Page 7 - IMR ANNUAL REPORT 2021: INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH

vi IMR ANNUAL REPORT 2021

Message from the

Director
DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Assalamu ‘alaikum w.b.t. and Salam Sejahtera,

The year 2021 was an eventful one for the Institute
for Medical Research (IMR). Globally, nations
scrambled to combat the spread of the COVID-19
pandemic through lockdowns, strict quarantine
measures and vaccination programmes. Our
institute played its important role in carrying
out genomic surveillance of the SARS-Cov-2
virus, which causes COVID-19, to determine
the circulating virus variants in the Malaysian
population. IMR also conducted other COVID-19
related research such as the development of
vaccines.

Despite the pandemic and the challenges it
brought, IMR continued its biomedical research
activities in infectious, non-communicable
and metabolic diseases, environmental health,
herbal medicine, allergies, nutrition, genetics,
immunology and diagnostics. Many local and
international research and scientific meetings,
conferences and training sessions were held on
virtual platforms to reduce the risk of COVID-19
at work. IMR continued to strengthen research
collaborations with local and international
organisations. The Researcher-Industry Scientific
Exchange (RISE) platform facilitated sharing of
expertise with other organisations and industries.

During the year, IMR was host to researchers
from other universities and medical facilities.
The institute was also visited by the Minister of
Health, the Director General of Health and the
Deputy Director General of Health (Research &
Technical Support) to observe research activities.

May IMR continue to advance in the field of
biomedical research to protect and elevate the
health of the nation.

Dr. Hj Tahir bin Aris
Director,
Institute for Medical Research,
National Institutes of Health (NIH),
Ministry of Health MALAYSIA