Sarawak oncologist to undergo 13-month clinical fellowship at top cancer research centre

KUALA LUMPUR: Medical Oncologist at Sarawak General Hospital Dr Voon Pei Jye will undergo a 13-month Clinical Fellowship Training at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, affiliated to the University of Toronto, Canada, starting Sept 1, 2020.

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is one of the top five and largest cancer research centres in the world and focuses on all three areas of research: basic, translational and clinical research.

A statement issued by Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) quoted Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba as saying that Dr Voon’s stint there would help the country in moving away from late phase to early phase clinical trials, enabling local drug development and providing treatment options for patients who are not responding well to the current standard of care.

Dr Voon’s fellowship is sponsored by the Ministry of Health ( MOH) through CRM with the sponsorship completing CRM’s Phase 1 Realization Project (P1RP), conceived in 2016 and executed in stages to develop Malaysia’s early phase clinical trial capability.

“This includes the development of the Phase 1 Clinical Trial Guideline, capability development (ie. Phase 1 scientific panel setup), people development (ie. postgraduate training for regulatory officers) and preparation of a Phase 1 trial site (Sarawak General Hospital accredited as a Phase 1 Unit by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority late last year),” the statement read.

The statement added that Dr Adham witnessed the sponsoring signing ceremony between MOH Secretary-General Datuk Seri Dr Chen Chaw Min and CRM chief executive officer Dr Akhmal Yusof.

For this batch of fellowship, Dr Voon will be joining five other oncologists from the UK, Spain and Italy at this internationally renowned cancer centre.