History of Taylor’s University School of Medicine (TUSOM)

Overview

The Taylor’s University School of Medicine (TUSOM) started in June 2009 under the leadership of Prof Abdul Rahman Noor as the Dean of School of Medicine. In January 2010, the school offered Medical Degree Transfer Programme (MDTP) to its first batch of students. Students from this programme study the first two years of the medical course in Taylor’s School of Medicine and then can proceed to partner medical schools abroad. This programme has led TUSOM into collaboration with international partners in the United Kingdom. However, this programme has been discontinued.

Taylor’s University went on to develop its own home-grown Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme which took in its first batch of students in January 2011. The MBBS programme which is fully conducted locally is designed to produce medical doctors who are competent, highly skilled and knowledgeable, able to work with others in a team, caring and concerned about their patients and society, and who will assume a leadership role in health care as well as participate in continuing medical education and research in the future. This is achieved through the integration of Basic Medical and Community Medical Sciences with Clinical Medicine that is strengthened by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and evidence-based approaches adopted by the School of Medicine.

Former Dean of School of Medicine, Professor Dr Abdul Rahman Noor.
June 2009 – Dec 2015

Milestones

2011

TUSOM Phase I Staff

From left Dr Mazlin Mustafa (Physiology), Dr Umesh Bindal (Anatomy), Dr Mohit Shahi (Pathology), Dr Wong Eng Hwa (Microbiology & Immunology), Prof Dr Abdul Rahman Noor (Dean), Prof Dr Ong King Kok (Deputy Dean & Biochemistry), Dr Nalamolu Rao (Pharmacology), Dr Gul Baloch (Public Health), and Miss Vivian Han (Laboratory Personnel)

Batch 1 White Coat Ceremony. A ceremony of oath taking by TUSOM’s pioneer batch of clinical students prior beginning their clinical training at Phase II. 3 September 2012

2012

The TUSOM MBBS programme is structured into two phases. Phase 1 (Year 1 & 2) focuses on the fundamental knowledge of medical sciences with exposure to clinical medicine. Upon successful completion of Phase I, student progress to Phase 2 (Years 3 – 5) involves clinical rotations at designated hospitals from the Ministry of Health.

2013-2015

Clinical School started officially at Ward 9D at Hospital Sungai Buloh in 2013. In the following year, a sub-campus of Taylor’s Clinical School (TCS) was officially launched at Dataran Villa Putra, Sungai Buloh in 16 Jan 2015. 

Taylor’s Clinical School at Dataran Villa Putra, Sungai Buloh
Taylor’s Clinical School at Dataran Villa Putra, Sungai Buloh

2015

TUSOM’s first batch of students (Batch 1) have successfully graduated from the MBBS programme in August 2015.

Pioneer Batch 1 graduated in August 2015 

2019-2020

Recently, Taylor’s Clinical School had an upgrade and has been shifted to a new building at Light Grey Sungai Buloh (LGSB) started Nov 2019 and was launched on 21 Jan 2020.

Taylor’s Clinical School at Light Grey Sungai Buloh (LGSB).
Launching ceremony of Taylor’s Clinical School at Light Grey Sungai Buloh (LGSB), Jan 2020

Number of Graduates

Total number of students graduated from Year 2015 to Year 2020

With established and strong foundation in education, TUSOM successfully graduated many more students in the following years, producing excellent medical graduates to serve the nation as well as global needs. A total of 317 students graduated from Year 2015 to Year 2020 as shown below:

15
57
39
83
66
57
317

Our TUSOM Team

TUSOM Ambassador: Associate Professor Dr. Wong Eng Hwa

Dr. Wong Eng Hwa graduated from University of Malaya with her Ph.D (Medical Microbiology) in 2008. She joined Taylor’s University as a Senior Lecturer in 2009. Thereafter, she held the position of Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research and Innovation from Year 2013 to 2017. In 2018, she was appointed as Programme Director of Postgraduate studies, an important portfolio with major responsibilities in overseeing the newly established postgraduate programmes in the School of Medicine, Taylor’s University.

She is a well-established researcher who plays a leading role in steering research in the school since its inception. She is a life member of The Malaysian Biosafety and Biosecurity Association (MBBA), a member of Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM), Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases and Chemotherapy (MSIDC), a member of American Society of Microbiology (ASM), a member of International Society of Infectious Disease (ISID), and a life member in the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).

Dr Wong’s passion, commitment and achievements in research is evident in her published and on- going projects. Her research niche area is antimicrobial resistance, an increasingly critical phenomenon worldwide. She is particularly interested in exploring the usage of new technologies in combating antimicrobial resistance, involving the use of nanotechnologies. Her endeavours in research has born fruits with publications in indexed journals, national and international proceedings, several awards in various presentation formats and categories. She is involved in securing almost RM 3 million of grant money in her research work.

Under competent leaderships of our current and previous Deans as well as current Head of School, TUSOM was able to achieve significant successes in a short period of time. These successes would not been achieved without the dedication and contribution from our academics, and support service from faculty office team.

Professor Dr Roland Gamini Sirisinghe

Former Acting Dean of School of Medicine

Jan 2016 – March 2017

Professor Dr Chin Kin Fah

Former Dean of School of Medicine

April 2017 – March 2018

Professor Dr Lai Nai Ming

Former Acting Dean of School of Medicine

March 2018 – Sept 2018

Professor Dr. Rusli Bin Nordin

Former Acting Dean of School of Medicine

Sept 2018 – May 2021

Professor Dr. Ganesh Ramachandran

Head of School of Medicine

June 2021 to present

Emeritus Professor Dr. Paraidathathu Thomas

Executive Dean Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences (FHMS)

Jan 2014 to present

To see what else is going on in TUSOM, visit our gallery page for highlights.

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