Lau Leok Lim

Dr Lau Leok Lim is an orthopaedic surgeon at Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore. He has a special interest in paediatric spine. He is also skilled in both the operative and non-operative care of spinal conditions that span a wide spectrum of pathologies across all age groups. Prior to joining private practice, Dr Lau was a senior consultant in the department of orthopaedic surgery at the National University Hospital. He graduated from the University of Dublin, Ireland. He has more than 20 years’ experience practising medicine. One of his achievements is the decade-long scoliosis project to reduce surgical eligible rates in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis where he was a project director. He worked with a team of experts and achieved their goal via a multi-pronged approach including the use of smart braces. Dr Lau has modernised the care of spinal conditions in children by pioneering advanced techniques such as anterior-release followed by chair-based halo-gravity traction for patients with the most severe scoliosis. He embraces technology such as vertebral-body tethering, robotic surgery, endoscopic deformity correction surgery and 3-D printing. He is the earliest spine surgeon who is also clinical fellowship-trained in paediatric spine surgery at an ACGME accredited site. He is also the earliest doctor in Asia to do The Tether – vertebral body tethering and the earliest surgeon in Singapore to use Mazor X scan and Plan Workflow Robotic system. He was invited to pen the foreword in a book entitled ‘Embrace’, written by his patient who underwent scoliosis surgery. The book details her journey through scoliosis and aims to encourage other patients in similar predicaments. He presents regularly at national and international medical conferences. He also volunteers his expertise at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance of Singapore. He was the treasurer of the Singapore Spine Society and a current member of the Scoliosis Interest Group, Asia Pacific Spine Society. Dr Lau is a recipient of several Long Service Awards.