Professor Vivian Lin joined SEACO in August 2019. She is also currently an Executive Associate Dean and Professor in Public Health Practice at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, which she joined in March 2019. In her 30 years of prior experience in the public health sector, Prof Lin has held a significant number of decision-making positions in policy and program development, health services planning, research & teaching, and senior administration in complex organisations. She was Chair of Public Health at the La Trobe University in Melbourne (2000-2013) and Director of Health System at the World Health Organisation (WHO), Western Pacific Regional Office (2013-2018), among others.
Professor Brett Hutchins is the Professor of Media and Communications and Deputy Dean Research in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University. Professor Brett Hutchins also is a former Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow. His previous leadership positions at Monash include Head of the School of Media, Film & Journalism and Head of the Communications & Media Studies program. His many international publications include the books Sport Beyond Television and Environmental Conflict and the Media, and he sits on the Editorial Boards of leading journals such as Communication & Sport and Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature & Culture. He is the recipient of funding for multiple ARC Discovery projects and has successfully supervised a range of PhD and Masters-by-Research projects. He also hosts the Media Sport Podcast Series and is an active media commentator.
Dr Feisul Idzwan Mustapha joined the SEACO Scientific Advisory Group in 2013. He graduated with an MBBS degree from the Newcastle University, United Kingdom in 1997 and subsequently obtained an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the National University of Malaysia (UKM) in 2006. He joined the Disease Control Division (Non-Communicable Diseases Sector) at the Ministry of Health in Putrajaya as a Public Health Specialist in 2006, where he is currently engaged in the practice of public health in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCD), with special focus on diabetes and obesity. In 2008, he was inducted as a member of the Academy of Medicine, Malaysia. He led the development of the “National Strategic Plan for Non-Communicable Diseases” (NSP-NCD), which was launched in December 2010. NSP-NCD now provides the framework for Malaysia’s response to the increasing burden of NCD in the country. He was also Chair of the Technical Working Group for NCD risk factors in the 2011 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS). He is currently involved in several studies relating to diabetes and obesity in Malaysia, providing expertise in epidemiology and biostatistics.
Professor James Whisstock is the Deputy Dean Research in the Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University. Professor James Whisstock took up the role in January 2022. In addition Professor James Whisstock is the Scientific Head of the Australian EMBL partnership (2017-present). He currently holds an ARC Laureate Fellowship together with an Honorary NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship. His previous appointments include an ARC Federation Fellowship. Professor James Whisstock was awarded the 2006 Science Ministers prize, the 2008 Health ministers prize and the 2010 Gottschalk medal.
Professor James Whisstock's current research directions include understanding the structure and function of pore forming proteins in immunity and Drosophila development (e.g. Rosado et al., Science 2007. Law et al., Nature 2010). His team further investigates the proteases and their inhibitors that control blood coagulation and wound remodeling.
Over the course of his career at Monash, Professor James Whisstock has contributed to the development of several key Monash technology platforms, including protein production, eResearch and X-ray crystallography. Most recently he led the establishment of the Monash Ramaciotti Cryo-Electron Microscopy platform.
Professor Matthew Nicholson is the Senior Vice-President (Research and Operations), Malaysia Office of the PVC and President.
Professor Matthew Nicholson joined Monash University Malaysia as Vice-President (Research and Development) in April 2021. During this time, he has successfully led the portfolio, creating a vision for development and improvement in several areas, including supervisor training and development, industry engagement, the governance and management of research infrastructure, intra and intercampus networks, the PhD student experience, research commercialisation and partnerships.
Before joining Monash, Professor Nicholson held numerous appointments at La Trobe University, including Acting Dean (2020-2021) and Associate Head (Research and Strategy), La Trobe Business School, and Director of the Centre for Sport and Social Impact (2016-2021).
Professor Nicholson has been an exemplary leader across research, teaching and administration throughout his career, including receiving significant teaching awards at both La Trobe and Victoria universities for his work in online learning and the development of lecture-free curricula. He recently led the development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on diplomacy for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Professor Nicholson has more than 110 publications – books, book chapters and journal articles – and has secured more than $10 million in research funding through numerous industry-funded programs and projects, including through the Australian Research Council and National Health and Medical Research Council. He has an international reputation for his research and expertise in the sport-public health nexus, physical activity, policy, social capital, the social impact of sport, recreation and leisure, and the media representation of sport.
Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah has been appointed Director General of Health effective from 1st March 2013. Having held the post of Deputy Director-General since Feb 1, 2008, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham is a well trained surgeon and administrator. He is also the head and senior consultant breast and endocrine surgeon in Putrajaya Hospital. Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham, who has a Masters in Surgery and Medical doctorate degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, joined the civil service as a medical officer way back in August 1988. He went on to specialize in endocrine surgery and did his training in various universities in Adelaide and Sydney Australia. He has many publications in local and international journals and written many textbook chapters in endocrine surgery. His keen interest is in breast endocrine cancers and he provides leadership in many different innovative health outreach learning and programmes for all of Malaysia.
Professor Rebekah Brown is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Senior Vice-President at Monash University, responsible for leading the University’s research agenda, practice, integrity and compliance and contributing to research strategy and enhancing the University’s research performance and vision.
She is also Director of RISE (Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments), an action-research program working in the Pacific with communities, governments, partners and philanthropists to deliver solutions that benefit health, environment, and water and sanitation.
Dr. Shajahan Yasin is the Head of School, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine, Monash University Malaysia. He founded SEACO in 2011 with his colleagues Professor Daniel Reidpath, Professor Pascale Allotey, Associate Professor Dharma Arunachalam and Professor Maximillian de Courten. He joined the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Monash University Malaysia in October 2005. At Monash, Dr Yasin is primarily responsible for all aspects of the implementation of the MBBS program at its Sunway Campus. His research interests include Medical Education, Chronic Disease Management and Health Systems Research. Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer to the largest private General Practice Group in Malaysia and was involved in quality improvement initiatives and audit of practice. He spent three years in the Department of Community Medicine and General Practice at Monash University Australia (1996-1999) as a lecturer, where he was involved in Primary Care Research and Clinical Epidemiology. He was the Chairman of the Vocational Training Program (VTP) at the Academy of Family Physicians (1988 to 1996) and was instrumental in converting the VTP program into a distance learning program.
Professor Tin Tin Su joined Monash University Malaysia as a Professor in Public Health and was appointed as Deputy Director of SEACO in August 2018. She is currently a public health physician. She graduated from the Institute of Medicine (I), Yangon (1991), completed her Master’s degree in Community Health and Health Management (2001) and obtained her Doctorate in Medicine from the School of Medicine, Heidelberg University, Germany (2006). She has practical and research experience in Myanmar, Germany, Nepal, Burkina Faso and Malaysia. Her research focus includes health system and policy, social determinants of health, cancer awareness & health literacy, and community health development. Prof Tin Tin Su is currently active with the International Health Literacy Association, and Asia Health Literacy Association, where she was Vice President from 2014 to 2016.