Professor Dr Cheah Fook Choe

Professor Dr Cheah Fook Choe

  • Professor
Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery
  • Jeffrey Cheah Sunway Medical School
Faculty of Medical and Life Sciences
SDGs Focus

Biography

Professor Cheah Fook Choe started his academic career as a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) after qualifying as a paediatric specialist in 1997. He completed his subspeciality training in neonatology in 2000, followed by a neonatal research fellowship in Christchurch, New Zealand where completed his PhD in 2003. He embarked on a postdoctoral research stint as visiting scientist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA from 2006-2008. Since then, Dr. Cheah was Professor of Paediatrics at UKM, where he trained undergraduate and postgraduate students in paediatrics, fellows in neonatology as well as supervised Master and PhD research students. He was previously the head of the university's placenta and perinatal research group, being the principal investigator of various national and international multicentre clinical trials and translational studies. Professor Cheah has authored and edited several textbooks such as "Nutritional Care of Preterm Infants, 2nd Edition" and is also in the editorial board of two high-impact journals, "Neonatology" and "Scientific Reports". For his contribution in medicine and science, Prof. Cheah is accorded fellowship by the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia (FAMM) and the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia (FASc).

Academic & Professional Qualifications

  • Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) (UKM), Malaysia (1991)
  • Master's in Medicine (M.Med. Paediatrics) (UKM), Malaysia (1997)
  • Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), Australia and New Zealand (2003)
  • PhD (Otago), New Zealand (2004)
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (FRCPCH), U.K. (2009)

Research Interests

  • Clinical trial applications of dissolvable transdermal microneedle
  • Maternal-newborn microbiome-microbiota in health and disease
  • Metabolomics in neonatal nutritional therapies
  • Preterm infant nutrition and growth
  • Oxygen use and airway stabilization in preterm infants
  • G6PD mutations and neonatal jaundice
  • Intrauterine infections- Gardnerella vaginalis on fetal lung and growth
  • Chorioamnionitis - placenta inflammation and clinical outcomes e.g. BPD
  • Expanded newborn screening for inherited metabolic and genetic conditions
  • Respiratory syncytial virus prevention and immunoprophylaxis

Teaching Areas

  • Basic Clinical Skills in Medical Practice
  • General Paediatrics
  • Neonatology

Courses Taught

  • M.D. programme

Notable Publications

  1. Cheah FC, Khoo EJ, Ali A, Ismail Z, Awang RA, Ng DC, Chan PWK, Ahmad Kamar A, Chua XY, Sam JI, Abdul Manaf MR, Kassim A. Recommendations on Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Immunization Strategies for Infants and Young Children in Countries with Year-Round RSV Activity. *Vaccines (Basel).* 2026 Jan 4;14(1):59. doi: 10.3390/vaccines14010059.

  2. Oei JL, Kirby A, Travadi J, Davis P, Wright I, Ghadge A, Yeung C, Cruz M, Keech A, Hague W, Lui K, Vento M, Gordon A, De Waal K, Chaudhari T, Hong TSL, Morris S, Kushnir A, Bonney D, Tracy M, Kumar K, Chhnia AS, Baral VR, Muniyappa P, Cheah FC, Sarnadgouda P, Rajadurai VS, Balakrishnan U, Oleti TP, Aldecoa-Bilbao V, Couce ML, Collados CT, Fernández RE, Moliner E, Ruiz Gonzalez MD, Singhal M, Agrawal G, Singh J, Pal S, Nayya S, Arora R, Amboiram P, Simes J, Tarnow-Mordi W; TORPIDO30/60 Collaborative Group. Targeted Oxygen for Initial Resuscitation of Preterm Infants: The TORPIDO 30/60 Randomized Clinical Trial. *JAMA.* 2026 Feb 10;335(6):523-530. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.23327.

  3. Jalal MIA, Ooi KS, Foo KC, Hamzah AA, Dee CF, Ooi PC, Buyong MR, Rahman ASA, Low TY, Chua XY, Lau DSC, Cheah FC. Randomized double-blind crossover trial of a transdermal maltose dissolvable microneedle patch for topical anesthesia before intravenous cannulation for thalassemia children. *Sci Rep.* 2025 Nov 29;16(1):671. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-30279-9.

