Exclusive Interview: Robert Lim

You have said that you partially joined the ROTC program because  it helped with paying for college. Did you have any sort of idea going into college about what you wanted to do? 

One of the things that I discovered about Davidson, and what convinced me to join [ROTC], was that a lot of people on their Hall of Fame for ROTC students were physicians. I know [Davidson has] a long history of getting students into medical school but also dealing with the military background. … I knew I wanted to do medicine and I feel that it's about paying for it. And ROTC was a big help to my family.

Can you go into more depth of exactly what you do both for civilians and for the military?

 Sometimes it's the supply issue, sometimes… there are some cases that a trauma surgeon cannot do because they don't have the expertise. Sometimes it has to do with the rest of your mission. But we try to make it so it's only a resource problem. … That being said, every situation is different. If you're the only provider and there are 40 patients coming in and all three of them need emergency surgery then chances are a bunch of them are going to die. There's no way around that. 

But you never know what's going to come in, how much you're going to need something. … So that all comes from your collective intelligence and it tells you that 'yes we can treat this guy, or no we can't treat them.' 

What keeps you motivated to do this important work?

I would say over the years, this has changed. At first, I was just thinking that I wanted to get out there and make sure my patients are alive. And then later on I wanted to make sure the system was a little bit better. But now I really want to [help] people in the future and work towards making it better not just for the surgeons and the patients but for the whole system. … I was not going to be an academic after I graduated—I wasn't the greatest resident. And to see me doing this now is a completely different change in what I envisioned for myself. … But ultimately … the soldier needs help and I'm happy to help my fellow surgeons in getting to the next level. I've been given these gifts, … I really haven't embraced them too well until the last five or six years. And that changed my life.