When Chin Wei Jia learned she had been named EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Healthcare in 2025, her first reaction wasn’t celebration. It was humility.
“I was pleasantly surprised, but the award isn’t just about the person. It belongs to our team of doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, as well as our partners and stakeholders,” says the group CEO of HMI Medical. “Importantly, it just serves as a motivation to continue what we’re doing to improve lives.”
It is a characteristically modest response from someone who has spent 22 years transforming HMI Medical into an integrated healthcare group serving over 3 million patients annually. But for Chin, the recognition is less a measure of success than a reminder of what truly matters: that healthcare is built on human connection and the best leaders never stop learning.
The call that redirected everything
In 2002, Chin was in the US, applying for her PhD and imagining a future in global development, perhaps with the United Nations or the World Bank, working on projects that improved lives through healthcare, education or the environment.
Then came the call from home. Her family’s healthcare business, a two-hospital operation in Singapore and Malacca back then, was struggling in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis and the Sept 11 attacks. Payroll was tight, resources were thin, and the founding sense of mission had dimmed.
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During the restructuring that followed, Chin made a discovery that would shape her entire philosophy of leadership. “It showed me what resilience means and why trust is important. By rolling up your sleeves and getting on the ground, any act (however small it may be) to help somebody improve their health, navigate their health journey is very meaningful,” she says.
When the business finally stabilised, Chin took a gap year to reflect. In that pause came a quiet but powerful realisation that HMI Medical could be the platform for the social impact she had always sought, though not in the form she once imagined.
She returned with a clear sense of purpose and eventually became CEO in 2015. “I made a decision to really dedicate my time towards building HMI to be an inclusive, supportive, as well as very patient-focused healthcare provider.”
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The power of purpose
That sense of purpose would be tested like never before by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chin was on holiday, sitting at a breakfast restaurant, when news started flooding in. Covid-19 was going to be bigger than anyone initially thought.
“I had enough news coming in to know we needed to act. This was early February,” she recalls. What followed was a masterclass in crisis leadership. Chin immediately assembled a multi-functional Covid-19 committee that would hold nearly 200 meetings over two years. But the tactics mattered less than the three principles that guided them.
First was clarity of purpose. “Even in the early days when no one knew what to expect, our top priority was the safety of our patients and team.”
Second, team over hierarchy. “I brought people from our quality teams and immediately started working on business continuity plans. We needed multi-functional expertise such as doctors, infection control nurses, operations, procurement, quality teams and IT.”
Third, leading by example. “We said business continuity plans meant certain restrictions apply to everyone. A lot of times, I wanted to go to the hospital, but the teams told me no. Leaders have to walk the talk.”
Under her direction, HMI split teams before lockdowns were mandated, ran vaccination centres, managed community care facilities and trained over 85,000 swabbers. “We were able to keep our team safe throughout the Covid pandemic, which was the proudest achievement,” she says.
The crisis, she adds, distilled her leadership lessons into three principles. “The first is the importance of the team. Also, clarity of purpose to ensure we’re united in purpose and making decisions that matter. Finally, clear and consistent communication. We did everything to let people know we are going to be here to make sure everyone is safe.”
She came to define resilience through unity of purpose, a lesson that deepened her understanding of leadership and service. Purpose keeps her grounded and focused on what matters most, which is the people behind every act of care.
The art of being uncomfortable
Ask Chin about her entrepreneurial journey, and she doesn’t begin with strategy or numbers. She talks about growth, the kind that’s personal, uncomfortable, and necessary.
“In the early days, when we were much smaller, I had to be on the ground a lot. We had to work on building trust and networks,” she recalls. Resources were scarce, the team was lean, and every decision carried weight. What kept her moving was a simple conviction that with the right intention and action, anything could be built over time.
That belief in embracing discomfort has since become her advice to female entrepreneurs. “Women think a lot more,” she says, reflecting on her work with women-in-business groups. “When an opportunity is available, the first thing women may think is: Am I prepared enough?”
Her advice is to just do it. The opportunity, she points out, would not exist if someone had not already believed in the potential.
Comfort is meant to be challenged because that is how growth happens. “It’s like going to the gym and building new muscles. It’s going to ache for a while, but after that, it becomes a norm. If you don’t stretch, if you don’t become uncomfortable, you will not be able to grow,” she says.
Learning from everyone
After 22 years leading HMI Medical, Chin remains as curious and open to learning as when she first joined as a management trainee. “Learning comes from everywhere. I learn from everyone, from the concierge at the front door to colleagues across industries,” she shares.
Outside work, that curiosity extends into travel, cooking, photography, pilates, yoga and long walks in nature. Photography, in particular, mirrors her philosophy of care. She explains: “A good photographer captures the essence of a person or a moment — it’s both art and science. Healthcare is the same. We invest in the science, but the art is in caring, where we see from another’s perspective and build around their needs.”
That instinct to keep learning and look beyond her own field for answers is not new. It traces back to her academic roots in international relations and economics. “I’ve always been very curious about why things are the way they are, and passionate about trying to do something to impact positive change.”
For Chin, entrepreneurial spirit is not about individual brilliance. It’s about collaborative courage and shared purpose. “The people I work with are experienced and knowledgeable about different subjects. We discuss and debate in quite a lively manner before making a very considered decision. It’s always important to have the end goal in mind. For us, that means what is best for the patient.”
That mindset extends across the organisation. “As we grow, expand, develop and innovate towards that outcome, we work as one team. Where we don’t have the internal capabilities yet, we will either build those capabilities or partner with strategics who have deep expertise.”
Healthcare as a social good
Chin remains devoted to the causes that first inspired her: healthcare, education and the environment. “I always felt that if somebody can something to make a change and make a positive impact, it brings a lot of meaning to life. And we only have one life,” she says.
This conviction drives work beyond the bottom line. HMI Medical operates a social enterprise dedicated to caregiver training, providing volunteer programmes for first responders and home caregivers. “With the ageing population, the need for caregiver training is something we’re working to drive as we grow. We’re bringing it into the community and workplaces.”
Her vision extends to reaching people before they become patients. “We are actively building our outreach into neighbourhoods and workplaces, doing more in what I call health optimisation so that we can help people stay healthy and support them before they become patients.”
Today, HMI Medical employs over 400 doctors and 2,500 team members across Southeast Asia. For Chin, these aren’t just numbers; they represent profound responsibility.
“Each one of them has a family. So, we are responsible for multiple lives and livelihoods. In terms of patients, that’s in the millions. We see ourselves as having to be extremely responsible, to be financially prudent, but at the same time invest in what matters, such as technology, medical innovation, talent development and training. When we focus on doing what’s best for the patient, the returns will come,” she says.
It’s a philosophy that prioritises long-term impact over short-term gains, and people over profits. Chin says: “When I made that decision to join HMI over 20 years ago, it was with a sense of purpose and belief that, however small my impact may be, I can make that small impact. Many small impacts added together over time build not just a company, but a community working together to try and improve the health and the lives of people.”
More than two decades after answering that call from home, Chin continues to see healthcare as both a responsibility and a calling. For her, leadership is not an endpoint but a journey defined by learning, growth and care.
