Speakers
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sareena Hanim Hamzah
Dr. Sareena Hanim Hamzah completed a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Then she studied at University of Glasgow, Scotland where she obtained her Master of Medical Sciences in Human Nutrition and PhD in Sports Nutrition. Dr. Sareena works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Science, Universiti Malaya and currently she serves in an administrative role as Deputy Dean of Higher Degree. Dr. Sareena teaches and researches within the area of Sports Nutrition and Biochemistry of Exercise. Her primary interest concerns the association of nutrition with health, fitness and exercise performance. Dr. Sareena’s research is focused in the influence macronutrient on exercise energy metabolism and sports performance as well as on body weight management. Her research interest also includes the effects of natural products on antioxidant activity and oxidative stress.
Prof. Dr. J. Hans de Ridder
Professor Dr. J. Hans de Ridder is a full professor and director of the School of Human Movement Sciences at the North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He is currently a C1 rated researcher of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. He was the receiver in 2002 of the Stals Award for Human Movement Sciences from the South African Academy for Science and Art for his exceptional contribution to kinanthropometry. In 2011 he was the receiver of the Albert Strating Award for Preventative Medicine, also from the South African Academy for Science and Art. At the age of 39 years, he was one of the youngest recipients of the Stals award and also the first in the history of the School of HMS at the North-West University in South Africa. In 2010 he reached a milestone in his research career, when his 50th post graduate student (M’s and Ph.D.’s) graduated. Currently a total of 66 students have completed their masters or doctoral studies under his guidance. He was the author or co-author of a total of 84 research articles published in subsidised academic journals. He is the Senior Vice-President, ISAK; Member of the Board of Directors of the GCH Foundation; President, GoFPEP 2014 and the Founder Secretary-General and current President of the BRICS Council of Exercise and Sport Science. He was also the president of the BRICSCESS 2019 congress in Cape Town. He is married to Elsie, a math teacher, and they have four children Elé, De Wet, Maret and Melinda.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Raja Mohammed Firhad Raja Azidin
Associate Professor Dr. Raja Mohammed Firhad Raja Azidin is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). He completed his Ph.D. at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), United Kingdom focusing on developing biomechanical and neuromuscular injury risk assessment. He also has a special interest in strength and conditioning for high-performance athletic success. He currently served as Head of Strength and Conditioning for Selangor Football Club, competing in Malaysia Professional Super League. He oversees the physical conditioning department of the club with a particular focus on players’ football-specific physical development and monitoring training load, together with initiating applied research in football-related areas. He also serves as the Malaysian Association of Sports Medicine (MASM) executive committee.
Dr. Harris Kamal Kamaruddin
Dr. Harris Kamal Kamaruddin is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Perlis’ Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation. He holds a Bachelor of Sports Science degree from UiTM, a Master of Human Movement degree from the University of Western Australia, and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Sports science, health and fitness, and sports nutrition are among his research interests. He has published and presented his research at numerous national and international conferences, and he was named best oral presenter at ICSES 2017, Bangkok, Thailand, and the MoHE Conference 2018, Johor Bharu, Malaysia. Throughout his academic career, he has garnered numerous accolades for his teaching, research, and leadership responsibilities. Dr. Harris is an active member of the National Coaching Academy (AKK) and provides regular sports and nutritional performance consultancy to private and government agencies such as the National and State Sports Councils. He enjoys his academic work as well as his active physical life.
