
Dr. Chan Siew Pheng
President of MEMS Council 2020-2022
There are many exciting aspects to being our MEMS society president, but greatest among them are the opportunities I have to work with our community of Endocrinologists to realise the objectives of our Society.
Thanks goes to our Immediate Past President, Datuk Dr Zanariah Hussein, who has set in motion various initiatives – rest assured that I will strive to continue to build upon these initiatives and move our Society forward to further fulfilling our goal to be an advocate for endocrine science, and education for our Malaysian doctors.
Education and training – to increase the number of trained and certified Endocrinologists for Malaysia remain an important initiative. Inter-hospital endocrine rounds will continue to be held; but more importantly, these interesting case discussions will be captured and made available for later viewing – the MEMS website in the education section. Other educational material / lectures from various events will also be available.
Research – MEMS has prioritised research, in particular Endocrine-related with a research fund set aside; with standardised application forms; Research subcommittee formed under the able leadership of Dr Hew Fen Lee to review applications in a timely manner; Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) tasked with handling the disbursement of funds in a systematic manner.
Outreach – Apart from enhancing the knowledge / training of our local Endocrinologists, MEMS is also responsible for providing endocrine education and updates to our Malaysian Doctors, especially in under resourced / more rural settings. We have been organising in-person meetings / Conferences via our popular MAC (MEMS Annual Conference) as well as Endocrine 1-day Updates in various major towns. However, 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone! Most in-person gatherings have been cancelled or remodelled to virtual/hybrid formats. However, we were fortunate to have successfully launched the 1st Thyroid CPG on 3rd Oct 2020 – just before the AGM. We had great press coverage for the event; Dr Arif Shahar presented his thyroid research data (that was incidentally funded by MEMS research funds); and a number of Doctors accessed the event via our hybrid AV link. The feedback was encouraging! Unfortunately, MAC 2020 had to be postponed due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID pandemic. Look out for 11th MAC 2021, which is preliminarily set for 30th Jul – 1st Aug 2021.
The 6th CPG for management of T2DM 2020, will be launched in the near future and plans are to cascade key update rollouts from this CPG; probably via hybrid events with some attending face-to-face while others join in via webinar links. The key target audience will be Ministry of Health (Primary Care / Family Physicians) as well as General Practitioners.
Let us never forget that the MEMS Society IS you – our members. Our new Council, under my leadership, pledge to be sensitive to the needs of the members and working as a team will get things accomplished. We will focus attention and our Society resources on matters of importance. We need your input and support to accomplish these goals. MEMS plans to be a driving force dedicated to the growth of our Society and to develop and maintain our visibility and relevance to the Malaysian Medical community at large.
Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2021 – Stay Safe! Stay well!
Dr Chan Siew Pheng
Honorary Professor
President 2020-2022