One such local who has been conferred the honour is Datuk Jimmy Choo, who brought handmade women’s shoes to new heights internationally. Famous Brits who have received an OBE include J.K. Rowling and David Beckham.
While we’re used to hearing about Malaysians making a name for themselves overseas, receiving an OBE is a great honour and KL-born paediatrician professor May Ng received the award for her work in diabetes care.
The ceremony was held during the 2022 Platinum Jubilee Queen Elizabeth II Birthday Honours for Services to People with Diabetes and People with Autism and Disabilities. She also had the privilege of meeting Princess Anne (HRH The Princess Royal) of the British Royal Family.
Professor Ng also shared photos of her husband and children at Buckingham Palace, who shared in her the joy of the momentous occasion.
Diabetes UK, the UK’s leading diabetes charity touts her as a globally recognised leader in her field. Her career focusing on children and young people with diabetes has spanned over 25 years. She has also led work around access to diabetes technologies for children and young people with type 1 diabetes as well as children’s mental health.
Professor Ng boasts a padded resume and a long list of awards and honours. This includes being an Honorary Professor at Edge Hill University and publishing over 200 research papers.
She has also authored three books including ‘A Journey with Brendan' which documents a 10-year account of life with autism as a mother and paediatrician. Her eldest son was given a diagnosis of non-verbal autism, while her second son was born deaf with congenital sensorineural deafness. Besides that, she also finds the time to carry out fundraising activities with her family to raise autism awareness and deaf awareness. Just reading about her was absolutely mind-boggling!
We managed to speak to this outstanding Malaysian who said, “I am incredibly humbled to receive this honour and to be recognised for Services to People with Diabetes, People with Autism and People with disabilities.
“Throughout my career, I have always been driven by a passion to address inequalities that many people face in accessing care and to advocate for autistic people and people with learning disabilities due to my own personal experiences with my sons.”
She added, “I hope that this award will focus the attention on the continued efforts to reduce health inequalities, improve diabetes care, and raise autism awareness globally.”
She has evidently passed on her brilliant genes to her son as he joined Mensa after achieving 162 on an IQ test, beating out Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking back in 2019.
Well done, professor and continue making Malaysia proud!
Image credit: facebook.com/bhckl, @mayng888