Health Tech: Eunice Yang On How OK2StandUP’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness
An Interview With Dave Philistin
Don’t sweat it. Creating technology to make a positive social impact is hard. Things always won’t go your way. So, chin up and go with the flow.
In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eunice Yang.
Eunice is the Founder and CEO of OK2StandUP, the first AI Fall Prevention solution for seniors and caregivers. In 2018, OK2StandUP spun out of the University of Pittsburgh after she developed an innovative machine learning technology for an active monitoring system to keep older adults safe from falls. Eunice holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Penn State, has over 25 years of experience across manufacturing, software, and academia with expertise in physiological sensors and actuators.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
My family immigrated from S. Korea to Oahu, Hawaii in pursuit of the American Dream. For my parents, this meant working hard and passionately encouraging my siblings to focus on our schoolwork so that we each could become a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or a scientist. For me, this involved listening to my parents and getting my homework done as fast as possible so that I could go outside and play. My fondest childhood memory was devising plans with my friends to gain access to the delicious ripe mangos growing on the trees in people’s yards without getting caught. We succeeded….most of the time.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
As a CEO, I think of the social impact our product can have on people’s lives. However, this story is reversed. Our machine learning model was trained on data we acquired from older adults. Early on, my colleague’s dad was one of those test subjects. I remember sitting in his living room and chatting before we got started with the tests. He was personable and had a great sense of humor. He told me that before he died, he wanted to contribute towards advancing science in any way he could. The conversation I had with him is still etched in my memory like a video reel. About a year later, my colleague informed me that her dad had passed. I held back my tears as best as I could. As my voice cracked, I told her that part of her father was alive in our model and would be part of our journey in helping older adults be safe from falls.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni said, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” There honestly have been many, many teachers. So, I’ll name the very first and the most recent “teachers.” Esther Shigezawa was my high-school biology teacher. She saw something in me, a shy student with a tremendous curiosity for science. She was the epitome of what a teacher should be: tough, supportive, and always believing in me that I could reach whatever I wanted to. Thank you, Mrs. Shigezawa for your kindness. Our work paid off with an award at the National Westinghouse Science Fair!
Gabriela (Gaby) Isturiz is my most recent teacher. She is a co-founder of OK2StandUP, an expert business growth strategist, and a friend. I met her in October 2020 while she was “between jobs.” She had just completed her 2nd successful exit of her SaaS legal tech product to a Fortune 500 company and was about to switch to helping female founders working on social impact technologies succeed. Her patience and talent in explaining business strategies for accelerated growth have been pivotal. Gaby has helped me practice on the field and called out strategic plays both of which have helped me make smart decisions and make recent wins. OK2StandUP is aiming to be a hat-trick for Gaby. @Gaby, thanks for sharing your secret sauce and being one of the best teachers I’ve had.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
The life-changing quote is from John Maynard Keynes, the British economist: “I would rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong.” All my life, I’ve strived to be perfect. It was great in helping me achieve academic success. But it doesn’t really work for a startup. My desire to create a perfect go-to-market product was holding the company back. According to Gaby, it’s a sure way to let competitors pass you by in the startup world. In 2021, I embraced this quote wholeheartedly. It was professionally and personally freeing. In 2021, we completed our product focusing on the needs of our customers, successfully started fundraising, and will launch OK2StandUP in 2022. Personally, I’m enjoying not having the stress of trying to be perfect.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Uncompromising integrity, insatiable curiosity, and moxie. Through my journey with OK2StandUP, there have been many ups and downs. Excluding the enthusiastic early adopters, most innovations are met with objections and skepticisms. This was the case for OK2StandUP. Multiple investors indicated I didn’t have enough traction, academic researchers doubted falls could be prevented in the way we were solving it, we didn’t win many competitions, and we didn’t succeed in getting many grants. Why did I push through all this? I believe that OK2StandUP is a paradigm shift to current fall prevention strategies and that it can make an impact on caregivers and their loved ones. It is this that keeps me going. It has paid off. We will be launching OK2StandUP in 2022.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?
