Retirement Party for UMBI Director, Prof Datuk Dr A Rahman A Jamal

On 21st December 2016, UMBI hosted a retirement party for its Director, Prof Datuk Dr A Rahman A Jamal. Prof Datuk Rahman started his civil service as a house officer at Hospital Kuala Lumpur in June 1985. He later served as a medical officer and clinical specialist in Hospital Kuala Lumpur before joining Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as a medical lecturer in November 1991. Realizing the importance of medical research and the potential of personalized medicine for healthcare in the future, Prof Datuk Rahman obtained his PhD from University College London in 1995. He was one of the outstanding UKM academicians who received his professorship very early in his career in the year 2000.

Prof Datuk Rahman was later appointed as the founding director for UMBI in July 2003. Under his leadership, UMBI has risen from a small research laboratory in 2003 with a seed funding of only RM25,000.00, to become a Higher Education Centre of Excellence (HiCOE) and key driver of national projects such as the Malaysian Cohort, the Malaysian Cancer Epigenome project and also part of the research team of the ANGKASAWAN program. In 2013, UMBI moved to its current premise which is a 10-storey building with assets of more than RM 40 million; and in 2015, it amassed research grants totalling more than RM 5 million.

UMBI has certainly advanced a long way since 2003 under the leadership of Prof Datuk Rahman. His vision for UMBI to be a leading institute in molecular medicine and for it to achieve global recognition and excellence will always be cherished — every UMBIan will strive their best to make this vision a reality.

Thank you, Prof Datuk Rahman.