Scientific Advisory Committee | Cancer Research Malaysia

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Our Organisation

We conduct impactful research and lead the fight in controlling cancer

CRMY funds research on a competitive basis by employing independent expert peer reviews of our research programs every 3 – 5 years.

This system is regarded as an international benchmark of excellence, and provides a guarantee on the quality of our research. In peer reviews, proposals for funding are considered and assessed for scientific quality by a number of senior academics, or "peers", from Malaysia and overseas, who work within relevant areas of research, which provides the basis of the funding decision.

Once decided, our Scientific Advisory Board reviews the scientific, and provides recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The SAC also provides advice to the Board and the Chief Executive on the scope and focus of cancer research areas, with the most appropriate areas for research investment.

PROFESSOR ADRIAN HARRIS

Adrian L Harris is the Cancer Research UK Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Oxford, and directs the Cancer Research UK Molecular Oncology Laboratories at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM). He is a Consultant Medical Oncologist, a Professorial Fellow of St Hugh’s College Oxford, the Chairman of the CRUK Oxford Cancer Centre, and joint lead of the Cancer theme of the Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre in Oxford. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Cancer and on the Editorial Board of Cancer Cell, being a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Health Research and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

He is a ‘Highly Cited Researcher 2014’ ranking among the top 1% most cited for their subject field and year of publication—between 2002 and 2012 and included in Thomson Reuters’ ‘2014 World’s most Influential Scientific Minds.’ He has published over 1000 papers with over 105,000 citations to them, and has been receiving a Platinum Merit Award from the National Health Service for the last 15 years, given to the 200 most outstanding consultants in any speciality.

Prof. Harris trained in Medicine and Biochemistry at Liverpool University, obtained a DPhil at Oxford University, and trained at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Medical Oncology. He was appointed Professor of Clinical Oncology at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1982. He has been the Professor of Medical Oncology at Oxford University since 1988. He directs the Molecular Oncology Laboratories at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, and has been managing breast cancer patients for over 30 years.

His major laboratory interests involve the role of hypoxia in breast tumour biology and tumour angiogenesis, the metabolic response to hypoxia, microRNAs induced by hypoxia and hypoxia-induced cell death. He has conducted many predictive and prognostic studies and early exploratory phase trials in new drug development and molecular pathology to translate laboratory findings to clinical relevance and development of new agents.

In the Department of Oncology, over 20 Phase I and II trials have been run, and current trials include new drugs blocking angiogenesis, metabolism inhibitors, DNA repair, immunotherapy, inhibitors of signal transduction and their interactions with radiotherapy. Specific emphasis is on classification of tumours by functional imaging, molecular profiles, and pharmacodynamic endpoints to targeted therapies.

PROFESSOR PAUL PHAROAH

Professor Paul Pharoah is a Research Scientist in the Department of Computational Biomedicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. He qualified in medicine from the University of Oxford and subsequently trained in public health medicine before joining the CRC Human Cancer Genetics group at the University of Cambridge and subsequently completing a Cancer Research UK Senior Clinical Research Fellowship. He was appointed to a personal Chair at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge in 2012.

As a medical doctor with training in public health, Professor Pharoah’s research group has led in studies to uncover the genetic basis of ovarian cancer. He is a leading researcher in the international Ovarian Cancer Genetic study. Prof Pharoah’s main research interests are common genetic variation and breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility; and the role of germline genotype in determining the clinical and molecular pathological characteristics of breast and ovarian cancer. He has published over 600 papers reporting original research, as well as numerous book chapters and review articles.

PROFESSOR PATRICK TAN

Dr. Patrick Tan is a Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School and Deputy Executive Director of the Biomedical Research Council (Agency for Science, Technology, and Research). He directs PRISM, the SingHealth DukeNUS Institute of Precision Medicine, and was the Program Director of POLARIS, which established the first CAP-certified facilities for next-generation sequencing and the first clinically implemented NGS panel in South East Asia.

He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC), a national body that provides advice to the Singapore government on ethical issues related to biomedical research, a Board Member of the International Gastric Cancer Association, and a Member of the AACR International Affairs Committee. He co-leads the biliary tract cancer project of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), and is co-chair of the Singapore National Precision Medicine Program Steering Committee.

He received his B.A. (summa cum laude) from Harvard University and MD PhD degree from Stanford University, where he received the Charles Yanofsky prize for Most Outstanding Graduate Thesis in Physics, Biology or Chemistry. Other awards include the President’s Scholarship, Loke Cheng Kim scholarship, Young Scientist Award (A-STAR), Singapore Youth Award (twice), SingHealth Investigator Excellence Award, Chen New Investigator Award (Human Genome Organization), President’s Science Award, and the Japanese Cancer Association International Award.

Professor Jeff Dunn

Professor Jeff Dunn is the Research Leader of Social and Behavioural Science within Cancer Council Queensland’s Cancer Research Centre as well as Professor and Chair of Transformative Social Science, a prestigious appointment at the University of Southern Queensland.

As the CEO of CCQ for more than 15 years and as a Board member of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), Jeff has considerable expertise in the behavioural and social scientific aspects of cancer control and an impressive track record in research leadership across the continuum of prevention, early detection, supportive care and quality of life.

Mr Wong Lup Hang

Mr Wong Lup Hang acts as a patient advocate and puts a human face on vital cancer research that we do here. He brings a much needed and different perspective to the committee to make sure that the research we conduct remains patient oriented.

