Faculty of Medicine (FOM), University of Malaya will be launching a “Building on Heritage” Research Week in conjunction with the celebration of 50 Years of Research taken in the Faculty itself. From the 21st till the 23rd of January 2013, speakers from both local and international panels will be giving talks and workshops on their respective medical research fields. Research Week is an effort to ensure continuous improvement in the research field as well as an appreciation to the faculty’s academicians and researchers. Sponsored by Carl Zeiss, Chemoscience Malaysia and Serasi Healthcare, this three day event is to be officiated by the Yg. Bhg. Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister II of the Ministry of Higher Learning, Malaysia during the opening ceremony.

Brief Introduction on the Faculty of Medicine

The University of Malaya’s medical faculty was the first school that was instituted at UM in 1905 following the Education Commission report that the colonial region in South East Asia needed to address the shortage of medical assistants in the large cities of Singapore and Penang. This was after the first unsuccessful initial attempt to establish a medical school to train assistant surgeons in 1889. Today FOM has over 400 academic staff, 11 centers of research excellence and several service research centers. FOM plans to continue expanding its research activities, particularly in areas of translational research, by focusing on five key areas; these are: infectious diseases and immunity, cancer, drug discovery and development, public health and non communicable diseases and ageing and regenerative medicine. Marking the time of the first students at the faculty in 1963, we now celebrate the faculty’s 50th year in existence. With its ever vibrant and fast paced role in establishing frontline research in medical science, it is expected that FOM will remain the lead medical school in this country for at least another 50 years.

Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA)’s Involvement in Research Week

The Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA), founded by Professor Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman in 2007, is a dedicated HIV research centre in Malaysia. With a multi-disciplinary staff, ranging from Infectious Diseases to Psychological Medicine to Medical Microbiology, our work at CERiA involves basic and translational research as well as training programmes for allied health workers. In addition to various national collaborative projects, particularly with Malaysian drug addiction programmes and the Malaysian Prison’s Department, it has international collaborations with reputable institutions worldwide. On the 23rd of January 2013, in conjunction with the Research Week, researchers from CERiA and its collaborators will be giving talks to share their research findings, as well as on HIV-related topics. The agenda for the day is provided below.