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Professor Datin Dr Chia Yook Chin

Professor Chia has been an academic and clinician with University of Malaya since 1987 and continues to be the Honorary Professor at that institution before joining ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University. She was previously heading the Department of Primary Care Medicine and was responsible for starting the Master in Family Medicine at UM in 1989, the first training program in Family Medicine back then. She continues to be very active in teaching and training of doctors especially as she proposed and started the first of its kind Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care for the Elderly at ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University in 2020 with the inaugural batch having graduated successfully. Part of the reason for her interest in care of older adults is attributed to the time she spent at University of Cambridge on a Commonwealth Medical Fellowship offered by UK looking at issues associated with an ageing population, particularly from the medical and health aspect.

Her research interest and expertise is very much on hypertension and its related cardiovascular diseases. She lead the Malaysian Society of Hypertension as its president for several years and has conducted many research as well as educational projects on hypertension. She continues her research and policy/consensus work with a team of hypertension experts in Asia called the Hypertension Cardiovascular Outcome Prevention, Evidence in Asia (HOPE-Asia) Network on optimising management of hypertension to reduce adverse fatal ad non-fatal cardiovascular events.

Associate Professor Dr Chew Jactty

Associate Professor Dr Jactty Chew obtained her BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology from Monash University, Malaysia before pursuing her PhD in Dentistry at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her postgraduate project investigated the biofilm formation of an oral pathogen, Fusobacterium nucleatum, implicated in periodontal diseases. Upon completion, she worked as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Dentistry at the University of Adelaide. She joined ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University in 2012 as a Lecturer and held the BSc (Hons) Medical Biotechnology Programme Chair position until 2015. Her primary research interest areas include antibiotic resistance, bacterial pathogenesis, antibacterial agents and the Malayan sun bear population genetics. She has received various research grants from different funding agencies including the Australian Dental Research Association, ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University Internal Grant Scheme and the International Bear Association. She works closely with infectious disease physicians, paediatricians and sun bear conservation experts on her research projects. At the moment, she is supervising both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Associate Professor Ts. Dr Lee Yun Li

Yun Li, Lee is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering and Technology. She has more than 15 years of teaching and research experience in higher education. She is currently a senior member of the IEEE, a Professional Technologist of MBOT, and the Malaysia Director of the International Association for Convergence Science & Technology (IACST). She has contributed to several local and international research projects such as the FRGS, PPRN, and Japan-APT funds, and published in leading international journals, conferences, and book chapters. Her current research includes ultrasound imaging, time series data analysis, and designing a cognitive training module.

Associate Professor Dr Jane Teh Kimm Lii

Jane K.L. Teh specializes in applying statistical methods in the fields of Social Gerontology and Health Sciences. She is an alumna of Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) at Brown University, USA. In addition to her statistical expertise, she possesses skills in software development and analytics, which she acquired during her years of experience in the information technology sector before transitioning into academia. Teaching is her passion, and her receipt of teaching awards, recognizing her exceptional teaching accomplishments, serves as a testament to her dedication.

 

Associate Professor Dr Yow Yoon Yen

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yow is an algae biotechnologist and her research focuses on the discovery and development of new compounds from algae as nutraceutical candidates in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, she is working on the beneficial effects of algae in cosmeceuticals and its anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties. She is also interested in the study of molecular phylogenetics and genetic diversity of algae, and invasive Pomacea apple snails.

The high value of algae and their products has made them an economically important natural resource in Malaysia. To date, a total of 386 specific and intraspecific taxa have been recorded in Malaysia. A number of these algae have been proven to contain natural compounds of anti-ulcerogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-neurodegenerative and gastroprotective properties, and serve as a promising antioxidant, chemotherapeutic, and anti-diabetic agents.

In line with ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), she looks forward to discovering how algae play a role in the SDGs with the aim to promote well-being for all.

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Dr Chee Kwan Foong

As a lecturer and licensed professional counsellor, Dr Chee Kwan Foong is extremely passionate about academic work and research that contribute to public mental health. Through her formal training in Counselling Psychology and fourteen years of mental health work experience, she has been able to contribute in a meaningful manner to society. As a lecturer for 13 years, she has constantly researched on how environmental factors (e.g., built environment, environment art and design) affect people's health and psychological well-being, as past findings have consistently suggested that well-designed physical settings and environment features foster positive psychological and health outcomes.

