Dato’ Dr Zakaria graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin in 1986. He commenced his surgical training in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) in March 1989 and passed his Fellowship Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh in November 1991.

He pursued training in paediatric surgery since 1993 and has worked in Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia in 1995. Subsequently, he was appointed as the Head of Paediatric Surgery, Hospital Kuala Lumpur in 2000 and retired in November 2021.

Throughout his impressive career in the Ministry of Health, he has revolutionised the paediatric surgical landscape in Malaysia. He was the forefront in clinical excellence, research, and academic teaching in Malaysia. Dr Zakaria’s achievements in the medical field include being the leader of a surgical team that successfully separated a pair of conjoined, premature infants.