Rate My Professor Kyi Tha

Dr. Kyi Kyi Tha is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences within the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Monash University Malaysia, where she has served since February 8, 2011. She holds additional roles as Academic Coordinator for the BMedSc (Hons) program and Discipline Coordinator for Theme III Pharmacology and Theme IV Clinical Skills. Her academic journey began with an MBBS in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Medicine 2 Yangon, Myanmar, awarded in 1991. Following her house officer training in 1990-1991 and a year as Research Officer in the Clinical Research Unit at Defence Services General Hospital Yangon, she advanced to Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Medicine 2 Yangon from 1992 to 1997. She then pursued and completed her PhD in Neuropharmacology at Hokkaido University, Japan, in 2001, focusing on neurochemical changes in the brain of senescence-accelerated mice as a model for learning deficiency. Post-PhD, she was Senior Lecturer at the University of Medicine 1 Yangon until 2003, followed by roles as Consultant Pharmacologist in private practice in Myanmar until 2005, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, at International Islamic University Malaysia from 2006 to 2011. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from Monash University in 2014.

Dr. Tha's research specializations include neuropharmacology, clinical pharmacology, breast cancer, clinical skills, and medical education. She has supervised postgraduate students on projects such as nanoparticle delivery for breast cancer treatment, medication adherence in stroke survivors, and gene/siRNA delivery systems. As principal investigator, she secured funding including the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme from Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education (RM 116,200, 2016-2019) for perturbation of cell-cell interactions in breast cancer, and a Global Asia in the 21st Century platform grant (RM 10,000, 2018-2019). Key publications comprise 'Fabrication and characterization of calcium carbonate nanoparticles for delivery of doxorubicin in breast cancer cells' (Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, 2025), 'Carbonate Apatite Nanoparticles-Facilitated Intracellular Delivery of siRNA(s) Targeting Calcium Ion Channels Efficiently Kills Breast Cancer Cells' (Toxics, 2018), and 'Therapeutic Potency of Nanoformulations of siRNAs and shRNAs in Animal Models of Cancers' (Pharmaceutics, 2018). Her contributions extend to 47 research outputs, conference presentations, and peer reviews. Awards include Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2022), Pro-vice Chancellor Award for Excellence in Education Innovation (2020), and various learning and teaching travel grants. She holds memberships in the Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators, Malaysian Association of Education in the Medical and Health Sciences, and others.