Lee Hong Susan Lim (February 14, 1952 – August 2, 2014), more commonly known as Susan Lim, was a Malaysian

parasitologist Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it ...

who specialised on the

Monogenea Monogeneans are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female repr ...

, a class of parasitic

flatworm The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmen ...

s which are important

ectoparasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

s of fishes. She was the first and only Malaysian commissioner elected to the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

. Her research was mainly in the fields of

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and faunistics, although in later years, she became involved in a wide range of parasitological disciplines. She has been considered the leading monogenean specialist in

South-East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

. By describing more than 100 new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

and reassigning more than 100 others, she became the sixth most productive

monogenea Monogeneans are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female repr ...

n worker (and foremost female worker) of all time. She is also noted for describing an entirely new attachment mechanism in the form of net-like structures formed by

secretions 440px Secretion is the movement of material from one point to another, such as a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast, excretion is the removal of certain substances or waste products from a cell or organism. The classical ...

from the

haptor The haptor is the attachment organ of the monogeneans, a group of parasitic Platyhelminthes. The haptor is sometimes called opisthaptor (from ''opistho-'': behind) to emphasize that it is located in the posterior part of the body, and to differe ...

of some of her worms. Susan Lim died from cancer in

Petaling Jaya ) , website = , image_skyline = , image_caption = ''From top, left to right:Skyline of Petaling Jaya, the 1 Utama Mall integrated with Bandar Utama Station, the Kota Darul Ehsan arch, the Petaling ...

, Selangor, Malaysia, on August 2, 2014, after a long illness.

Education and career

Susan Lim was born at

Seremban Seremban (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Soghomban'', ''Somban''; Jawi: ) is a city in the Seremban District and the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan in Peninsular Malaysia. The city's administration is run by the Seremban City Council. Se ...

in the State of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, on February 14, 1952. She received her early education in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Seremban, and completed her 6th Form studies at St Pauls Institution, Seremban. In 1971 she entered the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

to read

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

. She remained at the same university for her MSc and PhD degrees, funding her studies as a university tutor. Her PhD,Lim, L. H. S. 1987. Distribution and Diversity of Monogeneans in Freshwater Fishes of Peninsular Malaysia. PhD Thesis, University of Malaysia, December 1987. under the supervision of Prof. Jose I. Furtado, was on

n parasites of freshwater fishes and was completed in 1987. In 1989, she was awarded a

lectureship Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct res ...

in the same department and in 2003 was promoted to a full

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

in the Institute of Biological Sciences. Susan Lim had numerous

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

students and strong international collaborations with specialists in her field.

Awards and honours

* Full Professorship,

, 2003 * Commissioner of the

, 2006–2014 (the only Malaysian ever elected) * Life-membership of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology & Tropical Medicine, 2009.

Personal life

Susan Lim married George Liew, a botanist, in 1979 and had two children.

Eponymous taxa

The two

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

'' Susanlimae'' Boeger, Pariselle & Patella, 2015 and ''Susanlimocotyle'' Soares, Domingues & Adriano, 2021 were named by their respective authors to "acknowledge the fact that Dr. Lim was greatly responsible for most of our knowledge of the diversity of Monogenea from Asian Siluriformes." The following species of

ns were named in her honour: *''

Calydiscoides ''Calydiscoides'' is a genus of monopisthocotylean monogeneans, included in the family Diplectanidae. The genus currently includes 16 species, which are all parasitic on the gills of marine fish of the family Lethrinidae and Nemipteridae. All sp ...

limae'' Justine & Brena, 2009 *''Cornudiscoides susanae'' Agrawal & Vishwakarma, 1996 *'' Dactylogyrus limae'' Timofeeva, Gerasev & Gibson, 1996 *'' Dactylogyrus limleehongae'' Gusev, 1985 * ''Haliotrema susanae'' Soo, 2019

References

External links