KUALA LUMPUR: Infectious disease specialist, Professor Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, received the 2023 National Academic Figure award today.
The recognition was presented by the Higher Education Ministry at the 15th National Academic Awards (AAN) earlier, following her extensive achievements in the medical field.
She also received a cash prize of RM200,000, a trophy and a certificate.
In a separate statement, the ministry said Dr Adeeba has also contributed to establishing various disease units and centres, which turned into reference centres in the country.
"She is not only a medical expert, but also a pioneer in the control of infectious disease programmes in Malaysia.
"She was also responsible for the establishment of the Infectious Disease Unit at the University of Malaya Medical Centre in 1996, as well as the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at the University of Malaya in 2008.
"Thanks to her leadership and contributions, CERiA has become one of the leading HIV and AIDS reference centres in the country," the statement read.
At the international level, Dr Adeeba is also a member of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Science Council and the first Malaysian appointed as the Commissioner of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
Meanwhile, five other academicians were also recognised for their respective contributions.
They were Associate Professor Dr Tan Jun Jie from the University of Science Malaysia (USM) who received the Journal Paper Publication Award in the Science category and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's Professor Dr Shamsul Bahri Abdul Razak who received the Book Publication Award; the University of Technology Malaysia's (UMT) Associate Professor Dr Adibah Abdul Latif who received the Award for Teaching in the Applied Literature and Applied Social Sciences category; UMT's Dr Norliza Mohd Isa for the Teaching in the Applied Science category; and UMT's Dr Mariani Abdul Hamid for Innovation and Commercialisation of Products.
The recipients of these awards received a cash prize of RM50,000 along with a trophy and certificates respectively.