Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe is the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. Prior to that, he was the WHO Representative to the Philippines. He was acting Director Health Security and Emergencies at the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) based in Manila, Philippines from 30th April 2022 to 21st June 2022, supporting the regional response to COVID-19. He was Coordinator, Malaria, Other Vectorborne and Parasitic Diseases at WPRO from 2015 – 2019 and has served WHO since 2011 in various capacities including acting Director Communicable Diseases WPRO (May to October 2018, May to July 2019), Regional Entomologist WPRO and Technical Officer Malaria in Papua New Guinea.

Dr Abeyasinghe is a Medical Soecialist MD (Community Medicine) from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Additionally, he has a MSc in Biology & Control of Disease Vectors from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene from the Royal College of Physicians, London. Earlier he held several senior positions in the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka including Director National Malaria Control Programme and Project Director, GFATM Projects.

He is a Fellow of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka and a past President of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka.

Prof. Dr. Is Fatimah is a lecturer in Chemistry Department, Universitas Islam Indonesia. She is now the head of Chemistry Department. Her research focus is on the development of materials for energy and environment, including biomaterials technology. Until now, she has published more than 160 papers in the indexed journal, and more than 11 book and book chapter in National and International level. In 2011 she got the L’oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science, Indonesia, and in 2014 she was awarded by Indonesia Toray Science Foundation (ITSF). In 2020 and 2021, she was included in the Top 2% scientist. 

The diversity of his education background contributed towards the creation of several interesting research related to nutrition such as the first birth cohort in Malaysia named the USM Pregnancy Cohort Study which started in year 2009.

Prof. Hamid is currently the Chairman for Technical Working Group (Nutrition Research) of the Ministry of Health Malaysia. Dr Hamid is also the Scientific Committee Member of the International Life Sciences Institute-South East Asia and one of the NSM Fellow Member.

He has worked and lived in all continents except Australia. He was a member of the World Commission on Water, and co-founder of International Water Resources Association and World Water Council.

He was a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum and is currently member of the International Advisory Board, Pictet Asset Management, Geneva; member of the Advisory Board, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; and Strategic Advisor, Singapore International Water Week.

Among his numerous awards are Crystal Drop and Millennium Prizes of the International Water Resources Association; Walter Huber Prize of the American Society of Civil Engineering; Stockholm Water Prize, considered to be the Nobel Prize for water, for “his outstanding and multi-faceted contributions to global water resource issues;” “Person of the Year” award from Prime Minister Harper of Canada; Aragon Environment Prize of Spain. Reuters named him as a “one of the top 10 water trailblazers of the world.” Impeller magazine selected him as “true global water hero.”

Because of his manifold research contributions, he has received seven Honorary Doctorates of Technology or Engineering from leading global universities, including from both University of Glasgow and University of Strathclyde. He was elected an Academician over 20 years ago. He currently has an h-index of 46. Google Scholar lists 950 of his publications and over 10,400 citations of his work. He has a Research Gate score of 42.1, which puts him into the top 2.5% of all scientists from all disciplines from the entire world.

He is the author or editor of 89 books. His work has been translated into 42 languages. Prof. Biswas is the founder of the International Journal of Water Resources Development and was its Editor-in-Chief for its first 29 years. He is a regular media contributor to BBC, CNN, CNBC, TRT, Project Syndicate, The Conversation, Channel News Asia, MediaCorp and China Daily on issues related to natural resources management, climate change, environment, geopolitics, international relations, business strategies and innovations. His opinion pieces in various international media are now read by some 1.74 million readers annually all over the world.

Colin obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Resource Economics from Universiti Putra Malaysia, and his Ph.D. (with distinction) in Orang Asli Politics, Development and Identity from the Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, in 2000.

He has also authored several popular and academic articles as well as published several books on indigenous and Orang Asli issues. Colin was also an expert witness for the Orang Asli in several precedent-setting land rights cases that were judged in the Orang Asli’s favour. He also served as an Independent Consultant to the National Inquiry on Indigenous Land Rights conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, SUHAKAM in 2011-2013.

Regionally, Colin was a founding member of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, a regional organization of indigenous peoples movements in Asia (AIPP), and of the Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah, PACOS. He is also a founder-member of the Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS, or Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia) and remains a steering committee member to this day.

Colin is also a serious amateur photographer and has had his photos published and exhibited in various media and exhibitions.

