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Dr. Yvonne Lim Ai Lian is a senior professor at the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur and a fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. Currently, she is the Director of International Relations Office (IRO), UM and serves on the University Senate. She was the former Deputy Dean (Research) of Faculty of Medicine, UM and the past president of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM).

Her research focuses on host-parasite interactions and the epidemiology and control of neglected tropical diseases primarily among the underserved and indigenous communities. Her work has been funded by various national and international grants (e.g. NIH). In her pursuit to better understand and control these diseases, her team has developed and evaluated time- and cost-effective solutions, such as multi-hits health education packages, rapid molecular diagnostics and provision of spatial distribution maps using geographic information system (GIS). In recent years, there is also a growing interest that some parasites such as helminths (worms) may play a role in the future treatment of inflammatory diseases. Using multidisciplinary advance approaches, her team’s landmark publication with collaborators from New York University in Science unravelled the mechanisms of how low levels of helminth infection promote growth of probiotic gut microbiota. Her team is currently collaborating with researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA to further elucidate the role of gut microbiota-helminth associations and the effects of this relationship on other non-communicable diseases.

She has published more than 200 scientific papers, 9 book chapters and 3 books. She has a vast network of local and international partnerships. She was a visiting fellow at the Department of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne, Australia and was appointed a visiting professor at the Department of Molecular Parasitology and Tropical Diseases, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. She is currently an international member of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) in the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis Data Treatment Platform which provides independent scientific expertise, guidance and support. She is also involved in the formulation of the National Policy for the Development of Orang Asli (Indigenous) with the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA), Malaysia.   

Dr. Yvonne Lim has been a panel member of evaluators for various national and selected international research grant schemes. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, among which were the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) Centenary Scholarship, Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine Life Membership, Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine Medal for being an outstanding young scientist, the University of Malaya Excellence Award for outstanding achievement in the category of Excellent Lecturer (for Sciences) and the Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) Award. In 2018, she was featured as one of the 10 Science Stars of East Asia in Nature.