Azhar M. Zain became a doctor in 1982. He  worked at the Penang hospital until 1985 when he joined the Universiti Sains Malaysia as a trainee lecturer. In 1988 he graduated as a psychiatrist and worked in the USM Hospital as a psychiatrist and lecturer in psychiatry. Subsequently he became interested in the area of psychological treatment and rehabilitation and spent some time in England to get extra training in these areas. He worked at the Horton Hospital near London at the Behaviour Modification and Rehabilitation Unit as Visiting Fellow where he was also attached to the hospital’s Psychotherapy Unit. He also trained in Cognitive Psychotherapy from the University of Oxford.

Presently he is attached to the USM hospital Kubang Kerian Kelantan where he runs the Psychotherapy clinic. He is also the Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University. His work in these areas have been expressed through research, paper presentations and journal publications. He has written more than fifty papers in professional journals and has produced several videos for students and has written a chapter in a book published in Canada. His work has also been cited in the Marquis Whos Who in the World and the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge. Besides being the current president of PERSIKOL he is also active in the Malaysian Medical Association where he is serving in several psychological related committees. He is also on the editorial board of several professional journals in Malaysia. He has also been actively involved in organizing and presenting workshops in areas related to psychotherapy within the country. Internationally he is the current treasurer of the Asia Pacific Association of Psychotherapists and is the Asia Pacific representative of the International Federation for Psychotherapy. He is also member of the British Association for Behaviour and Cognitive Psychotherapists and the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapists.

As president of PERSIKOL he hopes to be able to take the association to at least the national level and to be able to make people aware how difficult life is for those with psychological problems and difficult life is for those who are close to the sufferers. The aim of making psychological problems on par with other disorders is a huge hurdle but that will be the only way to change the approach to help sufferers. He wants to ensure PERSIKOL remains focused at being client-centred and compliment the existing care givers rather than compete with them. The aim is maintaining them well in the community that goes with our motto of “Towards a healthy mind, organised life, and stable community”. He also pushes for increasing research into management of psychologically impaired persons through PERSIKOL so as to further improve the quality of life of these unfortunate people.