Last Thursday (21 March), a Singaporean doctor in Britain received an honorary knighthood for his role in the fight against Covid-19.
The title ‘Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE)’ went to 56-year-old Professor Lim Wei Shen.
Source: British Thoracic Society
The United Kingdom’s (UK) Honours and Appointments Secretariat explains that the KBE honours those who served in a non-combative role and contributed to the Arts, Sciences, Charitable Work and Public Service.
It’s also the highest honour Britain can bestow upon a foreign national.
According to the UK government website, Prof Lim received the honour for his role as the chair of Covid-19 Immunisation on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
The University of Nottingham credits him as the co-lead investigator of the world’s largest clinical trial to discover drug treatments for Covid-19.
Source: UK Government on Flickr
Set up in March 2020, the trial concluded that a low-cost steroid treatment called Dexamethasone reduced deaths in patients hospitalised with severe respiratory complications from the virus by up to one-third.
Dexamethasone was the first drug to be effective against Covid-19.
After recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Medicines Agency and influential countries around the world, the drug reduced death rates by one-third in ventilated patients, and one-fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only.
According to The Straits Times (ST), Prof Lim wanted to contribute to the medical field from a young age.
After graduating from Anglo-Chinese Junior College, he applied to study at the National University of Singapore (NUS) but was not accepted.
His parents then supported him through his medical studies at the University of Nottingham, where he graduated in 1991.
Before his roles as a consultant respiratory physician at Nottingham University Hospitals and Honorary Professor of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, Prof Lim returned home and worked at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Singapore General Hospital.
Source: Google Maps
He then decided to complete higher specialist training at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Nottingham.
Besides the KBE, Prof Lim was also awarded the Moxon Medal in 2022 by the Royal College of Physicians for his contributions to clinical medicine.
He was also awarded The British Thoracic Society’s (BTS) President’s Award in Dec last year for his impact in the field of respiratory healthcare.
Also read: Li Shengwu announces tenure at Harvard University, Lee Hsien Yang has proud dad moment
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Featured image adapted from Number 10 on Flickr.
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