Prof. Aini Ideris graduated with Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 1979 from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia - UPM (currently, Universiti Putra Malaysia). She pursued her postgraduate study, at the University of Liverpool, England, receiving a Masters degree in Veterinary Science (MVSc) in Avian Medicine, in 1981, and a PhD degree in Avian Medicine, in 1989 from UPM. She continued with her postdoctoral training at the University of California, Davis, USA (1990-1992), and at Cornell University, USA, in 1993 (under Asian Development Bank Fellowship), where she was involved in molecular pathogenesis research.
Prof. Aini is a well-known Malaysian avian veterinarian. Her research interest is in avian respiratory and immunosuppressive diseases. She has been actively involved in research related to the control of poultry diseases and development of poultry vaccines. Her research has led to the commercialization of Newcastle disease and fowl pox vaccines, in 1995 and 1996 respectively. In 2005, her research team successfully commercialised another important poultry vaccine, i.e. infectious bursal disease vaccine. They also developed rapid diagnostic methods for avian influenza (bird flu), which is a zoonotic disease, Newcastle disease and Mycoplasmosis. Currently her team also looks into the development of halal vaccines, utilizing several different carriers, in the bioreactor.
As a distinguished scientist, Prof. Aini was appointed as Fellow Academy of Sciences of Malaysia. She is also a Founding Fellow of Malaysian College of Veterinary Specialists (FMCVS) and Fellow of Malaysian Scientific Association (FMSA). In October 2011, she was elected as Fellow of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS). She is actively involved as Council Member of Malaysian College of Veterinary Specialists (MCVS), Board Member of Malaysian Cancer Research Institute (MCRI), and Executive Member of National Cancer Council (MAKNA).
Prof. Aini was awarded the prestigious National Academia Award (AAN) 2010, under the category Award for Innovation and Commercialisation, for her successful innovation and commercialisation of Newcastle disease vaccine (NDV4-UPM). AAN is the highest achievement award conferred to Malaysian academics.
She was Chair of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital from 1992 to 1998, Deputy Dean of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, for 9 years (1992 to 2001), Dean, School of Graduate Studies (May 2001 to November 2008), and Chair of the Malaysian Postgraduate Deans Council from 2005 to 2008. Since December 2011, she is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and International) Universiti Putra Malaysia.