Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy Joins WHO Science Council

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Friday, 28 August 2026

Prof Dr Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Universiti Malaya, has been appointed to the World Health Organization (WHO) Science Council.

She is also a public health physician at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre and is the only Malaysian selected among the council’s 21 newly appointed members. The group brings together leading scientists and experts from different regions, generations and fields.

The new members represent a wide range of expertise, including public health, epidemiology, biomedical research, health systems, ageing, engineering, precision medicine and emerging technologies. Dr Nirmala’s appointment highlights Malaysia’s contribution to global health research and expertise.

“The pace of scientific discovery is accelerating at an extraordinary rate, from artificial intelligence and biotechnology to advances such as gene editing, synthetic biology and robotics, to new approaches for disease prevention, diagnosis and care,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement yesterday.

Key Highlights:

• Prof Dr Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy has been appointed to the WHO Science Council as the only Malaysian member
• She is recognized for her research on cancer systems and equitable patient-centered care
• She led a regional study involving nearly 10,000 cancer patients across eight ASEAN countries

“WHO is strengthening its ability to look ahead, identify transformative developments, and ensure that the benefits of scientific progress are translated into better health for people everywhere.”

The WHO Science Council will remain the key external scientific advisory forum to WHO on key scientific issues, new technologies and new breakthrough innovations that could impact health outcomes globally.

Dr Nirmala's contribution as a cancer systems scientist to understand and reshape cancer care systems to ensure equitable benefits of progress is highlighted by the global health body.

Dr Nirmala was a regional scientist lead of the Asean Costs in Oncology (Action) study, which included examining the economic, QoL, and survival outcomes of almost 10,000 cancer patients in eight Asean countries.

“Her research brings together epidemiology, policy, and implementation to advance patient-centered cancer care, spanning financial protection, access, survivorship, and workforce,” said the WHO.

“As science and technology advance, the workforce must keep pace, and health systems need to invest in people while anticipating the roles, capabilities, and models of care that will be required,” Dr Nirmala told CodeBlue.

This is especially important as population’s age, multimorbidity becomes more common, and care needs to become more integrated and people-centered.

Scientific progress should not be viewed only in terms of what becomes technically possible, but also whether health systems have the human capacity to translate those advances into meaningful benefits for patients and populations.

Previously, Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, a professor of infectious diseases who was also with Universiti Malaya then, was appointed to the WHO Science Council in 2021.