Khalid Yusoff

Malaysia, the world, and PHRI global study teams have lost a great medical researcher, and colleague, with the passing in April 2021 of Khalid Yusoff.

Dr. Yusoff’s many academic acheivements and roles included dean, medical faculty, at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) where he established Malaysia’s first clinical electrophysiology laboratory; foundation dean of the medical faculty at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) where his initiatives included an Institute for Medical Molecular Biology and a Centre for Translational Research and Epidemiology; and Vice-Chancellor and President of UCSI University.

Martin McKee, Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, writes in a BMJ obituary:

“Despite his heavy managerial responsibilities, Khalid remained active in research. I got to know him through the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, following up over 200 000 people in 27 countries, into which he recruited almost 12 000 paticipants in four of Malaysia’s states. Although his research had mainly been in advanced electrophysiology, he recognized the importance of health services that could make a difference at a population level.

“The HOPE-4 cluster randomized trial, on which we collaborated with colleagues in Canada and Colombia, showed that it was possible to achieve an appreciable reduction in cardiovascular risk factors with an intervention designed with patients and frontline health workers that combined task shifting, a simplified treatment regime, and peer support.”

Dr. Yusoff (centre) and team at the 2019 PURE investigators meeting in Singapore.

Dr. Yusoff will be greatly missed by his country, the world stage of medical research and, of course, his many friends in the PHRI family of international collaborators.

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