Our Scholars

I am a pharmacist, and currently a doctoral student at the University of Malaya. My main research interest is in infectious diseases and osteoporosis. I completed my master’s thesis on a topic regarding antiretroviral therapy for HIV patients. For my doctoral training at University of Malaya, I have moved into the fields of osteoporosis and geriatric health by working on implementation of a Fracture Liaison Service in the University Malaya Medical Center, under the mentorship of Dr. Terence Ong. Dr. Terence is a consultant geriatrician and had multiple publications in the field of musculoskeletal health. Under his guidance, we successfully implemented the Fracture Liaison Service and presented several poster presentations at both national and international conferences. My doctoral research was put on halt for a short period of time in June 2021 due to COVID outbreak, I decided to use the time to volunteer myself at the COVID vaccination centre in University Malaya Medical Centre. I was offered the opportunity to take part in the Malaysian Implementation Science Training (MIST) Program during the volunteer work. I get to attend several courses offered by the Yale University and foster my knowledge in implementation science. As the MIST program focused on HIV research, I learnt about the current state of osteoporosis and HIV in Malaysia which requires much attention but was not addressed. Therefore, I planned to use this grant to address this research gap and thus improve the care for HIV patients.

My 13 years of work experience at the Ministry of Health Malaysia has uncovered my passion for public health as I gained vast experiences in different public healthcare facilities such as state hospital, community health clinic, district health office and specialist hospital. In 2014, I was fortunate to be able to pursue a postgraduate Master’s degree in community health at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia under the Federal Training Award by Ministry of Health Malaysia. For my Master’s degree, I conducted a research study looking into patient satisfaction towards pharmacy services in public health clinics which shed light on ways to improve pharmacy services to better serve the local communities. The last three years of assessing various health technologies at the Malaysian Health Technology Assessment Section taught me the importance of bridging the evidence-to-practice gap which led me to pursue a PhD in implementation science at University of Malaya in 2021. I am very privileged to be selected as a doctoral student scholar under the Malaysian Implementation Science Training (MIST) program where I am given the opportunity to undergo one-year training in implementation science at Yale University. Through the MIST program, I have received valuable guidance and remarkable insights from the program advisor, Professor Frederick Altice from Yale University, an esteemed expert in infectious diseases and implementation science. For my PhD research, I will be looking into developing and testing the implementation of a pharmacy-led HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) service delivery model in Malaysia to increase the uptake of PrEP for HIV prevention. I will be working under the guidance of three great mentors and leading experts from University of Malaya: Associate Professor Dr. Raja Iskandar Shah Raja Azwa, a distinguished infectious disease consultant passionate in PrEP research; Dr. Howie Lim Sin How, an epidemiologist known for his accomplishment in HIV research; and Associate Professor Dr. Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki, an epidemiologist with expertise in implementation science. Through this PhD program, I hope to learn from partnerships and collaborative efforts in addressing health inequities, gain networking and leadership skills, and make a difference in health care. This experience will support my long-term goal of becoming a qualified implementation researcher, contributing to capacity-building and development in implementation research at the Ministry of Health Malaysia.

Grazele is an experienced researcher with an academic background in research ethics and work involving human rights and marginalized populations. She holds a Bachelor of Food Science and Nutrition degree from Universiti Malaysia Sabah and graduated amongst the first cohort of the Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) program, a collaborative initiative between the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. She was previously a research officer and study coordinator in Queen Elizabeth Hospital II-Clinical Research Centre. Presently, she is an Assistant Secretary in University of Malaya Medical Centre-Medical Research Ethics Committee and is also a doctorate candidate with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. She has also been very active in civil society works specifically on gender and equality issues. Using the skills and knowledge she gained from being trained under the Malaysian Implementation Science Training (MIST) Program, she seeks to explore the development of a Rapid Start Antiretroviral Therapy Protocol for people who use drugs (PWUD) in Malaysia.

Mona has a total of 20 years’ experience in public health and international development. She is an experienced public health consultant and have provided a wide range of technical assistance to civil society organizations, national governments, development agencies and international funders in Asia, Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Northern Africa. Her work encompasses key populations interventions, community system strengthening, gender, human rights, institutional development, and national grant implementation management. At present, she is the Senior Officer to the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Law and Human Rights (Malaysia). She holds a MSc (Public Health) from University Malaya and a Bachelors’ Degree of Commerce in Accountancy from the University of Canberra, Australia. Mona is a PhD candidate with the Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya.

A PhD student with interest and specialization on implementation science and drug use issues. Extensive experience in Asia Pacific region for the past 20 years working on key population interventions, advocacy for sustainable HIV financing, and pediatric HIV.

