistry specializing in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. Upon graduation in 2013, she joined the academia and currently an Associate Professor and consultant in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Clinical Sciences. She is a member of Malaysia Academy of Medicine and has held the post of Honorary Secretary for the Malaysian Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (MAOMS) in the year 2015 till 2018 and a member of the Oral Cancer Research & Coordinating Centre (OCRCC) since 2015. Her main surgical interest has always been managing patients with head and neck tumours and had recently completed her one-year Fellowship in Oral & Maxillofacial Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery at Shanghai 9th People’s Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Upon returning, she is among the lead surgeon in managing oral cancer clinic and service in University Malaya Medical Centre. Dr Kadir had also supervised numerous postgraduate research thesis in the field of both oral cancer and Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD). While pursuing her interest in head and neck oncology, Dr Kadir has also developed another passion in management of patients with TMD. Over the last 5 years, her team had successfully developed and validated the Malay - Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (M-DC/TMD) according to the stringent standard set by the International Network for Orofacial pain & Related disorders Methodology (INfORM). With the establishment of these two instruments (DC/TMD and M-DC/TMD), she hopes to propose the usage of these tools nationwide as a standard protocol in diagnosing and managing patients with TMD. She also contributes in coordinating and pioneering the development of the TMD Multidisciplinary Team combined clinic in Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya.  

Dr. Chiu Wee Siong is currently a senior lecturer at Department of Physics in University Malaya. He received both of his Bachelor of Science (Nuclear Science) and Master of Science (major in Materials Science) in UKM. Thereafter, he enrolled his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Nottingham. His research interests cover the aspects of synthesis and characterization of solid-state nanostructural materials, which consisted of oxide- and 2D-based semiconductor and magnetic-nanomaterials, graphene nanocomposite, novel metal nanoparticles as well as photocatalyst nanocomposite. His current research work mainly focuses on the design of value-added nanostructural photocatalyst materials for photoelectrochemical application in producing hydrogen gas through water splitting reaction. He has published 95 papers in ISI-cited peer-reviewed journals and 30 conference proceedings. He has earned 2505 citations with total H-index of 26 according to ISI-Web of Science. Up to date, he has led 7 external grants and 6 internal grants with the sum of ~2-million and successfully filed two patents. Furthermore, he has received Young Scientist Award from Malaysia Association for Solid State Science and Technology. For the number of postgraduate students, he has successfully produced 10 PhD students and 2 master students. Moreover, he is actively involved in social engagement activity inclusive of serving as auditor/reviewer for numerous of well-known international fundings cum renowned publishers. His dedication in research also has honoured him with 17 awards both internationally and locally. In the meantime, he is also honoured with “Trusted Reviewer by UK Institute of Physics” in addition to the honour of Recognized Reviewer Award for numerous of ISI-cited journals under Elsevier Publisher. Furthermore, he has being appointed as Scientific Coach by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) for International Nanotechnology Olympiad (INO) and won gold medal with the honour of Best Project in Science and Technology Development. In the meantime, he also has won gold medal for the Green Hydrogen Technology Invention in International Materials Invention Competition in Nov 2024. With respect to his expertise in nanoscale materials for hydrogen production, lately, he has been elected as Guest Editor for a journal (Discover Nano with impact factor 4.5) published by Springer Nature, in managing publications associated to the “Green Hydrogen Production via Nanoengineering Approach”. On the other hand, his well-recognized expertise in semiconductor physics and photoelectrochemistry also renders him to be invited as plenary speaker and invited speaker in both international- and local-conferences. In terms of teaching, he has reflected multi-tasking and can diversify his teaching philosophy to wide range of subjects that ranges from materials physics to modern physics. Meanwhile, he has been appointed as external assessor for Curriculum Review of Materials Science Program in UiTM Shah Alam and serve as judge for numerous of scientific competitions. Finally, he has actively contributed to faculty administration task by serving as Quality Manager in handling auditing task, troubleshooting quality issues and managing special task force for the well-being of department and faculty. Additionally, his excellence contribution to department has rendered him to be awarded with excellent service certificate thrice.