Adeeba to become new president of AIDS Council

The Star - KUALA LUMPUR: Although she knows that she is stepping into “very, very big shoes” when she takes over as president of the Malaysian AIDS Council, Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman knows that she can take on the job.
“It is an honour and I hope I can do justice to the seat. I recognise that there is a lot I can contribute. I was surprised about the appointment although Marina had ‘warned’ me about it,” she told The Star in an interview recently.
Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir will step down as council president on Jan 1.
Her position as Malaysian AIDS Foundation chairman, which she has also vacated, has not been filled yet.
Dr Adeeba, who is head of the infectious diseases unit at the University Malaya Medical Centre, also heads the Malaysian Harm Reduction Working Group which advocates evidence-based public health policies on HIV prevention and treatment and care for drug users.
In addition, she chairs the Therapeutics Research, Education and AIDS Training in Asia steering committee – a network of clinics, hospitals, and research institutions working to ensure the safe and effective delivery of HIV/AIDS treatments in the Asia-Pacific region via research, education and training programmes.
Dr Adeeba obtained her medical degree from Monash University in Australia and trained in internal medicine at the Monash Medical Centre.
She then took up sub-speciality training in infectious diseases at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
She obtained her fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1995.
She returned to Malaysia in 1996 to become a lecturer on general medicine and infectious diseases in Universiti Malaya and set up one of the first infectious diseases units in Malaysia.
Dr Adeeba is married to banker Umar Swift and they have two sons – Luqman, eight, and Karim, six.