Making an Impact with a 'CliKX'

Dr Lynne Lim, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, NousQ

Practicing as an Ear Nose Throat (ENT) surgeon for 25 years, and having received opportunities to help with surgeries in over 10 countries in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and Middle East, gave Dr Lynne Lim a helicopter view of healthcare needs on a global scale. During a long stint in the public health system and National University Health System in Singapore as a clinician, academic, teacher and administrator, she was always interested in setting up new services, pioneering new surgeries, building new programmes and products. The public system gave her huge opportunities to create and innovate, but the personal risk was of course, a lot less, with funding and manpower more readily available.

She left a tenured Associate Professor position and started private practice at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre in 2004, for family reasons, and also for the challenge of surviving in the new world of private practice.

"Though many do not realise, starting clinical private practice is also a risky venture into the unknown. It has given me, though, a well-rounded appreciation of what is needed for the entire healthcare ecosystem in Singapore to work well. It has brought me closer to patients and payors and their needs, on a global scale", said Dr Lynne.

She started NousQ, a Singapore-based medical device company in 2021, amidst COVID. The big moment for her was when she decided that if she does not put skin in the game and take a huge leap of faith, the CLIKX device that she had been working on for 10 years with her technical co-founder, Chee Wee, would not help a single patient.