6 August 2014 – An IMU Medical Alumnus, Prof HM Goh (right) was appointed an Adjunct Professor (Clinical Informatics) by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia in March 2014. With this appointment, Prof HM Goh is a Clinician Informatician academically at the UM Faculty of Medicine. He is also a full-time Hospital Management position at University of Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC).
Describing his role as Adjunct Professor, Prof HM Goh said, “I was appointed as Adjunct Professor (Clinical Informatics) and not as a full-time Professor because I am currently holding two portfolios of Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer at UMSC. The appointment as an Adjunct Professor (Clinical Informatics) by UM is in recognition of my academic leadership in the emerging field of Clinical Informatics (CI). This is a relatively new domain which the University has recognised its importance. As the Adjunct Professor, I am responsible for developing CI as a subject for its undergraduate MBBS curriculum and also establish a new Master in Clinical Informatics programme.”
“I was a physician prior to switching my career to this new and exciting field of CI. Certainly it was a tough decision which I made more than a decade ago when CI was not even recognised by the medical fraternity,” said Prof HM Goh , who, in his role as Medical Director at UMSC set up the Asean Sleep Research and Complete Centre (ASRCC) in Malaysia.
“ARSCC is focused on driving awareness and early diagnosis of sleep disorders through training programmes, clinical research and a full spectrum of sleep medicine services. I am not a somnologist but I can appreciate the needs and demand of this specialty in the country, especially when there is epidemiological data indicating its prevalence.”
Porf Goh Hsien Ming joined the pioneer batch of medical students in the then International Medical College (IMC) (now known as IMU) in 1993 and subsequently continued his clinical studies in the University of Dundee. He completed his MBChB in 1998. In his career, Prof HM Goh managed a wide spectrum of public and private healthcare projects both locally and internationally. He served two terms as the Secretary-General of Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI). He was conferred a Fellowship with the Australian College for Health Informatics. Prof HM Goh speaks regularly at international conferences on the topics of health strategy, informatics, business transformation and change management. He is also the founder of the IMU Alumni Association, which now has more than 2500 members all around the world.
“As the founder of the IMU Alumni, I would like to see more social events organised and more social media activities. I will definitely support the alumni activities as I feel that this is a fantastic way to bring members together for the benefit of their careers. I would also be able to provide assistance to Alumni members and those who are currently in IMU who needs advice and guidance on their careers. I feel that in order to do this, more full-time staff are needed, to provide member services and manage social media presence and websites.”