Key Points
- FUSHK is guided by the leadership team of Jessica Che-yi Chao, Syaru Shirley Lin, PhD, and Carolyn Yeh
- The group shares why they became involved in FUSHK and what they see as its greatest potential.
FUSHK is guided by the leadership team of Jessica Che-yi Chao, Syaru Shirley Lin, PhD, and Carolyn Yeh. This dynamic group brings a unique blend of expertise in the financial industry, including private equity, venture capital, strategic investment, and equity research.
Ms. Chao serves as a FUSHK director and has worked in different capacities in the financial industry for 15 years, across banking, equity research, and strategic investment. Most recently, she was an Executive Director of Firmwide Strategy at Goldman Sachs (Asia) based in Hong Kong.
Professor Lin is a FUSHK founding member and a Research Professor at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. She is also an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and chairs the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation. She retired as a partner at Goldman Sachs.
Ms. Yeh serves as a FUSHK founding member and director. She has worked in finance at firms such as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in London and Asia and is now the vice president of the Yale Club of Hong Kong.
We spoke with the leadership team about their connection to focused ultrasound, why they became involved in FUSHK, and what they see as its greatest potential.
Jessica Che-yi Chao
What is your connection to focused ultrasound?
In addition to being a director of FUSHK, I am a Focused Ultrasound Foundation Council member and serve as its Asia advisor.
What moved you to get involved with FUSHK?
Having been involved with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation for the past seven years, I have witnessed how it helps push this technology forward and how many patients have benefited from its endeavor, including me. Therefore, when there was an opportunity to expand focused ultrasound outreach in Hong Kong, I wanted to be part of it.
What excites you most about FUSHK?
Hong Kong is a unique place. As someone who lived and worked in Hong Kong for 10 years, I know it is a place with abundant talents, funds, and resources, not to mention the many visionary philanthropists who are willing to help us at an early stage. FUSHK is also fortunate enough to benefit from the strong connections Shirley Lin and Carolyn Yeh have with local influencers.
Having a footprint in Hong Kong demonstrates the Foundation’s determination to make this revolution in medical therapy a global effort. We can better consolidate resources and share knowledge across different regions. This will help make good use of funds raised to support research projects in Asia and make it easier for donors to give.
Syaru Shirley Lin, PhD
What is your connection to focused ultrasound?
When I came to the University of Virginia, I met Neal Kassell, MD, founder of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. I followed the Foundation’s progress and eventually joined its Council. I now serve on the Foundation’s Board, and I am a founding member of FUSHK.
What moved you to get involved with FUSHK?
The simple reason is that focused ultrasound is something that will help people all around the world. It’s not specific to an individual country; the work we do can impact millions of lives. It’s both conceptually, as well as empirically, very important to me to be involved in a foundation in healthcare, where you can see both visible results in the short term, as well as long term impact on society and our collective well-being.
What excites you most about FUSHK?
Several years ago, I put together a few programs for the Foundation team to come visit Asia. It was an incredible opportunity, because the Foundation had not done that much outreach in Asia at that point. Throughout those events and meetings, I found that there was a huge amount of interest in giving, helping, and sustaining focused ultrasound, as well as in reaching out to doctors and hospitals that are already using the technology throughout the region. Those experiences were the conception of FUSHK, through which we are raising money within Asia to support research projects in the region and also connecting researchers, clinicians, manufacturers, investors, and philanthropists.
Carolyn Yeh
What is your connection to focused ultrasound?
I first heard about the application of focused ultrasound outside the medical aesthetics industry when a couple of good friends had their uterine fibroids successfully treated with the technology.
What moved you to get involved with FUSHK?
I have since learned about other applications of focused ultrasound and have been fascinated by them. The fact that it is so effective while being noninvasive is amazing. FUSHK is helping to promote this technology to benefit mankind, and I am honored to be a small part of this effort.
What excites you most about focused ultrasound?
What excites me most about focused ultrasound is it unlocking the potential to treat previously incurable diseases and offer a better quality of life. There is now hope instead of just all pessimism when a diagnosis is given.
How might focused ultrasound might be viewed differently in Hong Kong versus other parts of the world?
I feel that focused ultrasound as a medical technology is still in its early stages in Hong Kong when compared with the US, Europe, and even other parts of Asia, which means there is enormous potential in Hong Kong. If more doctors are willing to adopt this technology and introduce it to their patients, I feel that the Hong Kong people would be open to trying it.