Lynne Lim

Dr Lynne Lim is currently Senior Consultant Ear Nose Throat – Head & Neck Surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre. She is Adjunct Associate Professor to the School of Medicine at National University Singapore, and Visiting Consultant to the ENT Department at National University Hospital.

Lynne graduated with the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Science degree from National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1992, and was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1996 on completion of the ENT specialty exam. In 2001, she was accredited as a Specialist in Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Singapore Medical Council.

Lynne was further awarded a Healthcare Manpower Development Program (HMDP) Fellowship for ENT Surgery and National Medical Research Council Research Fellowship for research to Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Centre, Ohio, USA. She spent 3 years between 2001 to 2003 there at CCHMC, a world-renowned American ENT Board Accredited medical and research centre, mentored by Professors Robin Cotton and John Grienwald.

Between 2002 to 2004, Lynne completed her Master of Public Health degree at the Harvard School of Public Health, USA. Her second MOH HMDP award in 2008 -2009 was for reconstruction surgery of complex microtia/ atresia/ middle ear bones pathology at leading centers of Stanford Medical Centre (USA), University of Virginia Medical Centre (USA), and Nagata Plastic and Ear Reconstruction Clinic (Japan).

Professional Experience

Lynne was Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine from 2011 to 2014, and Assistant Dean (Academic Affairs) from 2010 to 2011. She was Vice Chairman of Medical Board (Medical Affairs-Human Resource) at National University Hospital (NUH) from 2011 to 2013.

Lynne was awarded Associate Professor with Tenure at NUS in 2008. She was very much involved in the teaching of medical students, ENT trainees and fellows. Additionally, she has been in the teaching advisory committees and a faculty for the NUS Master of Science on Speech Language Pathology, Master of Science in Audiology, Master in Clinical Investigation and Nursing Diploma programs. Lynne is well sought after as a speaker and expert faculty, with hundreds of engagements at regional and international surgical workshops, clinical, research and public meetings.

Lynne has been Senior Consultant ENT Head and Neck Surgeon since 2004; and Director at the NUH Centre for Hearing Intervention & Language Development since 2006. She lists as her happiest achievement, the nurturing of a young team of 3 to its tight-knit one of 21 audiologists/ audio-technicians and speech language/ auditory verbal therapists in 2014 delivering a full adult and pediatric service. She has performed hundreds of cochlear, middle ear and bone anchored hearing implants. She has led many surgical workshops and complex surgeries and been on the advisory committees of airway and hearing/ cochlear implant centers in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Middle East.

Lynne consults in adult and pediatric cases of general ENT like ear, hearing, tinnitus, giddiness, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, snoring, adenoid and tonsils, throat, voice, head and neck lump problems. She is further sub-specialized to manage complex cases of hearing loss (microtia, atresia and middle ear tumor and ear bone reconstruction surgery, cochlear implants, middle ear implants like Vibrant Soundbridge, BoneBridge, bone anchored hearing aids; airway reconstruction (laryngotracheal reconstruction for stridor, tracheotomy and voice problems); ENT problems in syndromic children (eg Down Syndrome); soft palate and pharyngeal surgery for hypernasal unclear speech.

Accolades and Pioneering Achievements

In Singapore, Lynne pioneered simultaneous anterior and posterior rib graft reconstruction for severe subglottic airway stenosis for stridor in children (2004) and sphincteroplasty for velopharyngeal insufficiency for unclear speech (2004). She set up genetic testing of hearing loss service at NUH (2005), performed the first simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant surgery (2005), and also the first totally-implantable (“invisible”) Carina middle ear implant surgery (2008). Lynne & her team at NUH have led strongly in Singapore and Asia to manage Central Auditory Processing Disorders in children since 2005.

In 2006, Lynne was the first in Asia to perform the Vibrant Soundbridge middle ear implant surgery. After this implant on the incus middle ear bone, she continued with first such surgeries in 2007 for the implant onto the round window, and in 2008 for implant onto the stapes ear bone.

Lynne is the Founding Director of the first Singapore Master of Science in Audiology degree program which inaugurated in August 2013 at NUS. She has garnered a significant Siemens donation that enables the set-up, infrastructure building of special audiology and teaching rooms, manpower hire and long-term sustenance of the program at the NUS and NUH. This unique collaboration between industry, hospital and medical school and audiology professionals is a significant milestone in her continual efforts to elevate the profile of Audiology and improve on the hearing health ecosystem in Singapore.

Teaching and Research Profile

Education & Mentorship

Lynne has enjoyed teaching widely over the years, for Medical students, ENT trainees, ENT fellows, nurses, Master of Public Health, Master of Clinical Investigation, Change workshop, Mater of Audiology, Master of Speech Language Pathology, School of Design students. She is an examiner for ENT Basic and Advanced Trainees examinations and specialty accreditation, Founding Training Advisory Committee for the MSc in Speech and Language Pathology, and MSc in Audiology, and member of the Residency Advisory Committee for ENT, MOH. She has published book chapters on 1. Airway Obstruction, 2. Hearing Loss and 3. Speech and Resonance Disorders in “Ear Nose and Throat Disorders for the General Practitioner” and a book chapter on Common ENT Conditions in “Paediatrics On-The-Go”.

Innovation & Research

Lynne’s research focuses recently have been in hearing loss, novel biomedical devices, trachea airways, allergic rhinitis and health service delivery and public health. She recently completed a study on telephone administered hearing screening tests for the public. Currently, she is continuing with research grants for a hand-held device to insert grommet tubes for glue ears in the clinic, for bioabsorbable grommet tubes that self destruct after a few months, and new hearing service delivery method via minivans for the community.

Lynne has published consistently in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is often invited to share her work at regional and international research conferences. She worked with Health Promotion Board MOH as lead for the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Rhinosinusitis and Functional Screening for Hearing Loss in the Elderly, and also for expert resource in the Hearing Loss section for the National Health Survey 2010.