Prof Sam is a medical graduate from the University of Nottingham in the UK, and completed his FRCPath postgraduate training in Medical Microbiology in London. He leads the advanced (molecular) diagnostic and virology units in microbiology in the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, a 1000-bed tertiary referral centre in Kuala Lumpur. He is also involved in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His research interests cover clinical, epidemiological, diagnostic and pathogenesis aspects of chikungunya and other arboviruses, respiratory viruses, and enteroviruses. He has been working on chikungunya since an outbreak in Malaysia in 2006.