[Power K-Women] "Not Obsessed with Results... Intrinsic Motivation is the Driving Force"

Obstetrician-Gynecologist Turned Entrepreneur
Interview with Lee Hyejun, CEO of KaiHealth
Developing Embryo Analysis AI Solution
"Committed to Helping Build Healthy Families"

Lee Hye-jun, CEO of KaiHealth, has had a career journey full of twists and turns. Although she established a stable path as an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, she suddenly took off her white coat and went to study in the United States. After completing the MBA program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, she gained business experience at the American healthcare company Change Healthcare and the cancer precision medicine big data platform Syapse. Then, driven by the desire to "try running my own business," she opened the third chapter of her career. In 2021, she founded KaiHealth, which addresses infertility issues using big data.

On the surface, it seemed like a continuous series of challenges and changes, but she says she "simply moved according to her values." The result of contemplating work that could have a positive impact on many people is what shaped the current CEO Lee.

That does not mean the challenges were easy. Someone once compared starting a business to a game. Every time she cleared a mission such as securing investment, developing services, or obtaining technical certification, a new mission popped up. The sweetness of small and large achievements often ended in an instant. Nevertheless, CEO Lee does not get tired because she follows an unwavering internal motivation rather than the achievements themselves. She emphasized, "Achievements are important, but I don’t draw energy from them alone," adding, "If you cling only to achievements, you cannot run long or you may become complacent."

Now in its third year since founding, KaiHealth is about to commercialize its embryo analysis artificial intelligence (AI) solution, Vita Embryo. This solution selects embryos with a high likelihood of pregnancy. While clinical researchers and medical staff achieve only 40-50% accuracy when selecting superior embryos, using Vita Embryo raises this to 60-70%. The company plans to receive approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety by the end of this year and start sales targeting hospitals early next year.

- What motivated you to leave the stable profession of a doctor and challenge a new field?

△ While treating infertility patients as an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, I became fascinated by healthcare data. I wanted to bring about greater change through technology rather than one-on-one patient care. I quit the hospital and went to the U.S., working at Change Healthcare and Syapse. At Syapse’s Korea branch, I was in charge of sales, marketing, and customer management. Since I had to follow decisions from headquarters, my desire to have ownership and run my own business grew stronger. That’s how I started my venture. Having family members who are all entrepreneurs?my father, father-in-law, husband, and younger sibling?also influenced me. My family, especially my husband, gave me a lot of support.

- What was the biggest difficulty transitioning from the medical field to the tech industry?

△ I lacked specialized knowledge. Compared to the medical field, where you can see and touch things, the tech field is abstract. This transition itself was not easy and remains challenging. Although I can communicate about IT technology and think logically, I am not an expert, so I work closely with many developers on the team.

- Why did you choose an embryo analysis AI solution as your startup item?

△ Since I worked as an infertility specialist in obstetrics and gynecology and handled data at a healthcare company, it was the field I knew best. Above all, I believed solving infertility issues is essential for society. Infertility is painful in itself, but the wounds from failure are even greater. Yet, much is left to chance. I thought applying AI and data would increase predictability. Vita Embryo learns from embryo data collected at hospitals how certain embryo characteristics increase pregnancy chances. It helps medical staff and researchers select good embryos. It reduces the need for three artificial inseminations to just one.

Lee Hye-jun, CEO of KaiHealth, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at the office in Gangnam, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

- I’m also curious why you chose a business-to-business (B2B) service.

△ As a doctor, I had experience providing business-to-consumer (B2C) services, so I naturally considered B2C. However, I have not yet found an answer for the business model. In healthcare, where specific business models exist such as subscription fees, e-commerce selling pharmaceuticals, or advertising, applying these models is difficult. I think the best direction is to move toward business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) services like abroad. This means providing services through corporate welfare programs or insurance company benefits.

- Have you faced difficulties since founding the company? Collecting medical data must have been challenging.

△ After the amendment of the three data-related laws, a path opened to use retrospective patient data. We secured an opportunity to accumulate data by carrying out a project to build an AI fetal and embryo dataset for the National Information Society Agency (NIA). However, turning data into a usable product rather than a research project was a completely different story. It required great effort to improve efficiency without disrupting the existing work of medical staff. Fortunately, with the emergence of ChatGPT and the success of AI companies in the medical field like Lunit and Vuno, the medical community’s perception of technology has changed significantly. We were able to improve the solution through proof of concept (PoC) with medical staff.

- Conversely, when did you feel that starting a business was the right decision?

△ I think starting a business was right simply because I can work proactively. Being able to develop products in the direction I want and attract people is most important to me.

- With proactive work comes responsibility and pressure, right?

△ It’s a double-edged sword. Starting a business is fun but also very hard. Someone compared it to a game. It’s fun to clear missions, but that’s not the end. Competitors appear, or the market becomes difficult?trials always come. Because of this, it’s hard to fully enjoy joy at any moment. The next task always holds me back, so it’s difficult to savor achievement. Instead of clinging to each achievement, I keep moving forward fueled by internal motivation.

Lee Hye-jun, CEO of Kai Health, poses before an interview with Asia Economy at the Gangnam office in Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

- You are a mother of two middle school daughters. How do you balance work and family as a working mom?

△ I grew up with a working mother, and my children naturally accept that their mother works. Although always busy, they are proud of a mother who does her best. Of course, there were tough times. When my child cried and clung to me as I left for work, my heart broke, and I sometimes wanted to quit everything. When my children were young, I adjusted my pace rather than sacrificing my career. At that time, I worked at Maria Hospital, an infertility clinic, where working hours were fixed and I could leave quickly. As my children grow and become independent, I don’t need to spend as much physical time now.

- What message would you like to give to female colleagues (junior women)?

△ I hope they let go of the idea of becoming a superwoman and take a long-term view. A husband is not someone who just helps with childcare but a partner who shares it. In my case, my husband was the main contact for the children’s school and academy and was part of the parent group chat. When I went to study in the U.S., my husband even quit his job. We need to boldly let go of the idea that as working moms, mothers must lead everything and do everything well.

- What are your future aspirations and goals?

△ The ways of having children or forming families are changing dramatically. Accordingly, demand for in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination is increasing, and I want to help with that. Beyond technology that selects good embryos, I want to develop technology that assists in all processes of creating and nurturing good embryos. Since there are many variables in the environment where embryos grow, such as culture media and incubators, AI can be applied to predict the optimal environment. There could also be solutions that predict how many children can be born based on the number of frozen eggs in egg freezing. Because the human body is very complex, not everything can be solved by technology, but I believe data can help humans make important decisions. My ultimate goal is to contribute to creating healthy families.

Lee Hye-jun, CEO of KaiHealth,

graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine. She specialized in infertility and reproductive endocrinology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Seoul National University Hospital and served as a clinical fellow, director of Maria Hospital’s clinical department, and director of its international clinic. She then earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Transitioning to industry, she worked in the strategy and AI teams at Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer in the U.S., and served as Asia-Pacific (APAC) director at Syapse, a precision medicine platform. In 2021, she founded KaiHealth and developed the Vita Embryo solution.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.