Well done ChengHar and most important of all, your contributions to Malaysian women (& men).
2009/05/20
UM surgeon wins international breast cancer award
KUALA LUMPUR, Wed:
Prof Dr Cheng Har Yip, a surgeon with University Malaya Medical Centre, has received an international award for her outstanding work in breast cancer treatment.
She was awarded the UICC (International Union Against Cancer) 2009 Reach to Recovery International Health Professional Award at a conference held in Brisbane, Australia, last week.
She was the only recipient outside Australia to receive the award from the United States based body.
“As much as I am happy to receive it, I also want women in Malaysia to come for screening and early detection of the disease,” she said when met at the 15the UICC Reach to Recovery International Breast Cancer Support Conference in Brisbane.
Dr Yip, a breast surgeon at UMMC, said 1 in 20 Malaysian women would develop breast cancer in their lifetime and Chinese have the highest incidence followed by Indians and Malays. She also said 1 in 16 women, for both Chinese and Indian, were at risk of getting breast cancer as compared with 1 in 28 Malay women. “The commonest age at which a woman can get the disease is between 40 and 49 years. My greatest concern is Malay women who come in at later stages with larger tumours. Consequently their survival rate is worse than with Chinese and Indian women,” she added.
She said the challenge in Malaysia was to be able to provide a comprehensive service in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
Dr Yip started the breast clinic in UMMC in 1993 and has written over 70 articles on the subject in medical journals.
She is the chairman of the National Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Breast Cancer in Malaysia and is on the Council of the College of Surgeons of Malaysia.
She is an exco member of the Asian Breast Cancer Society, a member of Breast Surgery International and also sits on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Breast Health Global Initiatives Foundation.
“My research interest are in the epidemiology, early detection and management of breast cancer in developing countries,” said Dr Yip, who works closely with breast cancer support groups and non-governmental organisations to promote health awareness and early detection of breast cancer.
