ÿÈÕ´óÈüapp

Aaron Neal, D.Phil. Visit to UMBI

On August 8th, 2022, UMBI had the privilege to welcome Dr. Aaron Neal for a one-day visit to UMBI. Dr. Aaron Neal is a Clinical Research Specialist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), USA. On top of this, he also holds a position as NIAID Division of Clinical Research Country Lead for Indonesia, responsible for providing leadership on infectious disease clinical research studies conducted jointly by NIAID and the Ministry of Health of Indonesia (INA-RESPOND). The one-day visit kicked off with an introductory meeting between Dr. Aaron and UMBI Top Management. Afterwards, Dr. Aaron was invited to a discussion session with the UMBI COVID-19 research team. The objective of this round table discussion was to introduce and learn about the COVID-19-related research projects currently being conducted in UMBI and NIAID, respectively.

The morning session program continued with a research discussion with The Malaysian Cohort (TMC) team. The discussion involves potential research collaboration between The Malaysian Cohort Project (TMC) and The All of Us Research Program that NIH initiated. At the end of the discussion, Dr Aaron visited the TMC recruitment centre and lab facilities on Level 6 and UMBI Biobank on Ground Floor. Our honoured guest was brought to visit UMBI COVID-19 research facilities after the fruitful discussion.

The afternoon program began with a meeting between Dr. Aaron and UMBI Research Fellows. During this session, our distinguished guest got the chance to meet UMBI academic staff and learn about their research niche and interest. Furthermore, there was a stimulating Q and A session on research collaboration, grant application and training opportunities at the NIAID and National Institute of Health, USA in general. This visit by Dr. Aaron’s meeting session was a productive and eye-opening one, especially on the various opportunities available at the NIH, and could also serve as a platform for potential research networking between UMBI and NIH in the future.

Photo :