On behalf of the International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2021 (ICDDTM ’21) organising committee, I am truly honoured and delighted to invite delegates from all around the world to this conference. It gives me great pleasure and privilege to serve once again as the Conference Chair of this premier conference in this region.
Precision medicine (PM) is an emerging approach that incorporates a wide array of individual data, including clinical, lifestyle, genetic and biomarker information for disease treatment and prevention. PM is making major impacts the way therapies are being developed, benefiting patients, the healthcare industry, and ultimately the society. The Malaysian Association for Cancer Research (MACR), which was established in 2017 took stock of the limited initiatives to champion PM in this region. Hence, the establishment of the inaugural International Conference of Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine in 2018 (ICDDTM ’18). ICDDTM was established to serve as an international platform for exchanging latest research findings in the fields of current drug discovery and translational medicine, both of which incorporate PM strategy. The inaugural conference was an enormous success, having attracted delegates from local and abroad.
The MACR and its partners have once again formed strong alliances in organising the ICDDTM from 7th – 9th December 2021. After much thought and careful consideration, the organizing committee felt that it is timely to address the lack of effective communication between academia and industry in the field of PM, especially with the advancement of the latest medical technologies. In view of this, the conference theme has been set as “Advancing Precision Medicine with Emerging Technologies: Bridging Gap Between Academia and Industry.”
This conference aims to bring together academicians, healthcare industry players, researchers, clinician scientists, medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, other healthcare personnel, policymakers, undergraduates, postgraduates, and postdoctoral fellows from all parts of the world to update on the current progress of drug discovery and translational medicine research.
The two-day conference programme focuses on 4 major areas, namely stem cell therapy, cancer, mental health/neurodegeneration and microbiome therapy, will be weaved through the plenary and invited lectures. The Scientific Committee has also planned a thorough programme which entails a few workshops on the preconference day and parallel oral and poster sessions, with topics ranging from cancer, cell therapy, inflammatory diseases, mental health/neurodegeneration, metabolic diseases, and others. The highlight of the conference will be the award ceremony, namely the Best Oral Presenters, Best Poster Presenters and Student awards, will be given as recognition of the outstanding work of the selected participants. It has been our greatest hope that this conference will function as an international platform to explore potential collaborations in the future. I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the organising committee members for their indefatigable perseverance in making this conference a memorable and successful one. To all the speakers and delegates, thank you for sharing your expertise at this conference.
PROF. DR. JOHNSON STANSLAS
Chairman, ICDDTM ’21
President, MACR
Head, Pharmacotherapeutics Unit,
Department of Medicine,
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Universiti Putra Malaysia