KUALA LUMPUR, 25 August 2023 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Professor in Neurosciences, Professor Dato’ Dr. Hj Jafri Malin Dato’ Hj Abdullah, from the USM School of Medical Sciences has been chosen as the recipient of the 5th M Balasegaram Trainer Award, in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee Anniversary, Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) held here recently.

Jafri Malin is attached to the Department of Neurosciences, USM School of Medical Sciences/Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. He is also the Chairman of the Brain Behaviour Research Cluster at USM.

To date, he has trained 121 Malaysian neurosurgeons, whose performances have been ranked among the top in the world, on par with surgeons from South Korea and even outranking those from USA, Canada and Japan.

This year, two recipients were chosen for the award, Jafri Malin and Dr. Clarence Lei (urology). The award was presented to him at the ceremony by the Master, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia (AMM), Professor Dr. Rosmawati Mohamed. Also present at the ceremony were fellow recipient Clarence Lei, and President of the College of Surgeons of Malaysia, Dr. Siow Sze Li.

The recipients follow a long line of renowned medical practitioners/academics to have been honoured for their contributions in their respective fields. Previous recipients were Professor Dato’ Dr. Kandasami (2017), Dato’ Dr. Prabir Ranjan Sengupta (2018), Professor Emerita Freda Meah (2019), Dato’ Dr. Ragupathy Naidu, and Dato’ Dr. K. Somasundaram (2021).

The award is given to a deserving recipient or recipients in honour of the late Dato’ Dr. M Balasegaram, one of Malaysia’s most distinguished doctors. He was the first Asian to be honoured by the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s Hunterian Professorship award (1969) and the first Asian to be awarded the coveted Jacksonian prize, the highest prize in surgery (1971).

He had also won honours from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh – respectively the Abraham Colles Lecture and the Chienne Memorial Lecture.

He was the Chief of Surgery at Hospital Kuala Lumpur in the 1960s – 1970s. He had groomed many top surgeons in the country, and is best noted for his pioneering work in liver surgery. He will be best remembered as a great teacher, a role model and doctor who gave himself to the profession and the country.

The M Balasegaram Trainer Award may be presented to an individual from any nationality, and in any surgical field including research. At the same time, the individual must have made significant contributions to the training and education of surgeons in Malaysia. A maximum of two awards may be given per year.

The ceremony was organised by the College of Surgeons, AMM. The Academy of Medicine of Malaysia is a professional and educational society for doctors in Malaysia. Founded in 1966, the Academy is based in Kuala Lumpur and includes all medical specialities.

The programme was organised by AMM in partnership with the Malaysian Association of Paediatric Surgery, Malaysian Society of Hepato-Pancraeto-Biliary Surgeons, and Malaysian Upper Gastrointestinal Surgical Society.

Text: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin