Tikki Pang was previously director of research policy and cooperation, evidence, and information for the policy cluster of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, (1999–2012) and currently holds an academic appointment at a leading university in Asia. Prior to joining the WHO, he was professor of biomedical sciences at the Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1989–1999) and lecturer/associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Malaya (1977–1989). He holds a doctorate in immunology-microbiology from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (U.K.), the Institute of Biology (U.K.), the American Academy of Microbiology (USA), the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.

Pang was co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Dengue and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever at the University of Malaya (1982–1995) and a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group, which developed the guideline “Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever: Diagnosis, Treatment and Control” (1986). During his time at the WHO, he was secretary of the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research and led the development of the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Evidence-Informed Policy Networks, and the WHO Guidelines Review and Research Ethics committees. He was formerly chair of the board of the Southeast Asia Community Observatory and a former member and chair of the board of directors of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Malaria Alliance.

Pang has published more than 250 scientific articles and 12 books and was lead author on several major WHO reports, including the WorldHealth Report 2013: Research for Universal Health Coverage (2013), Knowledge for Better Health (2004), and Genomics and World Health (2002). His research interests are in epidemiology, pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases, biosecurity and dual-use research, genomics and global health, and in health research policy, health research systems, global health governance, best practices in research, development of research capabilities in developing countries, and linkages between research and policy.