Emeritus Prof. Dato’ Wan Zurinah Wan Ngah
Emeritus Professor Dato’ Wan Zurinah Wan Ngah (BSc Hons. Univ of Liverpool PhD (Victoria Univ of Wellington), SAP, DIMP). Emeritus Professor Wan Zurinah Wan Ngah was awarded Professor Emeritus by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2017 after serving UKM for 39 years. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry in 1977 from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom and her PhD (Biochemistry) 1982 from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. While in service at the Faculty of Medicine, she held various administrative posts including Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs (2000-2003) and Head of Department (1992-1999), (2005-2007), Deputy Director of Research at UKM Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) (2008-2016), She led the faculty during a major curriculum review in the year 2000 which is the format of the present curriculum. She was a UKM senate member and was the first woman in UKM to represent the Senate as a member of the University’s Board of Directors. She was committee member and wrote the Governance document in the preparation of documents for self-accreditation of the University. She was also internal auditor to the Vice Chancellor for MyRA and self-accreditation. She was a member of MQA for the accreditation of Medical programmes. She was awarded the excellent service award six times and was the first faculty member to receive the Faculty Research Leader Award in 2005. She was panel member for evaluation of grants at the Ministry of Education (FRGS, TRGS, LRGS), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (IRPA, Sciencefund) and Academy of Science. She was member of the UKM Ethics and Research for 16 years. She is a trainer in developing research proposals to UiTM, USIM, UniMAP and UMS. She was adjunct professor for Universiti Sabah Malaysia (2016-2018). She was editor for journals such as Scientific Reports and was founding editor for Malaysian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1990. She has great passion for research and was awarded more than RM13 million in grants and has published over 150 international papers and presented over 100 international and national conferences. Her research interests include ageing, oxidative stress and inflammation associated degenerative diseases including modulators such as palm tocotrienols. She has supervised 32 PhD students and 30 MSc students. Currently, she is serving as Special Contract Professor in Shiga University Medical Science, Japan.
Prof. Masamitsu Ito
Dr. Masamitsu Ito is a professor at Nippon Sport Science University (NSSU) as well as the director of the NSSU Center for coaching excellence and the NSSU Coach Developer academy. He holds a PhD in sports science and has worked as a member of the technical staff of the Japan Men’s and Women’s Volleyball National Teams. He now specializes in coach development and serves as a mentor to many coaches. He works as the head of the Coaches Subcommittee of the Japan Paralympic Committee’s High Performance Headquarters. He is also responsible for the design of the Japan Sport Association’s coach certification programs and coach developer training, as well as a program to train future female national team coaches in Japan.
Dr. Chin Kai Ling
Dr. Chin Kai Ling is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). She completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Molecular Medicine at Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia (INFORMM, USM). She is actively involved in undergraduate teaching and postgraduate research. She has presented and authored a significant number of scientific papers that are testimony to her research interests in infectious diseases, omics, gene polymorphism, biomarker discovery and validation, development of diagnostic kits, and the regulatory role of microRNAs, among others. After three years working at UMS, she received the “Young Researcher Award 2019” from the University in 2020 in recognition of her accomplishments in research and publications.
Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohamad Shariff Bin A Hamid
Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohamad Shariff Bin A Hamid, is a Consultant Sports Medicine Specialist under the Sports Medicine Department, University Malaya Medical Centre and an academician at the Sports Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya. Dr Shariff completed his undergraduate MBBS training at the University of Adelaide in 1996. He later obtained the Master Sports Medicine in 2004 and PhD in 2014.
Dr Shariff is also a visiting consultant at the National Sports Medicine Centre. Currently, he is a member of the Malaysia Association of Sports Medicine and the Malaysian Society of Exercise is Medicine. His research interests include sports injury prevention and management and exercise prescription for health.
Professor Jeremiah Peiffer
Professor Jeremiah Peiffer completed his Doctor of Philosophy investigating the impact of post-exercise cold water immersion on exercise performance in 2018 from Edith Cowan University. He has subsequently had roles as a Post-Doctoral Researcher within the Exercise Medicine Research Institute at Edith Cowan University and as a researcher and Department Lead of Exercise Science at Murdoch University. Jeremiah is currently the Dean of Graduate Research at Murdoch University. With a broad research interest, he has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, secured over $1.0 million in research funding, established the Centre for Healthy Ageing at Murdoch University, and successfully mentored 18 doctoral candidates to complete their degrees. His current research focuses on the delivery of exercise to enable individuals to age healthy by retaining their physical and cognitive faculties.
