Queen's University and University of Malaya (UM) today announced the establishment of the Centre for Population Health in Malaysia.
This is the first Centre of its kind in improving the health of Malaysians.
Examining the communities in terms of their diet and disease, conducting research into the complex relationships between diet, living conditions, environment and health, providing assistance for the national cancer registry and other related research on population health will be among the core functions of the Centre.
The Centre allows Malaysia to have a modern medical database of its people and provides population health solutions in the future. In today's challenging world, research and databases are critical in anticipating future health problems.
Queen's University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Gregson said: "Queen's is honoured to partner the University of Malaya in this major Centre. It is an international partnership that brings together complementary skills from Queen's UK National Centre of Excellence in Public Health and builds on Queen's links with the US National Cancer Institute.
"This initiative will see the development of a world-class Research Centre of Population Health in the University of Malaya. It will also capitalise upon Queen's recognised expertise and experience in Public Health."
Professor Datuk Dr. Ghauth Jasmon, Vice-Chancellor, UM, said, "This Centre is the future of Malaysian population health; we will improve Malaysian health through our research". He also emphasized that the international collaboration with Queen's allowed UM to have links with the UK Cancer Research Network and the United States National Cancer Institute.
Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg Empey, who was also present as part of a four day visit to Malaysia and Singapore said: "This is an excellent example of an international partnership which will bring significant health benefits to millions of people. I am particularly pleased to be here today to witness Northern Ireland's expertise being shared on the global stage. It underlines the contribution of our universities' world-class research to Northern Ireland and people around the world."
Queen's and UM's international collaboration allows Malaysia to develop and share the experience of Queen's in establishing and operating a successful medical registry.
Also attending the announcement of the Centre was YB. Datuk Ir. Hj. Idris Haron, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Malaysia.