【Building a Healthy Future】

As if out of a science fiction movie, with just one click, you can find the right doctor for consultation, get information and recommendations about cell therapy, and receive assistance in everything from minimally invasive repairs to major injury treatments, achieving the goal where prevention is better than cure. Although still a vision under development, Lin Xin-yi firmly believes that based on Taiwan's strong technology and communication capabilities, this is a possible future for the medical industry.

Words:Ken Huang Images:Christ Gao

As the medical industry advances, even though we can't fully control life and death, we are now able to treat most diseases extensively. However, even so, in the eyes of Lin Xin-yi, the founder of Star Aesthetic Group, this is still not enough, at least, he personally feels a strong impact.

Often joking that he's 'unprofessionally' involved in the field of aesthetic medicine, after his wife was diagnosed with stage 1A lung adenocarcinoma in 2017, he was puzzled that someone who neither smoked nor drank and lived a healthy life could develop cancer. Fortunately, regular health checks allowed for the early elimination of the cancer, leading to a successful recovery.

Preventive Healthcare, Cellular Therapy, and Taiwan's Top 100 Certified Physicians Online Consultation Platform is a new vision created by Lin Xin-yi. Images: STARNIC.

Moreover, through his years of collaboration with doctors and sharing experiences, he found that healthy adults often only discover major illnesses like cancer when it is too late for effective treatment. The experiences of his family members and frequent professional interactions convinced him to enter the 'big health market', forming strategic alliances with dental, ophthalmology, and rehabilitation departments, and in 2023, he created the 'Preventive Healthcare, Cellular Therapy, and Taiwan's Top 100 Certified Physicians Online Consultation Platform', tackling the problem at its root, enabling the dissemination of professional medical knowledge through the platform to those who seek to prevent serious illnesses.

Transparency and immediacy of information are essential for medical safety

A medical research booklet given to him by an oncologist once shocked him. Photography: Gao Min-zhi.

Stepping into the open office space of the Star Aesthetic Group, sunlight slants through the floor-to-ceiling windows into a spacious and clean area. In the center, four silver screens display numerous data charts, updating in real-time like a battlefield front line, with clear and logical data, allowing any colleague in need of information to understand at a glance.

'I always say our company is obsessed with data and KPIs, but actually, this came from my experience working in Mainland China. I studied their concept of 'data-driven', and we discussed and organized all necessary data, then analyzed it to create precise SOPs.' This clear and comprehensive information gathering and highly efficient model is one reason why Lin Xin-yi and his team were able to quickly establish the 'Preventive Healthcare, Cellular Therapy, and Taiwan's Top 100 Certified Physicians Online Consultation Platform'.

Speaking of the formal catalyst for action, in the autumn of 2021, a doctor who had been his long-time friend and had been involved in cell therapy and research for many years expressed a desire to switch fields to medical aesthetics. It was a pity for a cell therapy expert to change fields, especially as Lin Xin-yi observed that the general public had little understanding of the field, and in an age of information overload, it was hard to discern the accuracy of the information obtained. 'I strongly persuaded the doctor that his expertise was extremely important to humanity. I promised to build a 'preventive' consultation platform to allow patients to access accurate information through consultation, enabling them to choose the right specialty and find the right doctor in a timely manner.'

Public safety incidents catalyze Taiwan's movement towards becoming a biotech island

In his office, Lin Xin-yi has a painting by the Russian master Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, "Chaos (The Creation)", which depicts the primal chaos of the world's beginning, seemingly echoing the medical industry's constant confrontation with life and death. Photography:Christ Gao.

When it comes to cell therapy, many people's thoughts might still be stuck on the concept of cord blood storage from twenty years ago, but this view is not comprehensive. "The Taiwanese government previously introduced regulations to promote industrial upgrading, with legal guidance and government support being reasons why Taiwan has now become a technology island," Lin Xin-yi mentioned. He noted that the biotech medical industry felt heavily restricted in the past, especially cell therapy, which faced many restrictions, mainly due to different developmental directions planned by the government, and not entirely because of governmental regulations. "Another part of the reason might be that certain key historical events had not yet occurred," he added.

In 2018, the Ministry of Health and Welfare officially issued the "Regulations on the Management of Specific Medical Technologies, Inspections, and Medical Devices" (commonly known as the Special Management Law), which includes the use of autologous immune cell therapy covering six cell therapy technologies, including autologous immune cell therapy, cancer and terminal solid cancer treatment for patients who do not respond to other treatments, autologous cartilage cell transplantation for knee cartilage defects, and autologous stem cell fat transplantation for extensive burns and difficult-to-heal wounds.

Lin Xin-yi believes that such events crucially propelled the government's attention to cell therapy, specifically the 2015 major accident: "The Formosa Fun Coast Dust Explosion." A party fire nearly took away many futures, severely burning almost 499 vibrant young people, with burns covering more than 44% of their bodies, initially predicted to have a mortality rate of up to 25%. However, over 90% of them were saved, a medical miracle.

At that time, many excellent Taiwanese doctors, directors of burn centers, and professors of plastic surgery were involved in the treatment. Lin Xin-yi recalled that, according to the doctors, skin was sent to Japan for replication using dermis as a dressing, combined with the strong regenerative capabilities of the young, which resulted in a medical miracle. "Even if the treatment was proper, the death rate should have been slightly better than the global average, but unexpectedly, the survival rate was more than ten times better, and Taiwan's exceptional medical standards were seen by the world." He mentioned that this was also the first time the World Health Organization (WHO) broke tradition by inviting Taiwan to join as an observer, and for several consecutive years, Taiwanese medical teams were invited to participate in large-scale disaster relief and post-terrorist attack medical treatments around the world.

The Possible Future: Preventive Healthcare, Cellular Therapy, and Taiwan's Top 100 Certified Physicians Online Consultation Platform

Tragedies and fortunes are often intertwined. The tragic public safety incident at Formosa Fun Coast unexpectedly allowed the world to glimpse Taiwan's excellent achievements in the field of cell research and further prompted the government to adjust the Special Management Law. In 2008, Lin Xin-yi switched from the real estate industry to the field of medical aesthetics. The Star Aesthetic Group is committed to bringing beauty and confidence to its users, emphasizing user experience, and the service has been well-received. Now, he is applying his experience in running a medical aesthetic business back into the field of preventive medicine for major injuries and promoting cell therapy for proper application.

"I often say an unrealistic wish is that in the future, even in a war zone, a wounded child who can connect to the internet can consult with just one click, truly achieving medical equality and accessibility of consultation," he deeply believes. The Preventive Healthcare, Cellular Therapy, and Taiwan's Top 100 Certified Physicians Online Consultation Platform he is building now will not only serve over 400,000 members of Star Aesthetic but also those who join the platform, establishing the concept of self-funded healthcare, carrying health check reports, and scheduling health consultations with specialists to plan for their healthy future.

"To establish the platform, out of the 238 doctors listed in the Special Management Law, I visited more than 50 doctors and several companies conducting cell therapy research, with many doctors eagerly sharing their thoughts," Lin Xin-yi reminisced about the intense planning over two years. As of 2023, 32 doctors are already available for appointments on the platform's website, "with a target of one hundred by this year." Lin Xin-yi's eyes sparkled, seeing a future where living well and healthily is everyone's right, and the vision he sees is Taiwan gradually shining as an international medical island.

[Reference Source] https://www.prestigeonline.com/tw/people-events/people/preventivemedicineandpossibility/