Cochrane Malaysia is pleased to announce the recipients of certificate of recognition for Malay translations completed between January and December 2020.
The year 2020, 6 years after its launch in 2015, continued to be a productive year for Cochrane Malay Translation. In 2020, we achieved another milestone by publishing our 3000th Malay PLS. Our production rate was steady at an average of 60 translations published per month.
These achievements would have been impossible without the generous contribution of our translators and editors all of whom work on voluntary basis. Our volunteers are all healthcare students or practitioners and come from over 10 institutions in Malaysia and abroad. We are especially grateful for the response of many of them when we requested urgent translation of new content on Covid-19 as it became available. This allowed Malay-language readers to access this important information in a timely manner.
It is almost impossible to thank these volunteers for their work. So as a form of recognition we issue certificates of recognition to our high performing translators and editors on an annual basis. This year we award -10 editors 10 translators and for their outstanding work. Thirteen of the award recipients were also 2019 recipients.
Special congratulations to four of our editors who received certificate of recognition for five consecutive years!
They are
. Professor Dr Noorliza Mastura Ismail
. Associate Professor Dr Tuan Hairulnizam Tuan kamauzaman
. Associate Professor Dr Norhayati Mohd Noor
. Professor Dr Lai Nai Ming
Special congratulations to three of our editors who received certificate of recognition for four consecutive years!
They are
. Dr Rosnani Zakaria
. Dr Mohd Shaharudin Shah Che hamzah
. Dr Ahmad Filza Ismail
Special congratulations to our translator who received certificate of recognition for four consecutive years!
. Wong Chun Hoong
What are the criteria for receiving a certificate?
There are 3 categories of recognition with editors and translators receiving separate recognition:
o Bronze award for completing or editing more than 20 translations in a year
o Silver award for completing or editing 35 translations in a year
o Gold award for completing or editing 50 translations in a year
Who are the recipients of certificates for 2020?
They come from various medical and health institutions throughout Malaysia and abroad. They are healthcare or medical students, nurses, medical experts and other healthcare professionals who have generously contributed their precious time for this work. The translators and editors shared their thoughts on getting involved with Malay translation.
“Our translators thank us for the opportunity but we truly want to thank our translators!”
Gold Translators | |
| Muhammad Faiz Mohd Adenan, 5th year medical student, currently studying at University of New South Wales, Australia ( 172 PLS) |
"I happened to stumble upon this Cochrane Malay translation project while searching for online volunteering opportunities. Plus, I have a huge interest in improving the public's access to the best, evidence-based medical or health-related information, especially among those from culturally and linguistically diverse background. Translating various projects throughout 2020 had been a wonderful and informative experience. I got to read and learn about different medical or health-related research topics, and there is a sense of satisfaction that my translations have helped Malaysians back home gaining access to evidence-based practices for their medical or health-related concerns, in our national language. I am looking forward to be a part of this amazing community in 2021!" | |
 | Wong Chun Hoong, Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru (151 PLS |
"I hope that those translations can help more people to understand and appreciate the essentials of medical science so as to enable themselves to make effective informed decisions". |
 | Adam Linoby, Senior Lecturer, the Faculty Sport Science(UiTM) University Teknology Mara (102 PLS) |
“Thank you to Cochrane for giving me the opportunity to continue to be translator and part of the active community of this well-known scientific organization. Despite the challenging year of 2020, I truly enjoy reading Cochrane literature as much as I've enjoyed translating the evidence-based manuscripts. I found the Cochrane reviews particularly interesting and learnt a lot in the process of doing translation tasks. I’ve taken my own initiative to summarize what I’ve learnt from the translation and disseminate the knowledge in my monthly webinar. I highly recommend scholars in Malaysia to become active members of Cochrane Malaysia as an elective experience – it’s definitely worth it!” |
 | Dr Pang Zhi Chiing, with a MB BCh BAO degree from RCSI & UCD Malaysia Campus (RUMC) (50 PLS) |
“I was first introduced to the Cochrane translation during the Movement Control Order (MCO) in March 2020 when all classes were moved online. Till now, I’m still actively participating in the Malay translation of Plain Language Summaries (PLS) while awaiting my housemanship placement. It has been a definite pleasure for me to be able to contribute to the wider community around me through this platform and I hope that many will benefit from the various evidenced-based medicine articles that’ve been published.” |
Silver Translator | |
Gurmeet Albail Singh (38 PLS) | |
“I am a theatre nurse and undertaking post grad studies, hence used Cochrane research. I had a debate with colleagues about utilising Cochrane and decided to study the origin of Cochrane and found out that Malay translators were required. I don’t do as may translations as the rest, only do so when I have time on my hands. Once again, well done for the good work, organising a voluntary team of workers.” | |
Bronze Translators | |
  | Mastura Abd Malek, PhD Student (Physiology), IMMB, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA (34 PLS) |
| ”Alhamdulillah. Thank you, Cochrane Malaysia, for acknowledging this contribution. 2020 is a daunting and frustrating year for most of us around the world as the COVID 19 pandemic happening. When I was residing in the Residential College at campus, I could not attend to my labwork during the MCO 1.0. The only thing I can concentrate on at this time is contributing to the completion of a research article. However, I made sure to translate Cochrane Plain Language Summary because the translation activity is my hobby and passion. Volunteering is a socially responsible way for me to support the world during the pandemic. I am fortunate to be able to be a part of this Cochrane community. I hope that my contribution to the on-going initiative by Cochrane Malaysia will help raise general public understanding. Thank you again Cochrane Malaysia, for this opportunity.” | |
 | Dr Kamisah Ariffin, Associate Professor at the academic of language studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang (29 PLS) |
