Dr. Pagalavan Letchumanan – Malaysia

Dr Pagalavan Letchumanan graduated from the University of Malaya in 1997 and has since worked in several hospitals in Malaysia; namely Hospital Ipoh, Hospital Pontian, Hospital Sultanah Aminah and Hospital Selayang. He obtained his MRCP (UK) in 2002. He also underwent part of his Rheumatology training in Singapore General Hospital and later became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh in 2010.

He joined Monash University Malaysia as a Lecturer in 2006 (pioneer group) and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2009. Soon after that, he left to become the Resident Consultant Physician & Rheumatologist at Columbia Asia Hospital Nusajaya in July 2010 and has published several papers in renowned international journals.

Dr. Pagalavan Letchumanan was in charge of housemen and junior doctors in the government sector for close to 7 years. He has been active in the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) since he was a Houseman, had held the post of Johor SCHOMOS chairman from 2002 to 2005, and was the National SCHOMOS Treasurer from 2004 to 2006.  He is also an active contributor to the MMA monthly magazine since 2004. During this period, he dealt with many issues concerning doctors and housemen, realizing that many quit or regretted doing medicine because they were not told the reality of being a doctor. Thus, in 2010 he started his blog “Pagalavan’s Avatar” to educate students, parents and even doctors on the reality of being a doctor, the challenges ahead, and the changing landscape of the medical field.