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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Faculty Of Medicine, University Of Malaya
The Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (commonly known as the UM Medical School, FoM UM, UM Medicine, or Malaya Medicine) is one of the thirteen faculties of the University of Malaya (UM). It was officially established in September 1962 after the establishment of the university's Kuala Lumpur campus. This was the first medical school established in Malaysia.

The faculty is well-known for its medical education and research, especially in the discovery of the Nipah virus (1998–1999 Malaysia Nipah virus outbreak).

The faculty is widely regarded as the top medical school in Malaysia, being placed at No. 145 in the world in the subject of medicine in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2021, making it the highest-ranked medical school in Malaysia and the third-highest in Southeast Asia.

History

The Faculty of Medicine was first established in Singapore as the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States Government Medical School in 1905, which trained physicians from present-day Singapore and Malaysia. It was located within a former women's mental asylum at Sepoy Lines. The start of this medical school was significant in two ways. It trained local people to bring Western medicine to the population, and it was supported by merchants who took advantage of the tax exemptions to give generously to public causes. One notable donor was Tan Jiak Kim, a prominent Straits-born Chinese merchant.[1] Another, Tan Chay Hoon, donated a building to the school in memory of his father, Tan Teck Guan. The Tan Teck Guan Building was built in 1911.

In 1921, the school was renamed the King Edward VII College of Medicine (KECM) after a donation from the Edward VII Memorial Fund. It was founded by Lim Boon Keng. In 1926, the College of Medicine Building was built to house the college in addition to the Tan Teck Guan Building. The dental school was founded shortly after.

During World War II, the college operated during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, but some people were killed. The first casualty was a fourth-year medical student based at Tan Tock Seng Hospital who was fatally wounded during the Battle of Singapore. While his friends were burying him, they were spotted by Japanese soldiers, and eleven were killed on the spot. The dead are commemorated by the SGH War Memorial.

In 1949, the KECM merged with Raffles College to form the Singapore campus of UM. The medical school became the Faculty of Medicine of UM, and students in Malaysia wishing to study medicine would have to go to the campus in Singapore. In 1962, UM split into UM (Kuala Lumpur) and the University of Singapore, with the medical school in Singapore coming under the University of Singapore, while the UM in Kuala Lumpur established the present faculty. The founder dean of the faculty was Tan Sri Emeritus Prof. Dr. Thamboo John Danaraj. On 5 May 2005, T.J. Danaraj Medical Library was named in memory of the dean.

Discovery of Nipah Virus

Silent Mentor

In affiliation with Taiwan's Tzu Chi University, the faculty launched the first silent mentor program outside of Taiwan in 2012. The program serves as a platform for the public to pledge and donate their bodies for medical education and research. The donors are addressed as "silent mentors," as they teach and educate medical students and professionals despite not speaking any words. After the week-long training workshop, the bodies of the "Silent Mentors" will be returned to the family members to be cremated. The program is largely different from the traditional cadaveric teaching in medical schools around the globe, as most cadavers are unidentified bodies. However, in this "Silent Mentor" program, the students are exposed to the life stories of each of the "Silent Mentors," and this is done to allow students to learn medicine with a humanistic approach.

Teaching hospitals

  • University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC)
    • The 1,617-bed UMMC is the first and largest teaching hospital as well as the second largest hospital in Malaysia. It serves as the primary teaching hospital for FoM and is one of the main tertiary hospitals in the Klang Valley, receiving over a million outpatients every year. It also serves as a referral center for hospitals throughout the region.
  • Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang

Academic profile

Year Rank Valuer
2018 301–400 Times Higher Education World University Rankings
2018 151–200 QS World University Rankings
2019 251–300 Times Higher Education World University Rankings
2019 101–150 QS World University Rankings
2020 176–200 Times Higher Education World University Rankings
2020 101–150 QS World University Rankings
2021 176–200 Times Higher Education World University Rankings
2021 145 QS World University Rankings

Publications

Journals

  1. Journal of University of Malaya Medical Centre (JUMMEC)
  2. Biomedical Imaging and Intervention Journal (BIIJ)

Organisations

  1. University of Malaya Medical Society (UM MedSoc)
    • The UM MedSoc has its roots to the Medical Society (Medsoc) that was first formed in 1949 at the University of Malaya in Singapore, headed by Mr. Goon Sek Mun. Subsequently after the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, the present-day Faculty of Medicine was set up in the Kuala Lumpur campus of University of Malaya and a separate Medical Society was set up. It remains as the oldest medical student organisation and society in the medical fraternity in Malaysia. Till this date, the UM MedSoc has frequently collaborated with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine's Medical Society to organise events for its members across Malaysia and Singapore, namely the MUNUS Games and most recently, MUUINUS in 2020, which was an online e-gaming competition held between the two medical schools, with an addition of University of Indonesia.
  2. University of Malaya Students' Union (UMSU) - Faculty of Medicine
  3. University of Malaya Medical Alumni Association

Notable alumni

Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School (1905-1921)

  • Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Razak (1919), the first Malay to be a qualified physician
  • Chen Su Lan(1910), social reformer and anti-opium activist

King Edward VII College of Medicine (1925–49)

Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (1962–present)

Notable academics

Deans of the Faculty

Source:

  1. Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Thamboo John Danaraj (The Founder Dean) - February 1963 ~ March 1975
  2. Professor Datuk Dr. Lau Kam Seng - March 1975 ~ May 1976
  3. Professor Dato' Dr. Khairuddin Yusof - May 1976 ~ July 1977
  4. Professor Datuk Dr. K Somasundaram July 1977 ~ 28 February 1981
  5. Professor Dr. T.A. Sinnathuray 1 March 1981 ~ 13 May 1985
  6. Professor Dato' Dr. Khairuddin Yusof - 13 May 1985 ~ 15 April 1986
  7. Professor Dr. Anuar Zaini Mohd. Zain - 16 April 1986 ~ 31 March 1990
  8. Professor Dr. Jason Teoh Soon Teong - 1 April 1990 ~ 31 March 1992
  9. Professor Dato' Dr. Anuar Zaini Mohd Zain - 1 April 1992 ~ 31 March 2000
  10. Tan Sri Professor Dr. Mohd Amin Jalaludin - 1 April 2000 ~ 31 July 2006
  11. Professor Dato' Dr. Ikram Shah Ismail - 1 August 2006 ~ 1 July 2011
  12. Professor Dato' Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman - 1 July 2011 ~ 2 December 2020
  13. Professor Dr. April Camilla Roslani - 3 December 2020 ~ Present

Achievements

  • The Merdeka Award: Nipah Virus Encephalitis Investigation Team from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
  • In 2020, Subashan Vadibeler, a final year (Stage 3.3) medical student from the Faculty of Medicine, was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. He was the 7th Malaysian to receive this prestigious scholarship. He was also the first student from a Malaysian university to receive this honour (the previous 6 Malaysians who at the time were awarded the scholarship were studying in universities overseas).

See also