Our Founder of the Centre
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The first Malaysian doctor to gain a PhD in Health Informatics, Prof Awg Bulgiba is also the first public health physician in Malaysia to hold these 4 fellowships simultaneously (Fellow of Faculty of Public Health UK, Fellow of Public Health Medicine Malaysia, Fellow of Academy of Medicine Malaysia, Fellow of Academy of Science).
Prof Awg Bulgiba is currently President of the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health-KL (APACPH-KL), a Malaysian NGO dedicated to public health, and Council member for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. He is also currently the Project Director for the National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation 2021-2030 (NPSTI 2021-2030), which is setting the direction for STI in Malaysia up until 2030. He was formerly Vice-President of the College of Public Health, Malaysia, Chair of the Council of DVCs (Academic and International) and Chair of the Council of DVCs (Research and Innovation).
He was formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) for the University of Malaya (UM) and oversaw a period of great change in the portfolio. The Academic and International portfolio went through a period of restructuring and transformation, greatly improving UM’s academic reputation and internationalisation which contributed to an extraordinary rise in UM’s QS world rank from 151 in 2014/15 to 87 in 2018/19.
Before being appointed DVC (Academic & International), Prof Awg Bulgiba was DVC (Research & Innovation) in the same university. During this period, he oversaw a period of extraordinary research growth which firmly established UM as the top Research University in Malaysia. He continues to sit on the editorial boards of the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health (APJPH) and Malaysian Orthopaedic Journal (MOJ) and several national and international Inter-Academy Panel (IAP) committees. Prof Awg Bulgiba has been an external examiner and assessor for several universities, was the founding Head of the Julius Centre UM (2008-2012), Chair for the University of Malaya Wellness Programme (2007-2009) and the Malaysian coordinator for the Asia-Europe Clinical Epidemiology & Evidence-Based Medicine Programme (2007-2010). In 2008, Prof Awg Bulgiba was the Organising Chair for the 40th Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) Conference (7-9 Nov 2008). In 2012 he was the Organising Chair for the 1st Asia Pacific Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine (APCEEBM) Conference (6-8 July 2012) and in 2015 he was the Organising Chair for the 3rd Asian Population Association Conference (27-30 July 2015).
Prof Awg Bulgiba has published more than 100 Web of Science-indexed journal articles and continues to be engaged actively in research. He was also the lead author for a book called “Strengthening Academic Career Pathways and Leadership Development”, a book used for the University Transformation Programme in Malaysia.
In 2010, in recognition of his contributions to public health, Prof Awg Bulgiba was made a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, Royal College of Physicians, UK (FFPH by distinction), one of only a handful of fellows from South-East Asia. He was made a Fellow of Public Health Medicine Malaysia (FPHMM) by the Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association in 2012. In 2013, Prof Awg Bulgiba was made Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (FAMM) and Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (FASc) becoming the first public health physician in Malaysia to simultaneously hold these four fellowships (FFPH, FPHMM, FAMM, FASc).
He was awarded the Ma’al Hijrah Award for Outstanding Achievements in Research and Development in 2013 and the Johan Bintang Kenyalang in 2014, both by the Sarawak State Government. He was awarded the Johan Mahkota Wilayah by the Federal Territory Government in 2015, Panglima Gemilang Bintang Kenyalang (which carries the title Datuk) by the Sarawak State Government in 2017 and Dato’ Paduka Mahkota Perak (which carries the title Dato’) by the Perak State Government in 2017.
In 2018, in recognition of his leadership contributions, he was awarded the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) Excellence in Leadership Medallion, joining a select list of distinguished awardees which include US Senator Edward Kennedy (1990), US Lt Governor Benjamin Cayetano (1991) and Thailand House of Representatives Speaker Marut Bunang (1993).
Datuk Professor Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine
Faculty of Medicine
Universiti Malaya
