Board of Directors

Minister of Health
YB Khairy Jamaluddin is the Minister of Health, Malaysia, appointed on 27th August 2021. He is also the Chairman of CRM Board of Directors.

Y. Bhg. Dato’ Mohd Shafiq bin Abdullah is the Secretary General in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.



Datuk Dr Shahnaz also Chairs the Nominating & Renumeration Committee.


Prof Dr Abdul Rashid is medical director and senior consultant in An-Nur Hasanah Specialist Centre. He is also the Chairman of the Scientific Review Panel for Phase I Clinical Trials in Malaysia.


The Management

Dr. Akhmal Yusof obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the Royal College of Surgeon, Ireland in 1992. He started serving the Ministry of Health as a House Officer at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and subsequently as a Medical Officer at Tanjong Karang Hospital, Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Tawakal Medical Centre between 1993 and 2000.
He later ventured into Medical Insurance under the American International Assurance, Kuala Lumpur as Medical Manager (2000–2002). It was in AstraZeneca Sdn Bhd where he gained extensive experience in the field of research-based biopharmaceutical where he was the Medical Director across Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. He later assumed the position of Head of Government Affairs. Dr. Akhmal was in AstraZeneca Sdn Bhd from 2002 to 2015.
Dr. Akhmal is currently a member of the Ethics Committee of the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA) and a member of the National Committee for Clinical Research (NCCR). He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Clinical Research Malaysia.
Education: MBCh, BAO (National University of Ireland), LRCP & LRCS (Ireland)

Prior to Clinical Research Malaysia, Joanne managed clinical operations across Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong for Covance Clinical Development Services, Malaysia. Apart from Clinical Operations, Joanne supported other additional roles on top of her primary duties that included eDC super user for RAVE, AP representative for process improvement of protocol deviation and clinical operations representative for start-up improvement process initiative for AP. Joanne climbed up the ladder to be Clinical Operations Manager/Country Lead from 2014 until 2017.
Joanne started her career as Clinical Research Associate in year 2006 and was involved in multiple functional areas the study authorization associate, start-up lead, lead CRA and document reviewer support. Aside from Covance, Joanne worked for other clinical research organizations such as ICON and Quintiles.
Joanne possesses experiences in dealing with various therapeutic areas namely cardiovascular, infectious diseases, endocrine, psychiatry, oncology, respiratory and hematology. She brought with her more than 10 years of working experience in clinical research.
She earned her Bachelor of Biomedical Science from University of Melbourne, Australia.

Zaleha Yusof has an extensive and solid human resources strategic and operational experiences with diverse industry exposures: pharmaceutical, semi-conductor/high-tech, printing, food manufacturing and service industry.
She has been leading, steering formulation/implementation and driving continuous improvement at strategic level while ensuring tactical/operational initiatives are aligned with business and human resources strategies by making use of multi-cultured working experiences and exposures in various working environment including multi-national organizations. A dynamic business partner who focus on organizational development & effectiveness with talent development in mind.
Experienced in designing, formulating and leading HR initiatives during business transformation, major restructuring, merger and acquisition and growth including talent development and succession planning.
An individual who believes change is constant in life, is adaptive in nature and enjoys working with a high-performance team in a challenging environment.
She possesses BA in Political Science, majoring in Policy Analysis and minoring in Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington, USA. She obtained her post graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations from MEF/ILO.


Audrey joined Clinical Research Malaysia in 2014 and has served in the roles of Senior Communications & Relations Executive, re-designated to Senior Business Development Executive, to Associate Manager and most recently serving in the position of Manager as well as Interim Head of Business Development.
She possesses Master’s Degree in Medical Science, majoring in Bio-pharmacy from University of Malaya and Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Science from Monash University.