Malaysians Creating Waves at International Oncology Congress
Barcelona, 13 September 2024 – Professor Dr Serena Nik-Zainal, a Malaysian Scientist who is based in the United Kingdom has received the prestigious ESMO Award for Translational Research during the Opening Ceremony at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 held recently in Barcelona, Spain.
The award is presented to candidates who are internationally recognized for outstanding achievements in translational research, and Prof Serena has become the first Malaysian to receive the said award. Prof Serena is being recognized for her outstanding research in the field of mutational signatures and her efforts to accelerate the translation of mutational signatures into the clinical domain.
Prof Serena is a Professor of Genomic Medicine and Bioinformatics, and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics at the University of Cambridge, UK. At the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, she leads the Genomic Medicine theme, advancing the whole cancer genomics field through computational and experimental approaches to ultimately create clinical applications.
Other noteworthy achievements by fellow Malaysians include co-authorship of a metastatic colorectal study by Dr Voon Pei Jye (Medical Oncologist at Sarawak General Hospital) and Prof Ho Gwo Fuang (Clinical Oncologist formerly at University Malaya Medical Centre) that was presented as an oral presentation.
Dr Voon also co-authored a First-in-Human trial for a lung cancer study (ARTEMIDE-01) as well as became the first author for another early phase lung cancer trial (PolyDamas) that was presented at the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) that was held in San Diego from September 7 – 10. These authorships further cemented Malaysia’s capability and achievements in early phase drug development. There were also other clinical trials involving Malaysian oncologists that were presented during the oral presentation sessions at the WCLC 2024.
Oncology research has been the focus of research and development of international pharmaceutical and biotech companies, recording the highest expansion rate yearly. In Malaysia, approximately 20 per cent of over 2000 sponsored research conducted are in oncology and Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM), an enabler and facilitator of sponsored clinical research for the country, strives to bring in more of such studies through its presence at the ESMO 2024. With CRM’s guiding principle of Humanity, opportunities are created for cancer patients in local hospitals to access emerging trial therapies of novel checkpoints through participation in clinical trials.