Korea’s bio-industry is experiencing rapid growth, and the medical AI industry is no exception.
Few other companies exemplify this trend better than medical AI startup VUNO. Since its founding in 2014, the company has quickly transformed into an international name.
However, despite Korea’s growing global presence in the medical industry, foreigners working in this field in Korea still appear to be few and far between. One of them is Lauren Kaye, VUNO’s Senior Manager of Global Strategy and Planning.
An American born to a Panamanian mother and American father, Kaye is no stranger to a multicultural environment as she grew up, studied and worked in more than a few countries. While her father worked as a commercial lawyer in Chile with occasional business in Korea, she lived in Chile for 10 years. Later, she majored in international business and management and East Asian studies with a focus on China and South Korea at Dickson College.
“I also did an exchange semester at Yonsei University’s Underwood International College School of Business and Economics while simultaneously interning at Deloitte Anjin,” Kaye said in a recent interview with Korea Biomedical Review. “My experiences as an exchange student seem to have influenced my return here to start a new journey with VUNO.”
Kaye described her role in business development and global partnership management at VUNO. In this role, she often has to perform various tasks, support marketing initiatives, identify key global accounts and manage new relationships on behalf of VUNO.
“For example, VUNO launched its new US office on Monday, so much of the communication between the Korean and US offices also falls under her purview as the company continues to expand its product portfolio and market size,” said Kaye.
Detailing her past experiences, Kaye noted that she previously worked at Deloitte as a management consultant specializing in healthcare in the US. There, she focused on helping clients transform the way they deliver care, improve operational efficiency and implement digital solutions such as electronic health records. (EHR).
While doing that work, she saw Korea as a hub of innovation and disruptive technologies, particularly in the digital health arena. However, it was during her days as an exchange student at Yonsei University that she was first drawn to Korea.
“It is very exciting to return to Korea in a professional capacity where I can leverage my experience in the US healthcare strategy and ecosystem to help VUNO and Korea’s medical technology penetrate global markets,” said Kaye.
As Kaye’s work, education and training were all global, she credits this diverse background as a key factor in helping her transition to her current role, where she regularly identifies international partners and engages with them to discuss business opportunities. business for VUNO.
‘Time to jump on Korea’s medical AI bandwagon’
Asked about the difficulty of settling into a Korean work environment, Kaye said, “Maybe it’s the initial culture of VUNO, but I haven’t experienced a huge adjustment period.”
She noted that VUNO does not have a traditional hierarchical organization like typical Korean companies, so the work environment is more casual, encouraging more open communication among all employees, regardless of job title.
Kaye admitted that meetings are often held in “Konglish,” as it is sometimes difficult to fully express her ideas in Korean.
“I truly appreciate these efforts because I know my colleagues are doing this to ensure that I feel comfortable and can contribute my thoughts during meetings,” she said. “However, it is important for me to try to speak as much Korean as possible so that I can meet my colleagues halfway.”
Describing her work at VUNO, Kaye said: “I enjoy collaborating with colleagues from different professional backgrounds and working in cross-functional teams that allow everyone to participate and showcase their skills in a meaningful way.”
Kaye offered some advice to foreigners wishing to pursue a similar career path in Korea as an expert in her field.
“Although experience plays a big role in landing the desired position, I believe it’s more important to market yourself by leveraging your unique experiences and the value you can add to the company,” she said.
Noting that medical AI is changing dramatically with new technologies being developed every day to help medical practitioners close gaps across the healthcare spectrum, Kaye said, “As the medical AI industry in Korea continues to flourish , I think now is the perfect time to join and be part of this change as companies expand overseas.”
Regarding her future goals, Kaye said she is primarily focused on developing and supporting VUNO’s market penetration in key regions, including the US and Latin America. “In addition to helping VUNO build its US operations, I also want to establish and grow our presence in Latin America (LATAM) since I lived there,” she said.
Despite the slower adoption rates in the LATAM region, Kaye thinks the potential for positive impact is quite large and therefore worth exploring as she expressed her hope to one day educate end users and drive clinical application “of real world” of AI diagnostic solutions. to address healthcare resource gaps in the LATAM region.
“I’ve only been at VUNO for a little over a year now, and I believe there’s still a long way to go here,” Kaye said. “I also realized through this interview that I would like to build a community for foreigners working in Korea’s medical industry where we can exchange ideas and further support each other to expand Korea’s global reach in the medical arena. “