Professor Chris Abbiss
Professor Chris Abbiss completed his doctoral studies in hyperthermia and exercise physiology at Edith Cowan University in 2008. He has since held several roles, including a post-doc in High Performance Cycling in collaboration between CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Sport, an Associate Lecturer of Physiology at Deakin University, and a Lecturer and Associate Dean of Research at Edith Cowan University. He is currently a Professor in the School of Medical and Health Science; Dean of Graduate Research and member of the executive of the Australian Council for Graduate Research.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Malehah Mohd Noh
Assoc. Prof. Dr Malehah Mohd Noh is the current Head of Department for Medical Department, Hospital University Malaysia Sabah (HUMS). She obtained her medical degree in International Medical University in 2002 and pursued Master of Internal Medicine in University Malaya 2007.Her journey in Rheumatology begins in 2005, as a Medical Officer in charge of Rheumatology Unit in Queen Elizabeth Hospital which is the main hospital serving rheumatology services in the whole of Sabah. After completion of her fellowship training under the Malaysian Rheumatology Training in March 2018, her team expanded the services for rheumatology coverage includes other districts hospital all over Sabah through visiting and teleconference consultations. She is currently running Rheumatology Services in the university hospital, all government hospitals in Sabah and some private hospitals as well. She has published many articles in medical journals and presented numerous abstracts in National and International Conferences. Dr Malehah is actively involved in clinical trials research. She loves to communicate with her patients and frequently gives public forum and talks in the field of Rheumatology. Rheumatology subspecialty covers a generous number of diseases affecting a person mobility and exercises prescriptions. These includes Gout, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis with Arthritis, Myositis, Spondyloarthropathy and Fibromyalgia.
Dr. Sadia Choudhury Shimmi
Dr. Sadia Choudhury Shimmi is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). She joined UMS in the year 2014. She completed his MBBS from Chittagong Medical College under Chittagong University, Bangladesh, and her Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) in Physiology at Sir Salimullah Medical College under Dhaka University, Bangladesh. She completed a PG Diploma in Medical Education from the University of South Wales, UK. She is actively involved in undergraduate teaching and postgraduate supervision. For her immense support for open science, she has volunteered to be a managing editor in the Borneo Journal of Medical Sciences (BJMS) to serve the purpose of publishing authentic scientific papers. She has been peer reviewing at Plos One, SAGE Medicine, Cureus, International Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dubai Medical Journal, BJMS, etc. She has authored and presented numerous scientific papers that show her research interests in Physiology, complementary and alternative medicine, and medical education. In her nine years of tenure in the Faculty, she received the Excellent Service Award twice, various awards at PEREKA for Innovation, research, and publication Awards, etc.
Dr. M Tanveer Hossain Parash
Dr. M Tanveer Hossain Parash is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He joined UMS in the year 2014. He completed his MBBS from Chittagong Medical College under Chittagong University, Bangladesh, and his Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) in Anatomy at Sir Salimullah Medical College under Dhaka University, Bangladesh. He completed a certification course on Biostatistics from the University of California San Diego Extension. He is actively involved in undergraduate teaching and postgraduate supervision. For his immense support for the open science he has volunteered ot be an academic editor of Plos One and to serve the purpose of publishing authentic scientific papers he has been peer reviewing at Plos One, SAGE Medicine, Cureus, Malaysian Journal of Health and Medical Science, BJMS, etc. He has authored and presented numerous scientific papers that testify to his research interests in anatomy, anthropometry, and medical statistics. In his nine years of tenures in the Faculty he received Excellent Service Award twice, various awards at PEREKA for Innovation, and Best Lecturer Award, Best Mentor Award, Most Favourite lecturer Award etc. for his contribution as academician.
Dr. Rahmawati Pare
Dr. Rahmawati Pare holds the position of Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and her PhD (Translational Cancer) from Western Sydney University, Australia. Her research interests include cancer biomarker, cellular senescence, cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, molecular epidemiology, and Infectious disease. She currently takes an active role in undergraduate teaching, engages in research with postgraduate students and academic administrative works.
Dr. Rizal Mohd Razman
Rizal was part of the very first batch of Sport Science students that graduated from University of Malaya in 1999. He went on to pursue an MSc (Human Movement) at the University of Western Australia, and later started to teach in UM in 2001. He completed his PhD from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya in 2012; investigating the critical parameters of the ten-pin bowling delivery. Rizal’s primary focus is in on technical performance enhancement of various sport skills. More recent research includes studying the reliability of the taekwondo scoring system, designing an apparatus to help the visually impaired exercise and; looking at the effects of leg length discrepancies on gait. He has also done work related in anthropometry and talent identification. Moreover, Rizal has a particularly keen interest in investigating and finding solutions for applied problems in an array of different fields.