Keith Lim

Keith Lim, MB BS (Melb), MD (Bristol), FRCP (E), FRACP, is the Director of Rheumatology at Western Health, a Clinical Associate Professor with Melbourne University. He trained in rheumatology with Professor Paul Dieppe at the University of Bristol where he was lecturer, and completed his MD thesis on hand OA. Prior to returning to live in Melbourne in 2004 , he was President of the Malaysian Society of Rheumatology, when he helped pioneer its modernisation and left a legacy of good governance, training and growth . With the rapid development of tertiary health services in the west of Melbourne, he oversaw the expansion of Rheumatology from a single person service to a large team of clinicians, educators, trainees and researchers, serving a quarter of Melbourne’s catchment. It is the major referral service for rheumatology patients and advanced training and research in the western suburbs. His research interests are varied, but the main areas include Osteoarthritis where he he runs a large longitudinal cohort with a multidisciplinary team since 2005. He and his team are currently in the process of analysing and reporting on the data from this cohort of 20 years. He is also involved in studying the role of inflammatory biomarkers in inflammatory arthritis, in collaboration with Professor John Hamilton’s team. He is on the editorial board of the IJRD, and is on the scientific committee for APLAR., was on expert advisory committees including the Victorian Advisory on OA, UCB advisory on infections and bDMARDs, and is a regular invitee at international conferences. The western unit has a reputation for teaching excellence and has trained numerous fellows and students from all parts of the world.