Mr Wong has vast experience in the commercial world having worked and collaborated with diverse nationalities and cultures throughout his career. These experiences spanned global multinationals, mid-sized companies to small but nimble and entrepreneurial family-owned operations.

Mr Wong is also an independent non-executive director on the board of Khind Holdings Berhad and is a board trustee in My Starfish Foundation.

Datuk Professor Dr Looi Lai-Meng

Academician Datuk Professor Dr Lai-Meng Looi is Malaysia’s inaugural National Distinguished Professor, positioned at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur. She holds a concurrent appointment as senior consultant histopathologist at the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). Professor Looi studied medicine as a Malaysian Federal Scholar at the University of Singapore (1970-1975), where she was a medalist in Pathology and Social Medicine, and won the King Edward VII Hall awards for literary works, art forms and poetry.

She trained in Surgical Pathology at UM, Royal Postgraduate Medical School (UK) and Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, Boston, (USA) and defended her research doctorate (on amyloidosis) at UM. She assumed the Chair of Pathology, UM at the age of 36 years and during her long academic career at UM has served as Department Head, Deputy Dean (Postgraduate), Chair of the Medical Centre Research Committee, representative to the Malaysian Medical Council Chair and Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee of UMMC. She continues to chair the Medical Research Ethics Committee/ Institutional Review Board and UM’s Committee for External Academic Evaluators (Science). She has more than 190 peer-reviewed publications on amyloidosis, nephropathology and oncopathology, is devoted to promoting a research and ethical culture among researchers, has delivered >400 guest lectures and regularly conducts scientific writing workshops nationally and internationally.

Professor Looi is a Foundation Fellow and Academician of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and has served as Chief Censor and Scribe of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian Journal of Pathology, has served on the International Editorial Advisory Boards of Pathology, Journal of Pathology, Human Pathology and Histopathology, is Founding Vice-President of the Association of Malaysian Medical Journal Editors (AMMJE), and chairs the Ethics and Editorial Policies Committee of Asia-Pacific Association of Medical Editors (APAME). A Fellow of both Royal Colleges of Pathologists, UK (RCPath) and Australasia (RCPA), she served as Examiner and Advisor to both.

She is the Founding President of the College of Pathologists, Academy of Medicine Malaysia, and was instrumental in developing pathology laboratory accreditation for Malaysia, the Pathology Act and several National guidelines on medical laboratory practices. In 2010 she was honoured RCPA Distinguished Fellow and Inaugural National Distinguished Professor (Profesor Ulung Negara). She co-chaired the InterAcademy Medical Panel (now the InterAcademy Partnership for Health) for two elected terms (2010-2016) and current represents ASM in its Executive Committee. She was President of the World Association of Societies of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (WASPaLM) from 2013-2016, and continues to Chair its Education Committee which focusses on capacity-building in countries-in-need.

In 2015, she was awarded the Gold-Headed Cane, the highest honour from WASPaLM, for outstanding leadership. For her contributions to education and medical science, the King of Malaysia conferred her the Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN) with the title “Datuk” in 2011. A recipient of the National Science Award and ASEAN Outstanding Scientist and Technologist Award, she was recently (August 2016) conferred the Merdeka Award 2016 (Health, Science and Technology category) for “outstanding contribution in pioneering research in amyloidosis, renal pathology and cancer pathology and for significant contributions and role in promoting the field of pathology in Malaysia and the region.”

Professor Christian Ottensmeier

Christian joined the University of Liverpool and the Head and Neck Centre as Professor of Immuno-Oncology in August 2020. He was also appointed as Director of Clinical Research at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in 2020. Christian’s core interest is the understanding and improvement of immune responses in patients; his aim is to develop immunotherapies against solid cancers.

He has served on a number of national and international peer review committees as well as on advisory boards and DSMBs for industry led studies. He is the early phase subspecialty lead on the CRN North West Coast Region, he is a member of EATI, the Cancer Vaccines Expert Working Group, the Scientific Strategy Committee for Breast Cancer Now and the Scientific Advisory Board for Cancer Research Malaysia. He is also a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Immunotherapy of Cancer and the BSI Journal “Immunotherapy Advances”.

Professor Aik Choon Tan

Professor Aik Choon Tan is the Senior Director of Data Science, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, USA.

His lab conducts translational bioinformatics and cancer systems biology research to understand and overcome treatment resistance in cancer through biomarker discovery, predicting drug combinations, and co-targeting tumor microenvironment. His research projects act as a “connector” to provide seamless integration of computational and statistical methods in experimental and clinical research.

Professor Jon Emery

Professor Jon Emery is the Herman Professor of Primary Care Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne, and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Primary Care Research and Education Lead. He is also Director of the Cancer Australia Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group (PC4), and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge.

He studied medicine at Cambridge and Oxford and obtained his DPhil at Oxford on computer decision support to assess cancer risk in general practice. His research program applies principles of implementation science and focuses on the role of primary care across the cancer continuum including prevention, early diagnosis and survivorship, aiming to improve the integration of health services. He leads a parallel program of cancer research between Melbourne and Cambridge on cancer screening, risk assessment and early diagnosis. He has published over 240 papers and has been a Chief Investigator on research grants and awards totaling over $35 million and an additional GBP16 million. He sits on several national and international advisory committees related to cancer early detection and survivorship, and cancer research.