Page 22 - NIH Bulletin Vol 19, January-June 2022, Entering the Endemic Phase: Nurturing Ideas in Healthcare

Bulletin National Institutes of Health, Malaysia Vol 19 • January - June 2022

UNGKU OMAR AWARD

NIH RESEARCH AWARD CEREMONY 2021

The Ungku Omar Award is an award
presented to researchers for their tireless
effort in improving the quality of research and
innovation at NIH. The award was presented
to Dr Nazni binti Hj Wasi Ahmad by YB Khairy
Jamaluddin, Minister of Health Malaysia on 26
November 2021, in conjunction with the NIH
Research Award Ceremony 2021.

CONGRATULATIONS!
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN THIS
AWARD?
It is certainly a tremendous honour, and I am Dr Nazni receiving Dr Lee Jong-Wook Memorial Prize for Public Health awarded at
deeply humbled by this recognition. the Seventy-First World Health Assembly

COULD YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT HOW YOU FIRST
YOURSELF AND YOUR CAREER BACKGROUND? STARTED RESEARCHING?
I am from Sabak Bernam, Selangor and pursued my tertiary When I first stepped into IMR, I had great interest to work
education at the University Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur. with mosquito and virus. However, back in the 1990s, a few
During my varsity days, there was a huge and famous of my seniors were already working on these topics and I was
billboard advertisement on Benson & Hedges cigarette, and advised to choose other insect pests where not much research
many thought that I was the woman in the advertisement. was conducted at that time. The two pests were identified as
It definitely made me excited, plus, more than one person flies and cockroaches. I chose flies as cockroaches’ legs gave
mentioned the same thing to me! However, it definitely me an eerie feeling leaving me having goosebumps.
wasn’t me as I was busy slogging through my Sciences
courses at UM. Hence, I shifted my focus on flies-related diseases. My
research was basically on the chemical control of house flies
I started my career as a Research Officer in 1993 at the Medical and its associated insecticide resistance mechanisms. I went
Entomology Unit, Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Kuala to the dirtiest parts of the country, where flies posed a real
Lumpur. It was a coincidence that I was offered a permanent problem in those areas. Being a person who would usually
Research Officer post and another temporary Research disinfect their coins or dollar notes that fells to the ground,
Assistant post at the same time in IMR. there I was, having to work with dirty creatures found in
flowers and faeces. I did not have any regrets, I enjoyed my
Initially, my research was to determine the resistance of research imensely in every aspect and conducted a colossal
insecticides in mosquitoes. I was familiar with this topic as amount of work on flies. Those were the young and energetic
my Masters’ research project at UM was on cabbage loopers, years when tiredness was definitely unheard-of!
Plutella xylostella, a cabbage pest. We had to determine
the insecticide resistance mechanisms involved in cabbage Flies are generally disliked by human as many find them
loopers. I used to travel alone to and fro by bus to Cameron yucky. Since time immemorial, flies were often considered
Highlands, travelling in the morning and returning by the as valueless creatures. However, after working for a long time
last bus from Cameron Highlands to Tapah and from Tapah with these insects, I was inspired to look on the other side of
to Kuala Lumpur, all these on the same day. Till this very day, the coin on dirty flies in Forensic Entomology.
I can still visualize in my mind the winding roads of Cameron
Highlands..…it was a torturous journey..…but my works in The good value of the flies was unveiled in Forensic
Camerons gave me a sense of fulfilment, purpose and joy. Entomology. I conducted research to answer the research
questions and challenges pertaining to forensic entomology,
This is how my research journey began as aptly said by namely, the time of death (post-mortem), and in some cases,
Confucius : “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a the cause of death. To simulate various death scenes, I had
single step.” to sacrifice several non-human primates, which at times my
conscience pricked me, but I consoled myself that this was
for the good of science. Today when we are subpoenaed as
expert witnesses for crime cases in the court of law, we stand
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