Dr. Nur Afiqah's research work examines institutional-related structures associated with engagement in HIV among people who use illicit drugs (PWUD). This epidemiological work is informed by sociological perspectives which framed the research questions within a wider social, economic and policy environment. As such, her doctoral research project applied institutional perspectives from a sociological view to explore the extent to which individual and organizational interactions are aligned in achieving a patient-centred care approach, specifically to facilitate improvements in HIV care outcomes among PWUD.Her current research activities have incorporated a community-based participatory research (CBPR) component. Using this approach, she engages with local communities of PWUD and NGOs that serve these populations, whose collective views in the design and implementation of health programs are key in developing effective interventions. Dr. Nur Afiqah was trained in Implementation Science at the Yale University, USA. She is currently the principal investigator for the study entitled, “A Study to Engage Malaysian People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) to Comprehensive HIV Key Services (SEMARAK).”

Dr Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, University of Malaya. Currently, she heads the Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-based Practice (CEBP) at the University of Malaya. She also chairs the TB Monitoring & Prevention Committee and is a member of the COVID-19 taskforce team at UMMC. She had received training in Evidence-Based Medicine from the University of Oxford and formal exposure in Clinical Epidemiology from the University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherland. She also attended a workshop on Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Disease at Imperial College, London to deepen her skill in mathematical modelling. She received an award from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease for observership at the European CDC and learned about the surveillance system and outbreak preparedness at the international level. Her first involvement in HIV/AIDS research was in 2014, where she explored the stigma and discrimination issue in Nigeria. It was a large population study, and her main contribution was in analyzing and interpreting the data. The study observed high discriminatory attitudes and practices towards PLWH. However, about 70% of the population are willing to care for relatives with HIV/AIDS. Recently she completed a study on discriminatory attitudes and practices related to HIV/AIDS in the health care sector in Malaysia. The study was conducted among professional healthcare personnel (doctors) from public tertiary hospitals and four district health offices in Kuala Lumpur and people living with HIV (PLWH) from two non-governmental organizations based in Kuala Lumpur. Stigma and discrimination among healthcare personnel in urban Malaysian healthcare settings appear to be driven primarily by perceived risk towards the illness, negative feelings as well as being judgmental towards PLHIV and experience of observing discriminatory behavior by other colleagues. All this leads to discriminative behavior and practices among the healthcare personnel.

Dr. Nur Afiqah's research work examines institutional-related structures associated with engagement in HIV among people who use illicit drugs (PWUD). This epidemiological work is informed by sociological perspectives which framed the research questions within a wider social, economic and policy environment. As such, her doctoral research project applied institutional perspectives from a sociological view to explore the extent to which individual and organizational interactions are aligned in achieving a patient-centred care approach, specifically to facilitate improvements in HIV care outcomes among PWUD.Her current research activities have incorporated a community-based participatory research (CBPR) component. Using this approach, she engages with local communities of PWUD and NGOs that serve these populations, whose collective views in the design and implementation of health programs are key in developing effective interventions. Dr. Nur Afiqah was trained in Implementation Science at the Yale University, USA. She is currently the principal investigator for the study entitled, “A Study to Engage Malaysian People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) to Comprehensive HIV Key Services (SEMARAK).”

Dr Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, University of Malaya. Currently, she heads the Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-based Practice (CEBP) at the University of Malaya. She also chairs the TB Monitoring & Prevention Committee and is a member of the COVID-19 taskforce team at UMMC. She had received training in Evidence-Based Medicine from the University of Oxford and formal exposure in Clinical Epidemiology from the University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherland. She also attended a workshop on Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Disease at Imperial College, London to deepen her skill in mathematical modelling. She received an award from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease for observership at the European CDC and learned about the surveillance system and outbreak preparedness at the international level. Her first involvement in HIV/AIDS research was in 2014, where she explored the stigma and discrimination issue in Nigeria. It was a large population study, and her main contribution was in analyzing and interpreting the data. The study observed high discriminatory attitudes and practices towards PLWH. However, about 70% of the population are willing to care for relatives with HIV/AIDS. Recently she completed a study on discriminatory attitudes and practices related to HIV/AIDS in the health care sector in Malaysia. The study was conducted among professional healthcare personnel (doctors) from public tertiary hospitals and four district health offices in Kuala Lumpur and people living with HIV (PLWH) from two non-governmental organizations based in Kuala Lumpur. Stigma and discrimination among healthcare personnel in urban Malaysian healthcare settings appear to be driven primarily by perceived risk towards the illness, negative feelings as well as being judgmental towards PLHIV and experience of observing discriminatory behavior by other colleagues. All this leads to discriminative behavior and practices among the healthcare personnel.