Everyone’s favourite GP Dr. Serene Lim has finally found a place she can call home at her new clinic down at Times Square Claremont. The charismatic multi-hyphenate has taken on the role of a pioneer many times in her career as a general practitioner, forging a path first for complementary therapies, and now advocating a new, more natural way for women to maintain their youthful looks. Dr. Serene took the time out of her daily schedule to have a chat with me about her new clinic, her life and her experiences, leaving me with a wealth of helpful tips and hilarious anecdotes, reflecting upon the sparkling personality that lies behind her experience and success. So here’s seven things I learned about Dr. Serene:
1. She’s always had an enquiring mind
The general practitioner has always been interested in new technologies and treatment methods, challenging perceptions about complementary therapies in the 1990s and now becoming an advocate for HIT despite much controversy. For Dr. Serene, her inquisitive mind is what has kept her on the forefront of medical discovery: “I guess I do have an enquiring mind and I learn a lot from my patients as well. They say ‘Oh I’m on this and I’m on that[treatment]’, I don’t discount it, I say ‘Well it’s great if it works for you’ and then I’ll go home and read up all about it and go see what you can do…There’s always a way to find a solution to treat somebody’
2. She didn’t always want to be a doctor
And as usual, the general suspects are behind Dr Serene’s success-Asian parents. “Well I have my mum and dad to thank for, you know how Chinese people are,… they drop subtle hints all your life. Well I thought ‘If I don’t like it I’ll move on’. And they were absolutely right. You have this under your belt, you can do anything you want. Because my other big love was music, you know playing the piano and I do jazz saxophone. So I really loved that and now I can do that in my spare time. With that base in medicine, I’ve been able to branch out into so many things, all very new frontiers.”
3. She practices what she preaches
Unlike other doctors who may tell you one thing and do another, one of Dr. Serene’s slogans are “do as I do, not do as I tell you”! Leading a healthy and active lifestyle, the youthful doctor has a daily routine which puts many youngsters to shame:
“I do practice what I preach. I always tell my patients: ‘Do as I do, not do as I tell you’…I go to the beach…and I swim in the ocean everyday of the year. I eat very healthily; I am gluten and dairy free which I think is better for my tummy. I know what my tummy likes and doesn’t like, so I’m very careful of what I do. And also I meditated for one hour this morning which for me is very essential. And I use all the products that I have as well, like at night before I sleep I use my vitamin A …and in the morning I use my vitamin B and C…My routine is very easy but I just kind of slip into this healthy lifestyle.
4. She’s a bit of a mad scientist
Adventurous and meticulous in her research of new treatments, Dr. Serene makes sure all her endorsed treatments work 100% by trying them out on herself first. As a human guinea pig, she’s tried many products, some which have left long-lasting adverse effects that represent her dedication to her patients: “I only advertise when I’m completely satisfied that it works. From my personal experience, so I try everything on myself too, and I’m the one that suffers as well first -if I do something and I get a negative effect, of course I won’t treat my patients, but I have to wear it for three to four months-I’m the guinea pig.”
When quizzed about her worst experience with testing new products, here’s what she came up with: “The worst thing is I got so excited by these cannulas-they’re like really long needles, but they’re blunt so that when you put the fillers into the face you don’t get any bruising or anything! But it was rare, that means you can treat any part of your face. So I thought, ‘oh great, I’ll treat my eyelids’, you see no one ever treats their eyelids with cannulas, so I did. I said ‘oh I’ll just push it here, I’ll just put some over here’, well I got a really swollen eye and I had a swollen eye for even up to two years. It took a long time to go away. What to do, you know? [Laughs]”
5. She’s a connoisseur of the arts
Not only is Serene a talented musician, but she’s also a procurer of the fine arts. Artworks by famed Italian artist and friend of Pablo Picasso, Vincenzo Balsamo adorn the walls of her new clinic. “There’s a fantastic Italian maestro called Vincenzo Balsamo and I’ll show you his works, its absolutely amazing…I like a lot of different artworks, but what I saw his, it’s just totally exceptional. He’s treated like god in Italy so I’m very lucky to have it.”.
6. She’s an ‘objectless’ person
When asked the ‘what three items would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island’ question, Serene instead picked her husband, calling him her biggest support. “He is fantastic. And even moving into here, I said, ‘I don’t really know whether I want to go out on my own’ and he said, ‘go for it’.” As for the one item she decided to bring with her, it was a meditation cushion as she likes to meditate a lot.
7. She’s her own boss
Although hesitant at first, Dr. Serene couldn’t be happier about setting up shop down Avion Way and going out on her own! “Well initially it was quite scary because I’m used to walking in and out of the clinic and I didn’t want anything to do with anything, but it comes with some downsides, because you’re not free to structure everything just the way you want it. Now I have the freedom, I’m actually really happy because I can schedule appointments and really cater to my patient’s needs much better. “
Of course we’re so happy to have Dr. Serene’s expertise here at Times Square Claremont. Now you know who to call when you need assistance with…well, anything really!
Incredible results after treatments with Dr Serene.
Words by Times Square Feature Writer, Jocelle Koh.
Dr Serene’s Clinic
20 Avion Way
Times Square Claremont
Claremont, 6010
Website: http://drserene.com
Telephone: (08) 9385 3338