A delegation of leaders from the International Medical University Malaysia visited the Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona to build the educational and research partnership that was recently established between the two universities.
This May 2023 the college was very pleased to host a delegation from the International Medical University Malaysia (IMU) at the Tucson campus of the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) to sign a partnership agreement. IMU is Malaysia’s first and most established private medical and health sciences university with over 30 years of dedicated focus on healthcare education.
The collaboration between IMU and MEZCOPH will begin with a Dual MPH Degree program. The visit enabled leadership from both universities to discuss the vision for the new partnership. Visiting representatives from IMU included Professor Vishna Nadarajah, MHPE, PhD, Deputy Vice Chancellor Institutional Development & International; Dr. Kavitha Nagandla, FRCOG-UK, Associate Dean Academic Affairs; and Professor Tan Eng Lai, M.Biotech, PhD, Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies and Research. The visit was coordinated by MEZCOPH’s Global Health Institute (GHI).
The visit reinforced the many areas of common purpose related to both education and research in public health between IMU and MEZCOPH, and established solid relationships with the leadership from IMU.
Over the course of a few days, the Malaysian delegation met with top leadership from the College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, including Dean Iman Hakim; Dr. John Ehiri, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; and Dr. Gabriela Valdez, Director of Global Education; Dr. Zhao Chen, Associated Dean for Research; and Dr. Kelly Reynolds, Chair of the Department of Commmunity, Environment, and Policy. The IMU group also met with leaders from the UArizona Health Sciences colleges, and with leadership from Arizona International, including Dr. John Paul Jones, Dean of International Education, and finally with UArizona Provost, Dr. Liesl Folks.
All of us in the college want to thank Dr. Nadarajah, Dr. Nagandla, and Dr. Eng Lai for their visit! Our faculty enjoyed the discussions on a range of education and research topics where we have shared interests. We were so pleased to host the Malaysia delegation and look forward to collaboration, partnership, and program growth between the two universities!
Photo above, left to right: Dr. Gabriela Valdez, Director of Global Education; Professor Vishna Nadarajah, MHPE, PhD, Deputy Vice Chancellor Institutional Development & International; Dr. Iman Hakim, Dean, Zuckerman College of Public Health; Dr. Kavitha Nagandla, FRCOG-UK, Associate Dean Academic Affairs; Professor Tan Eng Lai, M.Biotech, PhD, Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies and Research; Dr. John Ehiri, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
IMU Malaysia group visits a public health lab, guided by Dr. Frank von Hippel.
Malaysia group visits with MEZCOPH leadership, including Dr. Zhao Chen, Associate Dean for Research.
