Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah

Former Director General of Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia

Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah is a Senior Consultant Surgeon in Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Putrajaya Hospital. He was Director General of Health Malaysia for 10 years between March 2013 and April 2023. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director General of Health (Medical) between January 2008 and February 2013.

His area of expertise is in breast and endocrine cancers, with numerous published papers and textbook chapters in endocrine surgery. He trained in breast and endocrine surgery under the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Fellowship training programme and obtained his Master of Surgery and Medical Degrees from the National University of Malaysia (UKM).

He chairs multiple medical professional councils and national-level technical committees and is actively involved as a policymaker in global organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). He is also a Councillor-at-Large (2017-2021) in the Executive Board of the International Society of Surgery (ISS) and chairs the Global Surgery Committee of ISS. In March 2020, he was elected as the Chairman of the Asian Association of Endocrine Surgeons. Since December 2022, he serves as the Chair of the World Health Organization’s Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Prepardness and Response (SCHEPPR) on behalf of Malaysia.

Dr Noor Hisham has been conferred numerous local and international awards including the prestigious Fellowship Ad Hominem of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2018 for his contributions toward healthcare. In 2019, he was given the honour to deliver the distinguished Martin Allgöwer Lecture at the 48th World Congress of Surgery in Krakow, Poland.

For his exemplary leadership in managing the healthcare sector response in the COVID-19 pandemic, he was awarded the BrandLaureate Awards for “Outstanding BrandLeadership Award 2020” by The World Brands Foundation (TWBF), and his alma mater’s “UKM Most Notable Alumni 2019”. Both of these awards reflect the dedication, commitment, sacrifice and resilience of every individual in the Ministry of Health and various agencies to provide the best healthcare service for the Rakyat and nation in facing the pandemic.

His special interest lies in enhancing universal healthcare coverage to marginalised communities and bringing personalised healthcare back to the community and home through digital technology and creative innovation.