Gu Feng, a renowned endocrinologist and contributor to global standards for pituitary tumors, has not only excelled in clinical practice but also pioneered digital healthcare in China. With a focus on personalized medicine, she has helped develop platforms like “Good Doctor Online” and “Chunyu Doctor”, continuously reshaping the healthcare landscape. Gu Feng’s vision is to make healthcare accessible to all Chinese people—similar to “Mayo Clinic”—by incorporating technology to enhance affordability and accessibility, particularly for patients with chronic endocrine disorders. As she seeks to refine her system with AI, she joined CKGSB’s MBA program to learn about the digitalization of businesses, particularly that of healthcare, which she is revolutionizing in China.
Revolutionizing Healthcare for 20 Years with IT
Over two decades ago, at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the typical patient visit involved long consultations, repetitive questions, and manual record-keeping. Gu Feng, a young medical intern at the time, envisioned a future where digital tools could streamline the process. With a background in information technology and automation, she sought to digitize medical records and improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment.
In 1998, during her doctoral studies, she built her first database. By 2007, she partnered with a third-party organization to develop a commercial medical database. However, the real breakthrough came in 2013 when Gu Feng, already an expert at the hospital, embraced the rise of telemedicine. Her involvement in leading online healthcare platforms like Chunyu Doctor and Good Doctor Online, which offer medical consultations, health management services, and digital healthcare solutions, has propelled her to the forefront of digital healthcare innovation.
Determined to lead the change, Gu Feng sold her properties in Beijing, invested over 80 million RMB, and spent three years assembling a team of experts from top hospitals to develop her vision. In 2014, she founded two medical companies, marking her formal entry into telemedicine. A year later, her mobile healthcare platform, “Slow Doctor App,” was launched, providing a database of over 300 diseases and facilitating multi-person consultations.
Gu Feng’s work isn’t just about innovation—it’s about reshaping healthcare to make it more efficient and accessible. As she puts it,
“High-quality healthcare doesn’t equate to high-end healthcare. Our target is the general public. I’m not here to make money, but to benefit as many people as possible.”
Building China’s Mayo Clinic
The idea for her future venture began to take shape during a 2005 visit to the U.S. to study top medical institutions. Inspired by Mayo Clinic’s focus on personalized care, Gu Feng envisioned a similar model for China—one that emphasizes individual patient needs rather than institutional profit. For patients with chronic conditions like endocrine diseases, personalized care is crucial. Yet, China’s current medical system often relies on standardized treatments, leaving little room for individualized attention.
Gu Feng aspires to adapt Mayo Clinic’s model to suit China’s healthcare needs, focusing on people, not profits. Her model aims to provide high-quality care at accessible prices, serving a broader population.
Combining Medicine and AI
In 2018, Gu Feng left her position at Peking Union Medical College Hospital after 29 years to focus on entrepreneurship.
Her entrepreneurial journey has not been without hardships. She faced multiple challenges, including financial crises and the impact of the pandemic, but her mission to improve healthcare kept her going. Today, she attributes her success to a deep sense of purpose and a relentless pursuit of innovation.
Gu Feng is now integrating AI technology into medical services, envisioning a future where AI can help scale personalized diagnostics. She explains,
“Where a single doctor could manage 2,000 patients, AI could manage 20,000 to 50,000 patients. The diagnostic thinking and logic would be based on the data mined from the best experts’ clinical experience, significantly improving effectiveness.”
By training machines with the diagnostic knowledge of top-tier doctors, she believes AI can revolutionize healthcare, making it scalable and effective on a global level.
A Vision for the Future
Gu Feng’s journey has brought her to CKGSB’s MBA program, where she is exploring the integration of AI into healthcare from a strategic and management perspective. She found particular inspiration in Professor Mei Danqing’s insights on the future of AI, which align perfectly with her vision for healthcare innovation. Reflecting on this, Gu Feng shared:
“Professor Mei discussed the future development of artificial intelligence and its deep applications in business scenarios, which directly aligns with my current focus. For me, this is a valuable opportunity to systematically and comprehensively learn the entire framework.”
Gu Feng’s work embodies the integration of healthcare and technology. Despite already achieving the pinnacle of success in clinical, research, and educational fields, she remains committed to transforming healthcare into a system that prioritizes people’s well-being. With technology, innovation, and a people-centered approach, she is working towards her goal of creating an accessible, patient-focused healthcare system—one that is truly transformative.
