Maggie Lim ( 5 January 1913 – November 1995, ) was a Singaporean physician and public health official. She was inducted into the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ea ...

posthumously, in 2014.

Early life

Maggie Tan was born into a prominent family, the daughter of businessman Tan Kwee Swee, granddaughter of businessman

Tan Kim Ching Tan Kim Ching (; 1829 – February 1892), also known as Tan Kim Cheng, was a Chinese politician and businessman. He was the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng, the founder and financier of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He was consul for Japa ...

, and great-granddaughter of Chinese philanthropist

Tan Tock Seng Tan Tock Seng (; 1798 – 24 February 1850) was a Malacca-born merchant and philanthropist from Singapore. Early life and business Tan Tock Seng was born in Malacca in 1798 to a Chinese Fujianese immigrant father and local Peranakan mother ...

. She attended

Raffles Girls' School Raffles Girls' School (RGS) is an independent girls' secondary school located in Braddell, Singapore. Established in 1879, it is one of the oldest schools in Singapore. RGS, together with its affiliated school Raffles Institution, offers a six- ...

, and later, by special arrangement, Raffles Boys' School. In 1930, she was the first Singaporean schoolgirl to win a Queen's Scholarship. (Her brother Tan Thoon Lip won the same scholarship the previous year.) She earned a medical degree at the

London School of Medicine for Women The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supported and helped found the London School of Me ...

and the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...

. She returned to Singapore in 1940.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Lim was a camp doctor at Endau Settlement in

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

, supporting the

Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a communist guerrilla army that resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the largest anti-Japanese res ...

. After the war, Lim was an obstetrician and public health official in Singapore. She worked for the Singapore Municipal Health Department at the Prinsep Street Infant Welfare Clinic, especially on promoting birth control awareness, addressing childhood infectious diseases, and expanding maternal and child clinic access. Lim was honorary medical officer of the Singapore Family Planning Association when it began in 1949. In early 1951, she was briefly detained with others, by the government, on charges of spreading

Malayan Communist Party The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore from 1 ...

propaganda. In 1963, she became head of the maternal and child welfare department in the Ministry of Health. She was president of the Family Planning and Population Board, and an advisor to the Midwives' Council. She served on the Singapore Hospitals Board, and was an officer of the Singapore Paediatric Society. Later in her career, Lim was a professor of epidemiology and public health at the

University of Hawai'i A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

East–West Center The East–West Center (EWC), or the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West, is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peopl ...

. While in Hawai'i, she served as vice president of Hawaii

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

. Lim was a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

and the

Royal College of Physicians of London The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

Personal life

Maggie Tan married another Queen's Scholar, political activist Lim Hong Bee. They had two daughters, including Patricia Lin, who became a television presenter in Singapore and later a professor in California. Lim died in

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

. She was posthumously inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame in 2014. Singaporean playwright

Stella Kon Stella Kon (''née'' Lim Sing Po, born 1944) is a Singaporean playwright. She is best known for her play, ''Emily of Emerald Hill'', which has been staged internationally. She is a recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award. Biography Kon was born ...

is Maggie Lim's grand-niece.

Tribute

On 14 March 2022, Google celebrated Dr Maggie Lim with a doodle.

References

External links

Photographs of Maggie Lim
from National Heritage Board, Singapore. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Maggie 1913 births 1995 deaths Singaporean women Singaporean public health doctors Raffles Girls' Secondary School alumni Queen's Scholars (British Malaya and Singapore) Alumni of the London School of Medicine for Women Physicians of the Royal Free Hospital 20th-century Singaporean physicians Singaporean emigrants to the United States Women public health doctors