Keeping Up with Prof Choo

Title: Keeping Up with the Pandemic of Prematurity - A Blinding Disease of Premature Infants - Sharing 3 Decades of Experience with this Disease in Malaysia

Location: TJ Danaraj Auditorium (20/6/23)

20th of June 2023 - it was a lovely Tuesday with showers coming to a cease in the afternoon. We eagerly stepped into a magical tunnel leading to TJ Danaraj Auditorium, walking alongside history made by our forefathers, graced by the sunlight peeking through the window panes.

Disney princess moments aside, we were then transported back into the post-Malaya era, singing the National and the University Anthem with tears of pride trickling down our cheeks. It was a long awaited day to be enlightened by one of our homegrown academician - Professor Choo May May.

Professor Choo was a graduate of the University of Malaya in 1990 which she then served the University Hospital as a House Officer, complementing her subsequent career as a military physician at Mentakab Hospital. She gained an insight into Ophthalmology whilst at Kuala Lumpur Hospital before calling the University Hospital home once more for her training in Ophthalmology.

As observant as an owl, she acknowledged the pandemic that is Retinopathy of Prematurity which inspired her to further specialise in Paediatric Ophthalmology with Paediatric Glaucoma in Sydney. An inspiration to us all, her thirst for knowledge did not stop there - she is currently pursuing her PhD at the Save Sight Institute, a world-renowned centre of ophthalmic research affiliated with the University of Sydney.

With her endless wealth of knowledge, she had not only spearheaded a CPG for ROP screening, but also established a clinic dedicated to Craniofacial disorders and a consulting service for Ocular Genetics. It was through this lecture that we learned the three ROP pandemics across the globe, the debilitating effects of ROP, and thus, the urgency to halt ROP in their tracks from causing lifelong visual dysfunction.

And with all good things in life, the lecture ended with delightful refreshments.

We would like to thank the Faculty of Medicine for treating the attendees to a light (yet filling) refreshments at the CUBE - an excellent platform for a quick catch up with our peers over delectable desserts.