“I am a certified translator and have more than twenty-four years’ experience in the field of translation. Besides contributing to Cochrane translation works, I have also been involved in translating brochures for hotels, and educational manuals. I believe that by involvement in the Cochrane translation project, I can help empower individuals and local communities to live healthier lives by increasing their knowledge towards the latest updates and achievements in health care.” |
| Dr Roshan Arjun Ananda, Queensland Health at Mackay, Australia (20 PLS) |
“I am passionate about evidence based medicine and public health. In medical school, I followed my passion in the health and well-being of the vulnerable community by volunteering in medical outreach for refugees and carrying out medical research on injecting drug users. Having a special interest in cardiology, I am motivated to pursue a career as a clinician-researcher. Everyone should have access to health information for informed making. Since medical school, I have always been passinate about evidence medicine and preventive medicine. Although English is the most prominent language in the world. not everyone in Malaysia can read, understand and communicate in English well. Malay is the national language in Malaysia.I believe my participation in malay transltion project will male a difference and improve the health literacy level among the local community. The availability of evidence-based health information in Malay language allows informed health decision making the malaysian commuity.” |
 | Amirfaiz Syed, Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science) Master of Science (Clinical Nutrition) Graduate (20 PLS) |
“I am a recent M.Sc graduate from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin and currently seeking an opportunity to further my study in the near future. Personally, I just love to explore various fields of knowledge, and I believed that integrated knowledge, especially research-wise, can yield better outputs. My involvement in the Malay translation project is rather recent, but it has broaden my perspective on the importance of conveying research outputs to the public, regardless of the language the research articles were originally published in. Thank you to the Cochrane Malaysia team for giving me this opportunity to be a part of them.” |
Dr Mhammad Zaki Hilmi Bin Zainal Abidin (Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia) (20 PLS) |
Gold Editors | |
 | Professor Dr Noorliza Mastura Ismail, HOD Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia (MUCM) (225 PLS) |
“Involvement: Cochrane translation & editorial work since 2016. I am motivated to share scientific evidence with the Malaysian public who are not able t read journals, so the best way to do this is by translating the evidence into Bahasa Malaysia.” | |
 | Dr Shazlin Shaharudin, lecturer in Exercise & Sports Science, Biomechanics & Movement Science. Universiti Sains Malaysia (219 PLS) |
“I want the public to understand the evidence-based medical information and practices through the work of Cochrane Malay translation project. I hope my small contribution as an editor of Plain Language Summary in the project, will save lives.” |
 | Dr Norhayati Mohd Noor, Associate Professor, Public Health Physician (Family Health), School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Site Coordinate for USM: an affiliate of Cochrane Malaysia (66 PLS) |
“With the nationwide subscription of Cochrane Library, it has becoming more encouraging for the Malay Cochrane translation to benefit and reach a wide number of readers”. |
 | Dr Tuan Hairulnizam Tuan Kamauzaman, Associate Profesor, Head of Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia (50 PLS) |
"I cannot thank enough Cochrane Malaysia team for coordinating the PLS translation project all these years. I am glad to be part of this novel effort to disseminate knowledge among fellow Malaysia public to make the best-informed clinical decisions. This acknowledgement by the Cochrane Malaysia team is such a motivation for me to put more effort in the PLS translation editing. I hope, with good teamwork from all translators, editors and coordinating team, more PLS can be translated in year 2021, Insyaallah." |
 | Dr Shaun Lee, Pharmacist, Monash University Malaysia (57 PLS) |
“I am a passionate educator and teacher. I strongly believes that an integrated approach is needed to ensure that the best available evidence is used to design interventions, strategies and policies. Nevertheless, most of these evidences are often published in English using "scientific languages" which can be a barrier to uptake in many populations. As such, I have devoted my time and effort through Cochrane Malaysia to make the availability and accessibility of high-quality, usable evidence into Malay language to ensure these can be implemented and used by the general population.” |
 | Dr Mohd Shaharudin Shah Che Hamzah, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (55 PLS) |
| “I am a senior lecture in Emergency Medicine Department of School of Medical Sciences of USM and completed my PhD in disaster management specializing in terrorism. I am actively involved in study as principle investigator and managed to secure quite number of grants and publish many articles in local and international journals. I am also actively involved in Malay translation project for quite number of years. Starting to love this job when I got an email of thanks from someone who was very actively using Cochrane articles in his daily work.” |
Bronze Editors | |
 | Dr Rosnani Zakaria, Lecturer, Department of Family Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia (31 PLS) |
"2020 brought a new challenge to all of us. As a health care frontliner, I tried to continue my commitment with Cochrane translation as best a I can. Correct, authoritative information is a crux for better community healthcare". | |
 | Dato' Dr Teh Keng Hwang, Professor of Paediatrics, College of Health Science and Medicine, UniSHAMS (30 PLS) |
| “I get exposed to some of the latest reviews and may stimulate me to do some Cochrane reviews. I think I get to improve my Bahasa.” |
 | Dr Ahmad Filza Ismail, Medical Lecturer, Department of Community Medicine, Manager, Strategic Business Unit, Universiti Sains Malaysia (21 PLS) |
" It has been a few years doing translation for this esteemed Cochrane organization. I'll be doing it again without hesitation. Hopefully, this little contribution will help in disseminating knowledge in the field of medical and health sciences to our Malay readers." |
 | Dr Lai Nai Ming, Professor of Paediatrics and Director of Clinical Campus, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University Malaysia (21 PLS) |
"The people's heightened awareness of their own health and that of others at this time makes it all the more important to make available high-quality evidence in a locally-accessible form". |