Health Tech: Vivian Chan On How Sparrow’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With Luke Kervin

Choose a cause that really resonates with you as your passion and ambition will be needed to drive change and a positive impact on the environment or society.

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 Vivian Chan.

Currently the Executive Director, CEO & Co-founder of Sparrow (formerly Sparrho), Vivian has been selected and awarded a number of honors including: Invited Keynote speaker at the Mobile World Congress, featured by The Guardian as one of the top “10 under 35 changing the world”, Top 35 under 35 by MIT Tech Review, invited twice by EU Commission to address ministers on importance of Open Data for innovation (alongside Bill Gates), was also previously part of the Digital Economy Advisory Group for the UK government. Vivian completed her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, after spending a year working in a venture fund in Australia. Deep experience in the startup/fundraising/investment world as a CEO, Board Director, founder and advisor for diverse startups.

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?

Sure, my family is originally from Hong Kong where I was born and we moved to Australia when I was 6. I’m the oldest of two daughters and really enjoyed my upbringing surrounded by amazing beaches, good weather and food in Australia. I was always curious as a kid and apparently was never shy of making new friends even when I was just 3–4. Also learnt to play the piano at the age of 6, played an hour every day for 10 years straight to get a Diploma in Piano at age 16 — so I had persistence trained in me at an early age.

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?

There’s definitely a few people who spring to mind but if I was to name one person I would be particularly grateful to my sister. Despite the fact that I was trying to build on my successes in Cambridge and London, not living in Australia where she is. She has always been around, supportive and provided me with a very different perspective. For example, when I was so passionate but at the same time so intertwined as a founder / CEO to your own company, there was a period where I felt I’ve forgotten who Vivian Chan was besides the CEO and founder of Sparrow. She really helped open up my eyes during it was me all along who shaped the CEO I wanted to be at Sparrow, that I gained and not necessarily lost because of one identity over another.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Just do it!” When I first naively started the journey as an entrepreneur, it was my curiosity, my hunger to learn and to make an impact that really propelled me to just throw myself into the deep end. Not sure if Nike’s tagline is a proper “Life Lesson Quote” but the phrase “Just do it” always motivated me whenever I hesitated throughout my entrepreneurial journey, definitely at the beginning when I first started out. My very first angel investor said “Ok I’ll put some money in, now show me what you can do”. At this point I didn’t know what due diligence looked like, what Shareholder Agreement and Articles of Association (UK legal docs) were but that quote kept me learning and I managed to complete my first successful funding round 3 months later.

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?

• Being Curious — is a great trait as an entrepreneur. As I was a former scientist, I was trained to be inquisitive and make data driven decisions. Not being afraid to ask ‘why’ all the time I’ve found has helped me in decision making but also understand and build relationships with my external and internal team
• Ambitious/Driven — in my context it was being ambitious to make an impact in the world. Entrepreneurship is hard work so I really wanted to make sure all my hard work and efforts were poured into building something that is valuable to the wider society.
• Always be learning — this growth mindset I believe really sets successful business leaders apart. In order to grow, you need to embrace and learn from your failures and success really comes from lots of failed experiences.

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?

Science is at the core of everything we breathe, eat and do however the latest scientific research is only accessible and understandable by 3% of the world’s adult population. This makes it impossible for the wider public to make informed decisions or distinguish between fake science news. This became super prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, where misinformation killed over 700 people in Iran when they believed drinking toxic alcohol would ward off COVID-19.

How do you think your technology can address this?

We make science accessible, by translating the evidence on critical issues like mental health and climate change to make it available and understandable to everyone. Our technology and in-house experts transform technical scientific journals into easy-to-understand, bitesize summaries.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

I personally feel passionate about this because I originally experienced the accessibility problem when I was a Life Science investor in Australia — I was reviewing various deeptech opportunities ranging anything from CRISPR to breast cancer oncology drugs. I found it difficult use do my own due diligence knowing which exact search terms to use to find relevant research articles, which were behind a publishers’ paywall, and even if you have paid to get access, the article was written in technical & scientific terminology that made it very hard for me to understand and therefore make informed investment decisions.

I experienced a similar issue when I was studying my PhD in Biochemistry at Cambridge University (United Kingdom). This time I had access to research articles behind the paywall but in order to publish new discoveries, I had to read outside of my field and apply new Biophysics techniques. Trying to understand research into another field was challenging and instead we relied on experts to help me understand instead.

Lastly, I also experienced the inaccessibility of science to make informed decisions when I was going through egg freezing. I felt overwhelmed by the injections and process, especially when a doctor would make passing comments about the increased levels of estrogen might trigger my auto-imune condition. That triggered me to search for fertility and auto-immune research but despite being comfortable with research articles, I struggled to easily grasp the knowledge to make better informed decisions for my own health.

Having experienced it multiple times personally makes me super passionate to make science accessible to anyone who wants it.

How do you think this might change the world?

If we were able to increase that accessibility from 3% into >30% in the next 5 years, it would drive individuals and organisations to make smarter, informed decisions both in a personal (healthcare) or professional setting. More efficient science communication could really stimulate new conversations betweens disparate groups, spark new discoveries and partnerships across interdisciplinary fields. It might also foster more transparency and dialogue into what core issues still need to be addressed. I’m hoping it will start to bridge the gap between the wider public and academic scientists.

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?

It could potentially drive more increased interests & discussions which at the same time could drive more misinformation if our summaries are manipulated or taken out of context to serve their own agendas. We at Sparrow take pride in ensuring we evidence every source we summarize to generate trustworthy content.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

Choose a cause that really resonates with you as your passion and ambition will be needed to drive change and a positive impact on the environment or society.

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. :-)

David Attenborough — he is one of the most recognised role models for science communication. He embodies a relatable personality and presents science in a very engaging, trustworthy and entertaining manner in various mediums like documentaries.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Definitely hop over to https://www.sparrow.science/ and subscribe to our free daily digests.

Twitter: @sparrow_science
IG: @sparrow.science
LinkedIn: @Sparrow

Twitter: @vivianchan_s
IG: @vivians.chan

LinkedIn: @vchan

Stay tuned on my social media channels for my upcoming podcast coming out very soon.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.