Falls are the #1 cause of accidental deaths among older adults in the U.S. Each year 18 million older adults are at risk of a fall injury, and every 11 seconds, an older adult visits the emergency room due to a fall. This problem will only get worse over time. In 2050, it is estimated that 6 million older adults will need medical attention due to a fall injury at the cost of $100 billion. There are no adequate solutions to address this growing problem since current solutions summon help only falls have happened, and it is too late.
How do you think your technology can address this?
An older adult wears a tiny wearable on their chest which monitors their health and physical activity. Before the older adult tries to stand up, our unique AI recognizes when and if there is an elevated risk of falling. Alerts are sent to the caregiver with sufficient time for them to help the older adult. This is a paradigm shift from popular fall pendants, fall detection watches, and home security video monitoring systems that lets caregivers know after a fall has occurred. OK2StandUP is revolutionizing how older adults are cared for so they can be kept safe from falls.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
My first knowledge of an elderly person falling was my 84-year-old grandmother. She passed within a year of her fall. Most of my investors, advisors, team, family, and friends know of an elderly person that has fallen. Many of them remained on the floor overnight because they didn’t have the mobility to reach their pendant or the phone to call for help. The frustrating part for me is that older adults are told falls can be prevented through exercise, health checkups, and home modifications, but they continue to sustain fall injuries. Older adults deserve better. The only way to prevent a fall is to know when and if it will occur. OK2StandUP is the holy grail of fall prevention and can change people’s lives.
How do you think this might change the world?
Globally, adults older than 60 years of age suffer the greatest number of fatal falls. Approximately 37.3 million falls occur annually that are severe enough to require a visit to the ER. We are living in a radical time where the spread of technology is growing exponentially, and it is favorably positioning OK2StandUP to have no geographic boundaries. OK2StandUP is built on complex technologies to provide a simple solution so older adults and their caregivers can prevent fall injuries and live with peace of mind, regardless of where they live or work.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
That’s a great question. The power of OK2StandUP lies in helping caregivers know when an older adult is at risk, and it should not result in less engagement with the older adult which can lead to loneliness and isolation. With regards to negative unintended consequences, people should ask “do I trust this company?” Big data from health monitors, smartwatches, and even Zoom has created public uneasiness about how their data is being used. Although there are strict federal and state laws in place to protect privacy, people should think more deeply about the technology providers they use, read the fine print (highly recommended), and use digital content/providers they trust.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)
Our society’s technology infrastructure has grown and it’s no secret that individuals can make a big difference in the world we live in. Here are 5 things I want to share with you:
#1 Know the problem. Be obsessive about understanding the pain it is causing.
#2 Differentiate yourself. Be obsessive about finding out what others are doing but are not working. Then make your technology better than theirs.
#3 Don’t sweat it. Creating technology to make a positive social impact is hard. Things always won’t go your way. So, chin up and go with the flow.
#4 Team. Surround yourself with people you trust and know how to get sh*t done. It’ll make a huge difference.
#5 Integrity. This is a must. Without it, it’s impossible to make a positive social impact.
Please meet me personally on YouTube where I share the 5 Things with you. Here is the link https://youtu.be/m4NyTX4m3IE.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment our society, like you, what would you tell them?
Very interesting question. I love it. I believe young people have more resources and tools than ever before to make an environmental and societal impact. I would tell them to think about how wonderful it would be to invent or create something that puts a smile on someone’s face or make someone’s life easier.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
I just recently got a webinar invite to listen to Malala speak. She is making a global social impact bringing awareness of the challenges facing young women and lack of access to education. It would be an honor to meet her to learn more about the problem she is solving and see how we can help towards a solution.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Please visit us at www.ok2standup.com or they can email me directly at eunice@ok2standup.com.
Easter egg: My parents’ American Dream came true.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
