News & Announcements

mkumarigeetha@gmail.com

MS. KUMARI GEETHA A/P MUNIANDY is an Aquatic Animal Health Specialist with over 17 years of experience in aquaculture health management, molecular diagnostics, hatchery laboratory operation and plankton production. She currently serves as PCR Laboratory Manager at Star Feedmills (M) Sdn. Bhd. and Hatchery Laboratory Manager at Asia Aquaculture (M) Sdn. Bhd., under umbrella of Charoen Pokphand Foods (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd, where she leads laboratory programs supporting aquatic pathogen diagnostics, disease surveillance, and biosecurity implementation for aquaculture production systems. She has extensive experience working with hatcheries and aquaculture producers to investigate disease outbreaks, improve biosecurity protocols, and enhance production performance through effective health management strategies. Kumari Geetha holds a Master of Science in Aquatic Animal Health from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Through her work, she actively collaborates with aquaculture producers, researchers, and industry stakeholders to strengthen disease management practices and support the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry in Southeast Asia.

shahreza@umt.edu.my

DR. SHAHREZA MD. SHERIFF is currently a senior lecturer on fish breeding and genetics in the Faculty of Fisheries and Food Science Academicians, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). He conducts research on the genetic population of broodstock for several aquaculture fish species. In fish breeding, his research was on crossbreeding, triploidization and hybridization of aquaculture fish species. He also has been appointed as the academic advisor for aquaculture Diploma program for UNISEL and Politeknik Jeli.

m_nurulhuda@upm.edu.my

DR. NORULHUDA MOHAMED RAMLI obtained her bachelor degree in Biological and Agricultural engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2004. After graduation, she worked as an officer of economic affairs with the Malaysian Farmers’ Organization Authority (Lembaga Pertubuhan Peladang) for a year. During this period, she engaged directly with farmers’ activities. Later, she pursued her MSc and PhD degree in Aquaculture at the Aquaculture and Fisheries Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Having both, engineering, and aquaculture background, Norulhuda integrates these two fields in her research related to recirculating aquaculture system, microalgae and other aquatic plants for improvement of system efficiency and water quality. Her recent research embarks on the use of internet of things (IoT) and data analytics to understand the dynamics of physico-chemical parameters and their relationship to biological processes in aquaculture systems.

hwong@alltech.com

DR. HENRY WONG YH possesses an 25-year tenure within the Asian animal nutrition and health industry. His professional journey commenced as a sales manager in the aquafeed sector in a multinational animal nutrition company in Malaysia. Subsequently, he ascended the corporate ladder, assuming managerial roles within multinational aquaculture nutrition firms in the Asian market. Dr. Wong’s operational footprint spanned multiple strategic locations, including Malaysia, China, Singapore, and Indonesia. In these roles, he adeptly oversaw and managed diverse aspects of the animal nutrition and health business within the Asian region. In 2013, he joined Alltech as a Regional General Manager, with responsibilities extending to Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. Notably, he also lent his technical expertise to bolster aquaculture endeavors in China and Southeast Asia. In July 2018, Dr. Henry Wong stepped into the position of Asia Commercial Development Director for Alltech. In this capacity, he undertook the paramount mission of propelling the growth trajectory of the aqua business in the Asian market. Dr. Henry holds a bachelor’s degree in aquaculture, an MBA and a Doctorate in Business Administration.

DR. PEARL KWAN  obtained her Ph.D. in Aquatic Biotechnology and is currently the Head of Research and Development for Hellas Technology Farm, a company specialises in indoor recirculating aquaculture systems. She consults fish farmers on disease, risk mitigation, and farm setup. Dr. Kwan’s extensive network within academia and the aquaculture community and her role as a Malaysia Aquaculture Development Association committee member reflect her dedication to the industry’s growth. Over the years, Dr. Pearl has advocated sustainable aquaculture farming initiatives. She leads a 12-month school program, fostering secondary school students to learn sustainable aquaculture. She is excited to inspire others to take action to protect the environment.

mnamal@upm.edu.my

PROF. DR. MOHAMMAD NOOR AMAL AZMAI  obtained his PhD (Epidemiology) from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2012, where he worked on the epidemiology of streptococcosis in red hybrid tilapia. He started his academic journey as a Senior Lecturer at Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia in June 2012. He has great interest in fish diseases, fish vaccination and fish ecology. Currently, his research focus on the fish diseases epidemiology and development of feed-based vaccines against fresh and marine water fish diseases. Dr. Amal and his research team has several innovations related to control and prevention of fish diseases in aquaculture. One of his research team’s patents – ViVaC UPM, a newly developed feed-based killed vaccine against vibriosis in fish, has won several international awards and in the process of commercialization with a private company. His research team is now working on the development and commercialization of polyvalent feed-based vaccine against streptococcosis and aeromoniasis in cultured freshwater fishes. He is currently the Head of Aquatic Animal Health and Therapeutics Laboratory, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia.

azila@dof.gov.my

DR AZILA ABDULLAH is currently a Senior Research Officer and director at the National Fish Health Research Division (NaFisH), Fisheries Research Institute, DOF. She started her duties on 3 July 2000 and has since conducted research on fish viral diseases in aquaculture, especially of marine and freshwater fish. Among the viral disease studies conducted were koi herpesvirus (KHV) and iridovirus, and the current subjects are VNN and tilapia lake virus (TiLV).

She is also the project leader for NaFisH-FRITD-IIUM collaboration project involving epidemiological studies, alternative treatments, and vaccine development for fish diseases. She has been directly involved in the development and pre-commercialization process of several innovations such as the VNN detection kit (MyVNNEasy Kit) with UMS in 2009, the patented StrepToVax vaccine (2018 – current), rapid streptococcus detection kit (UI application),  Method for identification of betanodavirus antigenic determinant as a vaccine candidate (UI application)  and manual Kit PKD (Innovation 2019). She also acts as a Co-supervisor to 3 postgraduate students.  

She has produced at least 15 scientific papers in the index and non-index journals, 33 presentation papers and at least 15 technical reports as well as being a reviewer for journals such as Aquaculture research, Pertanika and JoVE (Journal of visualized experiment), in addition she is also the chief editor of the Malaysia Fisheries Journal (MFJ). His latest book entitled ‘Viral Disease Nervous Necrosis in Marine Fish’ was published in 2020 for public reading.