To my Colleagues and Fellow Members of MSGH,

It is my greatest pride and honour to assume the presidency of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology & Hepatology for 2021 - 2023. I must thank my good friend and colleague, Professor Dr Raja Affendi Raja Ali, who has been instrumental in bringing MSGH to a new height for the past two years. It will be extremely difficult to achieve the same as what the Immediate Past President had done, but I will certainly do my best to serve the Society, along with other newly elected Executive Committee Members. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the past Executive Committee Members who have served the Society selflessly. In particular, I would like to mention Professor Dato’ Dr Goh Khean Lee and Professor Dr Sanjiv Mahadeva. Both being senior members of the Society, they have not just played the advisory role but also took part actively in numerous activities. I am confident our current Executive Committee with a balanced mix of senior and junior colleagues shall emulate the same.

Over the years, the Society has grown in leaps and bounds. Our membership has increased significantly; we will continue to be inclusive of everyone who has an interest in gastroenterology and hepatology. We do hope more primary care physicians, surgeons, internal medicine physicians, nurses, pharmacists and scientists can join us and help to achieve our cause for the coming future. As a Society and from a personal perspective, I believe education and training will remain the core of what we do and, more importantly, we want our younger members to come forward, not forgetting, of course, our existing members who have been giving us tremendous support over the years. The Society will continue to organise activities, initiate educational projects and provide networking benefits to our loyal members. One such project is to expand our current website to include more educational contents in the form of an online portal where only members in benefit will be able to login.

I am extremely proud on our recent achievements being the President and also as a member of the Society. The most important is no doubt the successful organisation of Asia Pacific Digestive Week (APDW) 2021, the very first virtual meeting in its history, and held none other than at our home ground, Kuala Lumpur. As the Scientific Chair, the journey was difficult and long but rewarding at the end. The organisation was almost crippled by the sudden arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, but the Organising Committee persevered and delivered among the best scientific content and virtual experience expected of a world-class conference.

The newly elected Executive Committee will continue the legacy, and we have great plans for the coming two years. We will continue to hold our flagship annual meeting, GUT in 2022, and may have partnership with Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology, the largest regional society in the GI field. In addition, we are planning to hold basic research skills workshop for our younger colleagues to assist them in navigating clinical research. Malaysia is moving towards a new biotechnology and digital era, and our reputation in research is gaining attention and traction within the international community. Clinical research will become increasingly important and, thus as a society, we should assume the role as the enabler and to embrace the research culture. Last but not least, as the global community is moving into ‘green’ initiatives with a particular attention to address climate change, and as a responsible Society, we should do our part to increase the awareness among our members including efforts to reduce personal and workplace carbon footprint.

I am extremely optimistic of the coming two years, and I hope you are too. Let us work towards a common cause.

Professor Dr Lee Yeong Yeh
President,
Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology & Hepatology