The Nanyang Technological University's provost Freddy Boey was awarded the prestigious Faculty of Medicine Fellowship by Imperial College London on Tuesday for his contributions to the field of medicine.

Professor Boey, 56, who has 25 global patents to his name, has invented breakthrough biomedical devices like the world's smallest piezoelectric heart pump, several types of stents, and most recently, a customisable hernia mesh, the first such surgical mesh that was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

He joins a list of Fellows like the UK's first female professor of surgery, Prof Averil Mansfield, and Prof Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer of England.

Imperial College's Faculty of Medicine Fellows are elected annually and are awarded to those who have shown outstanding achievements in their field of study.