The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine is one of the departments that is proud to have two research centres within the Department. They are the Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice (CEBP) and the Centre for Population Health (CePH). CEBP and CePH has done exceptionally well in 2022 and were among the top 10 Science and Technology Centre of Research at the Universiti Malaya. Both centres have come a long way since their establishment more than 10 years ago. Together with Centre for Excellence for Research in AiDS (CERIA) they are the top three Centre of Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya.

Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice (CEBP)

The Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, which was previously known as the Julius Centre University Malaya (JCUM) was established out of the collaboration between the Julius Centre at the University Medical Centre, Utrecht, the Netherlands and the Universiti Malaya. UMCU together with the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), University of Oxford, the Rumah Sakit Cipto Mangunkusumo (RSCM) Hospital, Jakarta and UM were members of the Asia-Link project an Asia-Europe Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine project. The project was funded by grants from the European Union. The first meeting to discuss the Asialink project was held on the 14 and 15 April 2008 at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. However, the collaboration between UMC and UM started much earlier before the Asialink project. The first time where academics from the two universities met was on 28 November 2005 at Universiti Malaya. Professor Diederick E. Grobbee, Professor Y. Van Der Graaf and Professor Hoes, A. W. from the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands paid a courtesy visit to the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) on the 28th November 2005 in view of setting up a collaborative centre with UMMC. They were received by the Dean, Professor Dato Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin at his office. The Professors also visited the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine accompanied by Associate Professor Atiya Ab Sallam. The two institutions signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a ceremony on 30 March 2007. Datuk Rafiah Salim the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya and Prof J.C. Stoof the Dean of the University Medical Center, Utrecht, Netherlands were the signatories of the MOU.

After the Asialink project ended in 2010, UMC and UM continued to work together to develop research expertise. It was decided that the department would set up a research centre that would further the collaboration beyond the remit of the Asialink project. The strengths of the centre lie in its expertise in epidemiology and research, medical statistics and evidence-based medicine. The other main strength of the centre is its close links to its partners in the Netherlands, Australia, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. Since its inception, the centre has been active in carrying out activities both under the Asia-Link programme as well as its own activities separately from the Asialink programme.

Centre for Population Health (CePH)

The Centre for Population Health (CePH) was a collaboration between Queen’s University, Belfast and the Universiti Malaya. The centre was jointly launched by the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaya, Professor Datuk Ghauth Jasmon, and Professor Peter Gregson, the Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University, Belfast on the 19 Feb 2009. The centre was endorsed by the Deputy Minister for Higher Education Datuk Haji Idris Haron and the Northern Ireland Minister of Employment and Learning.

Welcoming the establishment of the new Centre, the University of Malaya Vice Chancellor, Ghauth Jasmon said: “This is an important development for the University of Malaya and the country of Malaysia. It is a practical demonstration of how our leading-edge research complemented by the University’s partnership with Queen’s University Belfast can create a real benefit, in this instance health improvement to the population of Malaysia.”

CePH is the second research centre in SPM and was spearheaded by Dr Nabilla Abdul Mohsein Al-Sadat together with an enthusiastic team from the department.