Singapore surgeon recognized as pioneer
Singapore's pioneering transplant surgeon, Dr Susan Lim, has become the first Singaporean and the youngest person to become a Fellow of Australia's Trinity College, the institution's highest honor, which is awarded to individuals of outstanding achievement.
She joins the highly distinguished, international community of academic, business and professional leaders, including Thailand's "condom crusader" Senator Mechai Viravaidja, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and the Rt. Revd. Dr Peter Hollingworth.
In 1990, Lim performed Asia's first successful liver transplant in Asia, and since then has continued to pioneer new techniques, including advancing the use of minimal access surgery for breast lumps and cancer, and championing robotic surgery.
Today she is the founder, chair and CEO of Stem Cell Technologies (SCTi) which, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore's department of surgery, is conducting research into the use of adult stem cells for a cure for diabetes.
"The field of medicine is so exciting and offers tremendous potential for innovation and pioneering work that will help mankind," Lim, who has been described as a medical dynamo by her peers, said.
Lim, and husband Deepak Sharma, head of Citigroup Private Bank for Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Japan, established the Indiapore Trust Fund in 2001 to assist children from underprivileged areas in Singapore and the region.
Singaporean-born Lim was selected in 1974 for the Colombo Plan Scholarship to study medicine in Australia, where she became a resident student at Trinity College. She completed her MBBS with first-class honors in 1979, sharing the prize for the highest aggregate marks in the first three pre-clinical years.
In 1984 Lim became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and the following year was awarded a Churchill Scholarship to pursue a doctorate in transplantation immunology at the University of Cambridge.
In 2000 she received Singapore's Spirit of the Century award in recognition of her personal excellence and global achievements. Lim was also chosen through a public poll to have her hands immortalized at Madame Tussaud's in Singapore. -- JP