On May 15 2024, the President and representatives from the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society attended the award ceremony for the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Award for Best Student in Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), Universiti Malaya, organised by the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. Dr Vivek Jason Jayaraj from Johor is the winner of this award’s third year in running. He attended the award with his daughter and parents.
Dr Vivek Jason Jayaraj is a Public Health Physician, currently serving at the National Institutes of Health Malaysia. He has previously served in rural Sabah for several years prior to his enrollment into postgraduate study. He is a professional with a keen interest in the confluence of data analytics, epidemiology, infectious disease, and health systems. His portfolio includes key projects on the epidemiology of COVID-19, the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions, and the comparative impact of health systems on COVID-19 transmission. With a penchant for data-driven solutions, Dr Vivek has been involved in developing and implementing mathematical, time-series, and machine-learning models to forecast the spread of infectious diseases, including dengue, COVID-19, and hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). He strongly advocates the integration of data and compassion in creating a promising future in healthcare. He relentlessly strives to reduce the time gaps in data-driven solutions within the realm of infectious disease and health systems, working to shape a world where technology and humanity meet to improve health outcomes.
Dr Vivek dedicates himself to community outreach with great passion. He led the team to set up pour flush pit latrines at Orang Asli village at Bukit Manchung with a sanitary education programme. He also conducted risk assessment activities at Angelcare Nursing Home and Persatuan Pengasih Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Vivek received the heartiest and most personal congratulatory notes from her DrPH supervisors (Professor Dr Ng Chiu Wan and Professor Dr Sanjay Rampal Lekhraj Rampal) and a strong mandate to go the extra mile with his selfless character and passion for digital health from his Head of Department, Professor Dr Victor Hoe Chee Wai Abdullah. His outstanding character and strong passion for numbers and letters are catalysts for him to become the future global leader in Artificial Intelligence Medicine. The Dean Faculty of Medicine, Professor Dato’ Dr Yang Faridah Abdul Aziz emphasised the recognition of excellence in the DrPH training programme by the Award and the importance of public health in improving our population’s health.
Prof Dr Victor provided a brief overview of Dr Wu Lien-Teh’s life and introduced the transparent process of the candidate selection from the Faculty to the Senate of the university. During the speech by Professor Dato’ Seri (Dr) Anwar Fazal, health activism is a core component of making changes with great impacts, just like Dr Wu who ignited actions and stood up bravely to take the necessary actions, from anti-racism to anti-opium.
We also have the previous recipient of the award, Dr Wong Min Fui @ Esther Wong to join the ceremony. She shared the value of the award in inspiring her to go further in his career and life, with promotion in her career at the National Institutes of Health, Malaysia and working on a project related to prison health.
This award was set up by the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya in 2021. It aims to inspire fellow awardees to continue their passion for public health and following the footsteps of Dr Wu Lien-Teh who was a highly respected public health physician and an internationally acclaimed plague fighter in the medical fraternity. Not only was he the first Malayan student who graduated from the University of Cambridge in Medicine, but he was also the first nominee from Malaya to be considered for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935. In the advent of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Wu’s contributions as a plague fighter a century ago, right from the face mask design and implementation of a variety of public health measures epitomize his control strategies since the beginning of this pandemic.
The selection process for this award is conducted by an independent panel of academicians set up by the Faculty of Medicine and approved by the Senate of Universiti Malaya, with the four evaluation domains (leadership, community engagement, academic standing and professionalism). The awardee receives a medal, an RM 1000 cash prize and a certificate from the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society.
Representatives from the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya:
- Professor Dato’ Dr Yang Faridah binti Abdul Aziz, Dean, Faculty of Medicine
- Professor Dr Sanjay Rampal A/L Lekhraj Rampal, Deputy Dean (Research), Faculty of Medicine
- Professor Dr Shahrul Bahyah binti Kamaruzzaman, Deputy Dean (Postgraduate), Faculty of Medicine
- Professor Dr Victor Hoe Chee Wai bin Abdullah, Head, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
- Professor Dr Ng Chiu Wan, Honorary Professor, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
- Professor Dr Wong Li Ping, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
Representatives from the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society:
- Professor Dato’ Seri (Dr.) Anwar Fazal, President
- Dr Hor Chee Peng, Secretary-General
- Mr Quah Seng Sun, Committee Member
- Mr Ronald Quay Ong Guan, Committee Member
This report was prepared by Dr Hor Chee Peng, Secretary General of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society. Photos were taken by Mr Abdul Rahman bin Awang Senik, and Mr Muhammad Haizril Arif bin Md Mokhtar from the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya.
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