Expert hands

A top Monash medical graduate from the 1970s has gone on to a remarkable career as a pioneering surgeon in Singapore. KAREN STICHTENOTH reports.

Monash medical graduate Dr Susan Lim.

Dr Susan Lim (MB BS (Hons) 1979) is a medical dynamo. She performed Singapore's first successful liver transplant in 1990, an operation that was also a first for the Southeast Asian region.

And 13 years on, Dr Lim is continuing to make a difference.

"The field of medicine is so exciting and offers tremendous potential for innovation and pioneering work that will help mankind," she says. "Surgery is one area that allows artistic creativity and significant individual contributions, and this appeals to me."

Born and bred in Singapore, Dr Lim came to Monash University on a Colombo Plan scholarship in 1974 to study medicine.

While at Monash she won the David Rosenthal Memorial Prize (shared) for the highest aggregate marks in the first three pre-clinical years, before graduating with first class honours in medicine in 1979.

"Monash was an exhilarating experience," says Dr Lim. "I found it refreshing and the environment conducive to creative thinking and character-building. I liked the open fields at the campus and the friendliness of faculty staff and students.

"Monash gave me a sense of freedom to develop myself in an educational environment which challenged the status quo."

Among those who influenced her was Professor David de Kretser, now director of Monash's Institute of Reproduction and Development.

"David de Kretser was an awe-inspiring professor and instrumental in my pursuit of excellence in research," says Dr Lim.

In 1984, she became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and received the G. B. Ong Gold Medal for the most outstanding candidate in general surgery.

The following year, Dr Lim was awarded a Sir Winston Churchill Scholarship to pursue a doctorate in transplantation immunology at the University of Cambridge. She completed her PhD in 1988 and returned to Singapore in 1989.

"I was keen to return so I could help develop the health industry and position Singapore as one of the leading providers of healthcare services in this part of the world," she says.

After leaving the National University of Singapore in 1995, Dr Lim went into private practice focusing on transplantation, cancer and minimal access and robotic surgery. Minimal access surgery encompasses complex procedures such as laparoscopic colon resections and gastric banding for obesity.

In 2000, the Singapore public presented her with the 'Spirit of the Century' award in recognition of personal excellence and her global achievements.

Dr Lim's current interests lie in robotic surgery and adult stem cell research. "The future in life sciences is going to be extremely exciting with the convergence of medicine, information tech-nology and engineering.

"Robotic surgery represents the next wave in surgery, after minimal access surgery," she says. "The technology enables all surgeons to achieve precision surgery without tremor and to facilitate complex procedures using minimal access techniques."

Dr Lim has gone a long way since leaving Monash - a university she credits with providing her with confidence and a 'dare to challenge' spirit.

"I developed an inquisitive, probing mind and became innovative in thought, and this has stood me in good stead during my entire career."

Action: For information on postgraduate courses within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University visit the faculty's postgraduate website.