Chief Scientific Officer

The company I am currently working at provides cell therapy using stem cells, Natural Killer cells and exosomes to treat various chronic diseases. I am in charge of the research and development for the company. We collaborate with multiple research institutes in Malaysia to provide the evidence and understand the mechanism of action regarding the use of cell therapy in disease treatments. I am also in charge of giving talks and representing the company at national and international scientific conferences.

I have always been interested in research since my Bachelor’s degree. The field I am in now was actually introduced to me during my master’s dissertation. After my PhD in stem cell biology, it has always been my passion. I’ve always wanted to work in industry rather than becoming a lecturer. I felt it suit my character more.

I studied until PhD in stem cell biology. I still need to take professional certificates such as for GLP, GCP and GMP.

It is extremely useful and necessary since I am working at a company that manufactures cell-based and biological products. Without my qualification and training, I don’t think I will get far in my field of work.

At my company, we have normal working hours. However, as a researcher, the work never really stops when I get home. I’ll need to always be on top of new developments in this field, find out solutions to problems faced in the research projects, supervising students and research assistants.

The exploration of new findings. Whenever we get results from our experiments, even if it is not what we expected, it is always interesting to find out the reason and to explore.

Dealing with people is always a challenge for me. It is one of the reasons why I choose to work in a lab. But being in a supervisory role and the lead for research, dealing with people is a necessity.

If you are fortunate enough to find your passion earlier on, keep at it until you achieve what you want. If not, keep exploring. Sometimes, that is half the fun.