Shireene Ratna A/p D. B. Vethakkan MBBS, MMed, MD

Associate Professor Shireene Ratna Vethakkan obtained her MBBS from the University of Malaya, and Masters of Internal Medicine from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She then underwent endocrine training at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and a fellowship in endocrinology at the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes in St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne. This was followed by an MD(Doctorate of Medicine-Research) at the University of Melbourne focusing on islet-function and insulin-sensitivity in patients with type 1 diabetes post-islet-transplantation. Her expertise lies in the subspecialty of diabetology, in particular, human islet-transplantation, lipotoxicity, and beta-cell function. She is skilled in the evaluation of beta-cell function/insulin sensitivity utilizing computer modeling and the IVGTT, and can also conduct clamp studies.

She was appointed Head of the Division of Endocrinology & Diabetes, Department of Medicine in 2012 and is currently holding that post. She holds several grants and has researched amongst other things: the link between lipemia/maternal BMI and pregnancy outcomes, the impact of ethnicity/culture on Vitamin D insufficiency/therapy in Malaysia, pituitary dysfunction in nasopharyngeal carcinoma survivors, and pharmacogenomics aspects of obesity/diabetes.

Dr. Vethakkan is also an experienced consultant endocrinologist and physician. In the coming year, she intends to expand/improve diabetes/endocrinology services in UMMC by instituting short refresher courses for interns, nurses and other allied health staff, as well as organizing national diabetes/insulin camps and public education seminars for patients as part of the unit's community services.