Universiti Malaya’s infectious diseases specialist and the current Dean of Faculty of Medicine, Dato' Professor Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, marks history as the first person from Asia being appointed as the International AIDS Society (IAS) President. She is taking on the leadership role from year 2020 to 2022.
Founded in 1988, IAS is the world’s largest association of HIV professionals, with over 12,000 members from more than 170 countries working together to advocate and drive urgent action in reducing the impact of HIV.
Graduated from Monash University in 1987 and trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Monash Medical Centre and Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, Dato’ Adeeba has actively played a key role in tackling various issues and challenges in HIV/AIDS through her remarkable clinical and academic leadership. On top of that, she is currently the Chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and Vice-President of the Malaysian AIDS Council, the peak HIV NGO in the country. She has established the Centre of Excellence for Research on AIDS (CERiA) that conducts multi-disciplinary research on HIV ranging from clinical to public health and policy research.
Her achievements have been recognised through several national and international awards including the Tun Mahathir Science and the Merdeka Awards for her role as a member of the University Malaya’s Nipah Investigative Team. She is the first recipient of the Advance Australia Global Award in the category of Alumni in 2012 and in April 2015 she was honoured with a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from her alma mater, Monash University. She also has the distinct honour of having been featured in both The Lancet and Science publications in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
