A Cozy and Inspiring Alumni Gathering in Kota Kinabalu

10 March 2018 started out as a bright and sunny day, but the weather quickly took a turn and brought the ever rising temperature down with a light rain shower in the late afternoon. That was when the crew had to brave the rain and head on to Hilton Kota Kinabalu to setup for the alumni gathering in the evening. The setup was made a breeze with the ever helpful staff from the hotel, and everything was ready by 5:30pm, 30 minutes before the event registration was due to start. By then, the rain has stopped, and the team is ready to receive our alumni. The alumni started trickling in from quarter past six and one could see the mixture of uncertainty at first, and the realisation that dawned on the faces of the alumni later as they recognise the familiar faces among staff and other alumni. The event then started at 7:00pm sharp with a video showing IMU’s achievements in 2017 as the university celebrated its 25^th anniversary, followed by a welcome address by Prof Nazimah Idris, the Associate Dean of the IMU Clinical Campus, Seremban.

Dr Chong Su Lin, CEO of IMU Healthcare was up next, sharing the plans of the IMU hospital with the alumni who were present. This garnered some interest among the alumni with some questions raised. All were well addressed with some vowing that they will return to see the hospital when it is ready. Next on the agenda was Dr Paul Chan Hong Kit, an IMU alumnus who had been invited as a special guest to share his inspiring journey with the participants.Many were impressed by his sharing and we hope that many more alumni are inspired to do more in the future. A collaboration with Dr Paul would be a good start for anyone interested. Read Dr Paul’s journey here. The Vice President of the Alumni Association, Dr Gandhi Solayar also shared his view about the alumni network as well as the upcoming plans for the year. He encouraged the alumni to sign up for the alumni mentoring programme and pay it forward by helping the younger health professionals in their career pathway. Lastly, A/Prof Mohd Zulkefeli, Dean from School of Pharmacy shared an interesting statistic during his speech, that the IMU Pharmacy alumni community is the second largest within the country, which he is very proud of. He also shared his vision of developing a powerful alumni empire right from IMU. A group photo session ensued, after which the group then moved on to Urban Kitchen for a scrumptious buffet dinner at the hotel. The spread of the dinner was amazing, as one would expect no less from the highly acclaimed Hilton group. The spread covered from local to international, with a special section on seafood, displaying crayfish, crabs and lobsters for consumption. Further cross-disciplined network and ties were established and mentoring exchanges were witnessed during dinner. The alumni office has received positive feedback about the event and is proud to say that this has been one of the most effective and inspiring alumni gathering that have taken place since the reach out programme started in 2016. The event officially ended at 10:00pm with many saying that they would definitely join us again at the next gathering. More photos are available in IMU Alumni Facebook