Prof Arthur Lim is the Founding Medical Director of the Singapore National Eye Centre(SNEC). In 1989, he was invited by the Minister of Health, Mr Yeo Cheow Tong to set up a national centre for ophthalmology and to spearhead its development to world-class status.

Prof Lim has provided great vision in directing SNEC. He introduced the cost-effective quality assurance programmes and videotaped every major operation performed in the Centre. Subsequently, the surgical outcomes in SNEC are comparable to the world's best centres and SNEC's reputation for high standard spread internationally. Prof Lim also established subspecialisation in Singapore and identified the best officers and groomed them for the respective subspecialities.

Prof Lim was also pivotal in developing the educational programmes in Asia and in many countries. The most significant impact of Prof Lim has been his unrelenting insistence that the best be provided with the opportunities to develop to their fullest potential. Thus he has created an invaluable asset in Singapore, placing it in a very strong position to compete with the best in the world.

In international activities, Prof Arthur Lim is a world leader in ophthalmology. He has numerous key appointments in international and regional ophthalmic organisations. He is, to name a few, the Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, a council member of the International Council of Ophthalmology, member of the Academia Ophthalmological Internationalis, member of the International Ophthalmic Advisory Board, Lion's Eye Institute, Perth. He is also the Honorary and Visiting Professor to several Chinese Universities. He was President of the 26th International Congress of Ophthalmology and recipient of the Jose Rizal Medal for excellence in ophthalmology in the Asia-Pacific region, the highest award of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. He is the founding president of the World Eye Surgeons Society, headquartered in Singapore.

He led a major movement in the People's Republic of China to control mass cataract blindness, advocating the use of the modern method of cataract extraction with intraocular implant, which restores normal vision to blind cataract victims. He established five cataract implant training centres in Tianjin, Xiamen, Jinan, Ningxia and Lanzhou. They have performed close to 250,000 cataract implant operations and trained over 2,000 eye surgeons from all over China. Prof Lim was given the State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC) award for his contributions. It was conferred alongside the country's most authoritative science and technology awards to local scientists. He has also been made an honorary citizen of Tianjin and Xiamen.

Prof Lim is also a renowned writer, having authored over 300 scientific papers and lectures and 14 books on ophthalmology. He has received numerous international accolades, awards, medals and named lectureships as well as state honours for his illustrious achievements in ophthalmology. Prof Lim continues to be the Clinical Professor and Head of Department of Ophthalmology, National University of Singapore. He became the first doctor to be honoured by National University of Singapore with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Medicine.

As a special tribute to Prof Lim the Founding Medical Director of SNEC, a lecture was named after him, "The Arthur Lim International Lecture". The Chairman of SNEC Mr Wong Yew Meng reported "despite our repeated requests to Prof Lim to stay on at the helm of the SNEC, he has insisted that his role is to put the second echelon in place for leadership renewal, thus ensuring the future success of the SNEC, as it goes forward to the new millennium. This is truly the mark of a great leader."