Asia also became more familiar with Hong Kong's hospital authorities during the outbreak. While the former Director of Health, Margaret Chan, became the much respected public face of the SARS epidemic with her daily briefings, Hospital Authority chief executive, William Ho, was less fortunate.
After initially leading journalists and politicians on tours of SARS stricken hospitals, Ho himself contracted the potentially fatal disease. He has since made a full recovery and says he is ready for the possible return of the virus this winter.
Another Asian to gain 15 minutes of fame in the field of medicine this year was Singaporean neurosurgeon Keith Goh who led a medical team in an historic but tragic attempt to separate conjoined adult Iranian twin sisters Ladan and Laleh Bijani in July. Both women died during surgery but Goh has since said he would perform the operation again should he be asked.
In Japan, Mitoyo Kawate was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person. Less than two weeks after taking the title she died of pneumonia, aged 114.
Kawate's longevity was all the more remarkable as she had survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, worked on a farm until she was 99 before spending the last decade of her life in a nursing home.
Kawate is joined by fellow Japanese senior Yuichiro Miura as one the region's most notable personalities of 2003. Miura, a skiier and mountaineer, became the oldest person to scale the world's highest mountain, Everest, on May 22, at the age 70 years and 222 days.
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