The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM), Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, is pleased to welcome Dr Ng Yit Han, who joined the department as a Senior Lecturer on 20 April 2026.
Dr Ng is a homegrown academic who completed his postgraduate training in SPM. He obtained his MPH from Universiti Malaya with Distinction, focusing on the psychometric validation of the HADS among cancer patients, and later earned his PhD in Public Health, developing a Healthy Lifestyles Index to predict the risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among teachers in Peninsular Malaysia. He was supervised by Prof Dr Moy Foong Ming and Prof Dr Noran Naqiah Mohd Hairi.
Dr Ng brings with him a strong academic foundation in public health, biostatistics, and epidemiology, with a particular focus on translating complex data into meaningful insights for clinical and public health decision-making. His expertise lies in the application of advanced statistical modelling, including linear, logistic, Cox, and mixed-effects models, as well as the use of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) to strengthen causal inference in observational studies.
In addition to his methodological strengths, Dr Ng is highly skilled in statistical programming and data analytics, utilising platforms such as SPSS, JAMOVI, and R for end-to-end data processing and visualisation. His work reflects a growing emphasis on data-driven public health, aligning closely with the department’s strategic direction in digital innovation and evidence-based practice.
Dr Ng’s current research explores the relationship between occupational exposures, particularly among educators, and health outcomes, including the interplay between workload, lifestyle factors, psychological well-being, and renal health. This interdisciplinary focus complements the department’s ongoing work in occupational and environmental health.
As he begins his journey with SPM, Dr Ng will be involved in teaching, research, and academic service, contributing to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including the MPH, MEpid and DrPH. In his first year, he will be working closely with colleagues to familiarise himself with key departmental activities, including community postings and field-based training, before taking on expanded academic responsibilities in subsequent years.
We are confident that Dr Ng’s expertise and collaborative approach will strengthen the department’s teaching and research portfolio, particularly in advancing analytical capacity and methodological rigour in public health.
We warmly welcome Dr Ng Yit Han to SPM and look forward to his contributions to the department, the university, and the broader public health community.
Future outlook
The addition of expertise in advanced analytics and causal inference positions the department to further integrate data science into public health training and research, enhancing both local relevance and global engagement in addressing complex population health challenges.
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