KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Malaysian anaesthesiologist Dr Mary Suma Cardosa has become the first Asian president of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), a global organisation dedicated to advancing pain research, education, and treatment.
Dr Cardosa assumed the two-year presidency today during the closing of the 2026 World Congress on Pain in Bangkok, Thailand, succeeding Andrew Rice of the United Kingdom. Her term runs until 2028.
An anaesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist, Dr Cardosa has spent more than three decades developing pain management services and education in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia.
She helped establish the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) first acute pain service in 1993 and Malaysia’s first multidisciplinary pain clinic in 2000. She also spearheaded the Pain Free Hospital initiative, launched in 2011 to improve the recognition and management of pain in health care settings.
Dr Cardosa retired from full-time service at the MOH in 2016 after more than 30 years, including as a consultant pain specialist at Hospital Selayang. She currently practises as a visiting consultant pain specialist at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), and ParkCity Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Dr Cardosa was previously the first woman to serve as president of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), making history with her appointment in 2011.
“Pain affects people in every country, but access to effective pain care remains profoundly unequal,” Dr Cardosa said in an IASP statement today.
She said strengthening clinical services, investing in education, and bringing together different medical disciplines were important to improving access to pain care.
“As IASP president, I look forward to working with our global community to advance pain science and help ensure that its benefits reach more people, wherever they live,” she said.
Dr Cardosa’s appointment comes as the IASP holds its World Congress on Pain in Southeast Asia for the first time. The 2026 congress in Bangkok also marks the association’s return to Asia for the first time since 2016.
The congress brings together researchers, clinicians, and health care professionals to share scientific developments and improve the understanding and treatment of pain.
