Professor Dr. April Roslani is a Professor of Colorectal Surgery, and was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya from 2020 - 2024. She graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine in 1995, and was awarded Universiti Malaya’s Master of Surgery in 2003. In 2007, she established University Malaya Medical Centre’s (UMMC) Colorectal Surgery Unit, which is now the largest in the country, and a key stakeholder in colorectal training and services nationally and regionally.   Her areas of expertise include surgery for colorectal cancer, proctology, surgical training and professionalism. She established the first Malaysian Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) and Hyperthermic Intra-Peritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) service in UMMC, which is delivered by a multi-disciplinary team.   Prof. April is an influential driver of postgraduate medical training nationally, regionally and internationally. She has chaired the Conjoint Committee for Postgraduate Medical Degrees, which oversees, aligns and coordinates medical specialist training programmes across all higher education providers in Malaysia. Recognizing the need to standardize training across institutions in order to meet the country’s need for healthcare specialists, she led the development of a new national training curriculum for general surgery under the National Postgraduate Curriculum Project. As chair of the Train-the-Trainers Steering Committee, she led the development of a blended curriculum for train-the-trainers modules, which has been rolled out across all specialties, nationally. She has advocated against toxic workplace environments, generating the evidence base and incorporating training modules in both trainee and trainer curricula.   Her leadership credentials are undisputed. She is currently a Director for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's International Office, has been Regional Ambassador for the Association of Academic Health Centers International, and hosted the ASEAN Medical Deans Summit in 2023. She is a Councillor in the International Surgical Society, which champions outreach educational activities to improve access to surgical services globally, and was part of the team that successfully ran the International Surgical Week 2024 in Malaysia for the first time. She was Chair of the Steering Committee for the National Postgraduate Medical Curriculum Project. From a regulatory perspective, she leads the Malaysian Medical Council’s Specialty Subcommittee (Education) for General Surgery, which set the standards for recognition of training programmes, and she regularly evaluates programmes for accreditation by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency. She is the immediate Past-President for the Malaysian Society of Colorectal Surgeons, the College of Surgeons, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia and the Asia Pacific Federation of Coloproctology.   Through these and other related roles, she works towards advancing surgical standards, and fairness in the workplace. Her work has been recognized by the international surgical fraternity, through numerous Honorary Fellowship awards, including most recently from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Professor Dr Puteri Shafinaz Abdul Rahman received her tertiary education at the University of Malaya and was awarded a prestigious Split-Site Doctoral Scholarship by the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Commission (United Kingdom) to pursue her PhD in Proteomics jointly at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Malaya. She completed her PhD in 2007 and subsequently joined the Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, where she now serves as the Head of Department. She is also a founding member and current Director of the Universiti Malaya Centre for Proteomic Research (UMCPR). Across her academic career, Dr Puteri has secured more than RM 14.5 million in research funding as Principal Investigator and in collaborative roles. She has supervised 8 Master's and 8 PhD candidates to completion, and she currently mentors 7 PhD and 3 Master's students. She previously led the Unit for Central Research Laboratories, which is the Faculty of Medicine’s designated facility for state-of-the-art proteomics, genomics, and analytical research infrastructure for 15 years (2008–2023). She has also held several administrative appointments under the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) portfolio, including Deputy Dean of the Innovative Technology Research Cluster (2015–2018), Deputy Dean of the Frontiers of the Natural World Research Cluster (2019–2021), and Coordinator of the Research Project Monitoring Section at the Research Management Centre, Universiti Malaya (2022–2024). In addition to her university leadership roles, Dr Puteri serves as a Board Director of the Malaysian Lactation Educators & Support Association (MyLESA), where she contributes to national efforts in advancing breastfeeding education, maternal–infant health advocacy, and evidence-based lactation support.  As a molecular biologist and proteomic scientist, Dr Puteri’s primary expertise lies in comparative proteomics. Her research group utilises mass spectrometry–based platforms to interrogate protein expression patterns across biological states, enabling the identification of dysregulated proteins and molecular pathways in cancers such as gynaecological malignancies, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and bone tumours. Her work in cancer proteomics was recognised with the Merck Young Scientist Award (First Prize) in 2008. Her research portfolio also encompasses natural products and herbal medicine, where proteomics is applied to elucidate the mechanisms underlying bioactive compounds with anticancer, antimicrobial, or immunomodulatory potential. Over the last decade, her work has extended into the molecular characterisation of human milk—particularly proteins associated with the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) and soluble fraction—across human, bovine, and caprine species. Her current research examines the proteome, metabolome, and circadian biology of human milk from early lactation through 24 months postpartum, with a particular interest in how maternal metabolic conditions, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), influence milk composition. Central to this body of work is the emerging conceptualisation of breast milk as a biologically intelligent system- a dynamic, adaptive fluid shaped by evolution, developmental timing, and maternal physiology. Dr Puteri’s studies aim to unravel how bioactive milk constituents modulate infant immune protection, metabolic programming, and neurodevelopment, and how milk may undergo functional reprogramming or adaptive prioritisation under maternal metabolic stress.   

  Dr Benedict Francis is an associate professor and consultant psychiatrist at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and was selected for the Brightsparks scholarship to pursue his Masters in Psychological Medicine at his alma mater, the University of Malaya. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship program in Aged Healthcare Services at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, in 2019. Dr Benedict is one of the research leads at the Psychological Medicine Research Unit and has been involved as principal investigator and sub-investigator for several international, multi-centre clinical trials including the ESCAPE-TRD, REMISSIO, ASPIRE, SUSTAIN-3, ROUTE 6, and CONNEX-2 trials. He has also published in several international and regional peer-reviewed journals and presented in international congresses. Dr Benedict has and continues to exhibit stellar leadership in his field. He was part of the Ministry of Health’s  National Advisory Board committee that drafted the guidelines for prescribing and dispensing Esketamine, a novel adjunct antidepressant treatment. In addition, he has been part of several steering commitees that paved new directions in mental health. For example, he was appointed to be part of the Southeast Asian steering committee to develop a patient decision aid for people living with schizophrenia. He is also part of the regional Asia Pacific steering commitee to develop a module for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). In 2023, he received the Excellent Service Award from the University of Malaya in recognition of his contributions. Dr Benedict is regarded as a Key Opinion Leader in the field of treatment resistant depression and schizophrenia and is a regular invited speaker at both local and regional events. He is actively involved in several associations at various levels. He is a life member of the Malaysian Psychiatric Association and a corresponding member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is also a member of the Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He was inducted as Fellow of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists.  Besides clinical medicine, Dr Benedict is keenly interested in the various facets of research ethics, particularly in the subfield of Neuroethics. He was recently awarded a scholarship under the auspices of the Fogarty International Centre of the United States National Institute of Health in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, to pursue his Master's in Health Research and Ethics at the University of Malaya.