Dr. Po-Lin Hsu from magAssist: Nothing is More Important than Saving Lives

On December 8, themed “Realizing Your Power”, the 2022 FORTUNE China MPW Summit was held in Shanghai. Dr. Po-Lin Hsu attended the event as an invitee for the second consecutive year, and was invited to share her insights on entrepreneurship in the post-COVID-19 era as a guest at the “Post-COVID Entrepreneurs: Swimming in the Deep End” roundtable.

First, regarding the rules of survival for startups in the post-COVID-19 era, I think we should stay true to our original intentions. Second, we should be “fast, accurate and relentless”. On the premise of not crossing the moral limit, we should do things faster, because no one knows what will happen tomorrow; we should find the right partners for cooperation and never waste time on the wrong people and things; and we should be relentless in investment.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a rare opportunity for medical device and hard technology entrepreneurship. With national policies introduced to tackle bottleneck problems in technologies, we should pay absolute attention to innovation. We’re still moving forward with the mentality that the future is bright. Through the pandemic, we’ve realized the importance of emergency devices and other high-end medical equipment. Policies should support not only the technologies needed at home, but also those going abroad. This is a good dividend and the demand of the times.

Under the leadership of Po-Lin Hsu, magAssist completed the R&D of the first MoyoAssist® Extracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device in China from scratch within three years.

Speaking of her original entrepreneurship intentions, she shared, “The ECMO or artificial heart is a highly specialized field. Despite its importance, China has not yet developed its own ECMO. This is due to the niche nature of the field. When I was a Ph.D. student, my peers were exploring other fields. However, my strong desire to save lives was the driving force behind my decision to pursue this field. It was this goal that motivated me to work in the lab for over a decade, and it is what has brought me to where I am today.

“It is a philosophy of life and entrepreneurial wisdom to find a small fulcrum with which to tackle a big problem.”

Dr. Hsu also shared her philosophy of life and entrepreneurial wisdom at the 20th China Entrepreneur Summit and the session of "Mulan Says" at the 22nd Annual Conference of Future Stars. She spoke about her "fulcrums" for making life choices and starting a business, as well as her aspirations to continue developing better technologies to serve more doctors and patients.

She emphasized the importance of not just following the trend, but rather aiming to be "Me Better" and not just "Me Too". In product development, the company always considers what doctors will need in the future and the original intentions of the entrepreneurs become crucial in overcoming the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Hsu's goal is to do something truly useful to help patients. She believes that by staying true to their original intentions and persevering through difficult times, they will eventually find success. Through their efforts, they hope to save not just one or two patients, but hundreds, thousands and more. The health and well-being of patients is a testament to the continuity of the value of life.