She is also an Adjunct Professor in Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia (UNAIR). At the national level, she is the Deputy President for The Clean Air Society of Malaysia (MyCAS), an Environmental Health Expert Panel of TWG10 for National Environmental Health Action Plan (NEHAP) and Environmental Health Advisory Committee at Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia, Executive Board Member of Malaysia Environmental Health Association (MAEH). She is currently the Head of CQA, Faculty of Medicne and Health Science, UPM and a Panel of Program Assessors UPM and Auditor for Academic Program. She is also involved in the assessment of environmental health programs curriculum at universities and colleges in Malaysia, including UNIKL, UKM, MAHSA, UiTM, International College IMPERiA and SEGi University. In addition, she is also an assessor for Putra grants under UPM, Ministry of Higher Education , MOSTI, Qatar National Grant and also the consultant for public and private companies. Prof. Dr. Juliana also acts as the Director of the Summer Crash Course of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UPM

Besides, she is actively involved in organising conferences and trainings all over the world. At the international level, she is an ambassador of Green Hands Kuwait on Environmental Sustainability, an International Committee Member of World Clean Air Congress (WCAC) 2019, and a voting member of Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) at United Kingdom and International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate, ISIAQ.

Dr Ezalia Esa is the Head of Haematology and Head of Cancer Research Center, Institute for Medical Research, She specialized in clinical haematopathology after she pursued her Masters of Pathology (Haematology) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2009. She has been involved in advance molecular works focusing on haematological diseases such as thalassemia and haematological cancer. In 2010 and 2018, she had the opportunity to undergo advance training in Molecular Biotechnology in Shanghai, and Cytogenetics & Molecular Genetics in Singapore General Hospital. She is actively involved in scientific research and has authored numerous publications. She is currently a member of the Malaysian Thalassemia Registry and the National Stem Cell Research & Ethics Subcommittee.

Ts. Dr. Izuddin Fahmy Abu is an Associate Professor at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Institute of Medical Science Technology (UniKL MESTECH). He obtained his first degree (Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, followed by a Master’s Degree in Pharmacogenomics from Universiti Teknologi MARA, and PhD in Molecular Neuropharmacology from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.

As a researcher, Ts. Dr. Izuddin currently works on the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel therapeutic compounds for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and glaucoma. His work has received various international, local and industrial research grants, including from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, UK’s Guarantors of Brain and the International Union of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (IUBMB). He has published articles in more than 40 Scopus-indexed journals, and won numerous research and innovation awards; namely Gold and Silver medals at ITEX 2022 and 2019 respectively, Silver medal at MTE 2021, Gold medal at 3iDC 2020, and Silver medals at PECIPTA 2019. He also currently sits in the executive committee of the Malaysian Society of Pharmacology & Physiology (MSPP) and was the founder of UniKL’s Investigative Biomedical Science Research Cluster (IBMS-RC). He is also a keen science communicator, having reached the regionals heat of the Fame Lab competition and finalist of the MSPP Young Teacher’s Award.

Administratively, Ts. Dr. Izuddin has held the position as the Head of Clinical & Biomedical Laboratory Science (2010-2012), Head of Research & Innovation and Postgraduate Studies (2017-2019), Deputy Director of Alumni Relations & Connection Hub (2019-2020), and is presently the Director for Campus Lifestyle Division, Universiti Kuala Lumpur since 2021.

Dr Izzhar Putra has over 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry, having worked in pharmaceutical, health technology, hospital management and clinical laboratory sectors. He holds a medical degree (MBBS) from University of London as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Singapore Management University.

Dr Izzhar is the Head of New Business for Pathology Asia Holdings as well as Company Alternate Director for Lablink Sdn Bhd. He previously served as the Commercial Director for Gribbles Pathology Malaysia (now known as Innoquest Pathology) and Head of Business Development for BioMark, a digital health technology start-up based in Singapore.

Dr Izzhar began his career in 2008 as a medical doctor for the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, before returning to Malaysia to join the Chemical Company of Malaysia Pharmaceuticals Division (now known as Duopharma Biotech Berhad) in 2012.

Dr Izzhar is also an active volunteer for Medic Footprints Malaysia, where he coaches junior doctors seeking alternative careers to medicine.

He is currently the Deputy CEO of Innoquest Indonesia