  4. Abdul Jalal MI, Yen MY, Chenshen L, Bastion MC, Yun CX, Abdul Razak SS, Kuppusami S, Abdul Rahman AS, Azizol Nashriby ME, Rahim NAA, Ooi PC, Buyong MR, Mohamed MA, Dee CF, Hamzah AA, Cheah FC. The efficacy and safety of lignocaine-embedded dissolvable microneedle versus EMLA for topical analgesia in adults undergoing venepuncture: A single-centre, parallel-group, double-blind randomised clinical trial protocol in a tertiary care setting. *PLoS One.* 2025 Nov 4;20(11):e0335932. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0335932.

  5. Cheah FC, Syed Omar SA, Lee J, Ang ZJ, Gopal AR, Wan Md Zin WN, Ng BK, Chiang SC, Chien YH. Umbilical Cord Blood Sampling for Newborn Screening of Pompe Disease and the Detection of a Novel Pathogenic Variant and Pseudodeficiency Variants in an Asian Population. *Int J Neonatal Screen.* 2025 Sep 3;11(3):74. doi: 10.3390/ijns11030074.

  6. Wong PK, Syafruddin SE, Cheah FC, Azmi N, Ng PY, Chua EW. Introduction of a single-nucleotide variant, rs16851030, into the *ADORA1* gene increased cellular susceptibility to hypoxia. *Per Med.* 2024;21(6):353-366. doi: 10.1080/17410541.2024.2412514.

  7. Khoo EJ, Zilfalil BA, Thong MK, Yong SC, Chee SC, Lee JK, Teh SH, Taib F, Cheah FC. Obtaining assent for research involving children in Malaysia: a position statement from the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia College of Paediatrics. *Med J Malaysia.* 2024 Jul;79(4):494-497.

  8. Jani P, Mishra U, Buchmayer J, Maheshwari R, D'Çruz D, Walker K, Gözen D, Lowe K, Wright A, Marceau J, Culcer M, Priyadarshi A, Kirby A, Moore JE, Oei JL, Shah V, Vaidya U, Khashana A, Godambe S, Cheah FC, Zhou WH, Hu XJ, Satardien M. Global variation in skin injuries and skincare practices in extremely preterm infants. *World J Pediatr.* 2023 Feb;19(2):139-157. doi: 10.1007/s12519-022-00625-2.

  9. Jani P, Mishra U, Buchmayer J, Walker K, Gözen D, Maheshwari R, D'Çruz D, Lowe K, Wright A, Marceau J, Culcer M, Priyadarshi A, Kirby A, Moore JE, Oei JL, Shah V, Vaidya U, Khashana A, Godambe S, Cheah FC, Zhou W, Xiaojing H, Satardien M. Thermoregulation and golden hour practices in extremely preterm infants: an international survey. *Pediatr Res.* 2023 May;93(6):1701-1709. doi: 10.1038/s41390-022-02297-0.

  10. Lee HY, Ithnin A, Azma RZ, Othman A, Salvador A, Cheah FC. Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency and Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia: Insights on Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Gene Variants in Disease Heterogeneity. *Front Pediatr.* 2022 May 24;10:875877. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.875877.
     

Achievements & Accolades

  1. Clinical trial of transdermal dissolvable microneedle application in medical practice.
  2. Study of maternal and infant microbiome relationships on clinical outcomes.
  3. Recommendations on the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in young children.
  4. Expanded newborn screening with the use of umbilical cord blood for dried blood spot tests.
  5. Targeted oxygenation during resuscitation and stabilization of preterm infants and their clinical outcomes.
  6. Position statement and national workflow protocol on delayed cord clamping at birth for newborn infants.
  7. Recommendations on COVID-19 vaccination for children in Malaysia.
  8. Protocol and guidelines on optimal nutritional support for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and the role of metabolomics.
  9. *Gardnerella vaginalis* intrauterine infection and fetal-neonatal outcomes.
  10. G6PD mutations and neonatal jaundice.
     

Professional Associations

  1. President, College of Paediatrics, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia (2026-2028). Life member of the Perinatal Society of Malaysia and the Malaysian Paediatric Association. Member of the International Society for Newborn Screening, Society for Pediatric Research (USA) and the American Thoracic Society.