Professor Dr. Mohd. Nizam Hj. Isa

Vice President of Academic Affairs / Provost

Roles and Responsibilities

The Provost is the university's chief academic officer and is responsible for leading the development and implementation of the university's academic objectives. As the University's second ranking academic officer, the Provost reports directly to the President.

The Provost oversees the University’s research initiatives, academic programmes, education policies, academic personnel resources, student recruitment, student affairs and admissions. The Faculty Members, Registrar, Student Affairs and Research Personnel report to the Provost.

Biography

Prof Nizam as he is known by his students and peers is a Malaysian pioneer in Human Molecular Genetics. He obtained his Master of Science in Medical Sciences from Andrews University in Michigan, U.S.A (1984) and his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Human and Medical Genetics from the University of Glasgow, Scotland (1992).

He began his distinguished academic and research career at the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in 1979. His contributions to USM spanned over 23 years and he was instrumental in the development of the clinical genetics research laboratory at the School of Medical Sciences and the Human Genome Center, USM’s Health Campus in Kelantan where he was the Founding Director.

From 2002 until 2005, Prof Nizam was appointed as Professor of Human Genetics at the International Medical University (IMU). His leadership and administrative qualities enabled him to also officiate as the Dean of Postgraduate School, Head of Functional Genomics Center and the Director of Sesama Genomics at IMU.

Prior to his current appointment as Provost in April 2007, Prof Nizam was a Professor of Human Genomics and Molecular Medicine as well as the faculty’s ISO Manager and Internal Auditor at the Medical Faculty of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam. He was responsible for the successful implementation of  ISO 9001 : 2000 Certification for the Medical Faculty in December 2005.

Prof Nizam has also been invited to teach at other institutions as a visiting lecturer. Students and faculty members from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Industri Selangor (UNISEL) all had the opportunity to work with him.

He is active in research and continues to play a key role in the field of Human Genetics. His current research focuses on the development of Malaysia’s population genetics database using both the genomics and proteomic approaches to support the diagnosis, counseling, treatment, drug discovery, biotechnology and nanotechnology efforts.

His thoughts and findings have been published in over 250 articles, chapters in books, scholarly journals, proceedings and abstracts in molecular genetics of brain cancer, diabetic nephropathy, schizophrenia, G6PD deficiency, ovalocytosis, non-syndromic deafness, mental retardation, cleft palate and diagnostic applications of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) in clinical cytogenetics.

Prof Nizam also shares his knowledge and expertise with other organizations. He is the Malaysian representative and an Executive Member of the Asia Pacific Conference on Medical Genetics. He is a founding member of the Asia-Pacific Society for Human Genetics and a member of an International Organizing Committee for the Asia Pacific Human Genome Organization (HUGO).

Throughout his academic and research career, Prof Nizam has received many local and international research grants including the USM short-term, Ministry of Science IRPA, TORAY Malaysia and FELDA research grants. He was awarded Fellowship of the Committee of Science and Technology (COMSTECH) for the Human Genome Diversity Project in Islamabad Pakistan, the APEC Fellowship to work in the Pohang Science and Technology University (POSTECH) and the Samsung Medical Centre, Republic of Korea. Namely, Professor Dr. Mohd Nizam received post-doctoral fellowships from the Japan Society for the Promotional of Science (JSPS), Monbusho Scholarship and HUGO Travel Grants for his active research collaborations.

The role of Provost requires great patience and the flair of managing people. Although, Prof Nizam maintains a busy schedule, he will always have time for his students. He still enjoys and continues to support various student activities. Under the guidance of Prof Nizam, Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST), its students and staff members will continue to contribute significantly to Malaysia’s development as a thriving education hub.

  Back