Jemilah made HWUM pro-chancellor

DISTINGUISHED health professional, humanitarian and development leader Prof Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood (pic) adds another feather to her cap with her recent appointment as the pro-chancellor of Heriot-Watt University Malaysia (HWUM).

Prof Dr Jemilah’s five-year appointment took effect on Sept 1.

“This is a great honour, especially coming from a university with such a rich and significant heritage of widening participation and empowering women.

“Heriot-Watt University’s values are very aligned with my own, with its focus on education for all and delivering outstanding outcomes for its students, wider society and the global economy,” she said in a press release on Sept 8.

Having worked in the health sector for over 30 years as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and as a humanitarian activist for over two decades, she was the driving force behind the establishment of humanitarian organisation Mercy Malaysia.

A professor and executive director of the newly-established Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, and a senior fellow at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Prof Dr Jemilah was previously a special adviser to former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on public health matters.

She has served as the under secretary general for partnerships at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

She has also worked at the United Nations Headquarters in New York as chief of the secretariat of the World Humanitarian Summit, and was the King’s College London’s Humanitarian Futures Programme senior research fellow.

HWUM Board of Directors chair Datuk Yasmin Mahmood said Prof Dr Jemilah’s passion, dedication, and proven leadership track record will greatly advance the varsity’s mission of delivering world-class, purpose-led education and research.

Describing Prof Dr Jemilah as a key figure in developing students into purpose-driven, future-ready graduates who will deliver positive impact on the world, HWUM provost and chief executive officer Prof Mushtak Al-Atabi said her deep understanding of the complexities of cross-cultural issues has made her a strong voice of social inclusion and peace-building.