Professor Dr Dato’ Hj. Jafri Malin Abdullah FASc studied in Sekolah Menengah Sains Bukit Mertajam and Sekolah Menengah Sains Kelantan, Pengkalan Chepa. He later continued his studies at Leederville Technical College, Perth, Western Australia and the University of Western Australia. He graduated with an MD from the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1986. In 1994, he was awarded the Diplomate Certification of Specialisation in Neurosurgery from the University of Ghent, Belgium. He obtained a Ph.D (Magna Cum Laude) from the same university in 1995.

Professor Dr Jafri was trained as a Fellow in the field of Stereotactic Functional and Pain Neurosurgery in the Karolinska Institute and Hospital University under the late Professor Bjorn Meyerson and did a short attachment Skull Base Surgery under the late Professor Rhoton of University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. He is currently a Professor of Neurosciences and the Chairman of Brain and Behaviour Cluster, School of Medical Sciences, USM. He was awarded the prestigious Young National Malaysian Scientist Award in 1999 and the 2013 Top Research Scientists Award. Part of his cluster’s research were focused on new treatments in the field of neuro-oncology, medicinal chemistry in the field of CNS tuberculosis, epilepsy and pain as well as neuro-ethnopharmacology. Together with the Transcranial Magnetic stimulation facilities and complete behaviour lab, his other cluster concentrates on comparative as well as clinical neuropsychology and neurosciences. Besides being responsible in setting up labs for functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography, high density electroencephalography, neurogenetics, rodent animal behaviour, electrophysiology, stem cell culture and primary cell laboratories his most recently research activity are in the field neuroinformatics and neurotechnologies.

Professor Dr Jafri has 304 publications in Scopus with H-Index of 31. He is the Chief Editor of the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences. He also serves as an editorial board member of nine international neuroscience journals. He has involved in teaching and graduating more than 111 neurosurgeons, neurologists and 123 neuroscientists as well as clinical psychologist via the Master of Surgery (Neurosurgery), Advance Master Internal Medicine (Neurology), Master of Science (Neuroscience) and PhD Neuroscience. He recently initiated Asia’s first Integrated Doctor of Neurosciences Programme as well as the first joint Psychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Programme.

Professor Dr Jafri established more than 20 neuroscience clubs in secondary and primary schools in Malaysia and is the Malaysian representative for the International Brain Bee Competition as well as advisor and mentor to the International Youth Neuroscience Association, Simply Neuroscience, Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics based in the United States of America. He is a contributing member of the Global Brain Consortium based in Canada (https://globalbrainconsortium.org/). He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Academy of Professor Malaysia, International College of Surgeons (USA), College of Surgeons Edinburgh, Royal Society of Medicine (UK), World Federation Neurosurgical Societies (Switzerland).