Her current research includes three core components – the first investigates the association between the social/physical environmental design of residential care homes for the elderly and the occupants’ psychological well-being. This is particularly important when the elderly in such homes do not have control over their physical environment. The second component focuses on ageing, in particular the needs and well-being of the elderly, and addressing issues like social isolation, loneliness, depressive symptoms, happiness and life satisfaction. The third component focuses on health and stigma. The lives of people with disease, disability and mental disorders/illness are worsened by stigma, subsequently leading to public/social prejudice, loss of self-worth and negative impacts towards the health and psychological well-being of the individual. This area investigates how stigma impacts the wellbeing of people with disease, disability and mental illness. Though primarily a quantitative researcher, Kwan Foong is also interested in work engaged with some aspect of mixed methodologies and working across disciplines.

Dr Say Yee How

Dr Say Yee How graduated with a 1st Class Honours Degree in Biomedical Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2003 and was awarded the Royal Education Award by the Conference of Rulers Malaysia (Majlis Raja-raja). He went on to do a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology at University of Leeds, UK, on the cellular functions of prion protein, under the supervision of Prof. Nigel M. Hooper. Upon graduating in 2007, he was affiliated with University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Malaysia and National University of Singapore throughout his academic career. His research interests cover the fields of 3Ns in non-communicable diseases - Nutrigenetics, Neurodegeneration and Neoplasm. He has been actively conducting research and publishing journal articles in the field of genetic epidemiology of obesity and its related traits, taste sensory genetics (bitter, sweet, salty, umami, fatty), allergic diseases and various psychological conditions. He also researched on the pathophysiological roles of neuronal proteins (the Synucleins and cellular prion protein) in neuroprotection, neurodegeneration and cancer biology, as an attempt to shed light on the aetiologies of these diseases that afflict the ageing population. He also had the pleasure of serving the editorial board of the Journal of Physiological Anthropology.

Dr Lau Tze Pheng

Dr Lau PhD research focused on the involvement of low-penetrance genes in colorectal cancer, as well as the characterisation of stage-specific gene expression and proteomic profiles of colorectal tumours among the Malaysian cohort. Thereafter, her research expanded into the study of telomere length and telomerase activity, as well as microsatellite instability status of colorectal tumours during her postgraduate research fellowship. She started her early profession as one of the pioneers in setting up a medical testing laboratory focusing on molecular testing in cancers. She have great research interest in molecular oncology, molecular pathology and molecular diagnostics, especially on solid tumour malignancies.

Dr Sharifah Nadhira Syed Annuar

Dr Sharifah Nadhira Binti Syed Annuar earned her PhD in Toxicology from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 2023, with her dissertation focusing on the molecular mechanisms of cytotoxicity induced by organotin(IV) dithiocarbamate compounds in human leukemia cell lines (K562 and Jurkat E6.1). Her work contributes to the understanding of anticancer metallodrugs and their potential therapeutic applications. She is committed to advancing research in toxicology and cancer therapeutics.

Dr Daniel Cheng Maong Hui

Dr Cheng Maong Hui graduated from the Volgograd State Medical University in 2010 with a Medical degree and proceeded with a Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care of the Elderly in 2020. He has served as a medical officer with the ministry of health for the past 10 years with experience in the primary care clinic setting, emergency department and rehabilitation medicine department. 

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Dr Eden Low Ngah Den

Prior to joining ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University, Dr Eden Low served as a postdoc associate at the Center of Pharmacogenetics, University of Pittsburgh, USA, where she worked on knockout mice model of liver fibrosis. She obtained her PhD in Medical Science (Physiology) from National University of Malaysia, where she accumulated fundamental and clinical research experiences working on projects related to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colitis-associated colorectal cancer and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD/MAFLD). 

As a post-doctoral research fellow, Dr Eden Low is currently involved in ageing research project investigating the effects of physical activity interventions on saliva microbiome of older adults. Recent publications include "Association between physical activity and cognitive function in a multi-ethnic Asian older adult population" in Scientific Reports (2025).