Healing Power with Ed Tam
As the adage goes, if you have good health, you have everything. As someone who spends his time creating concepts and platforms for medical practitioners to do their best work and for patients to receive outstanding levels of care, Ed Tam is more in tune with this statement than most.
The Hong Kong-based healthcare entrepreneur is busy reimagining modern medical care. This stems, in part, from an earlier career path focused on strategic design, marketing, communications and technology. In essence, providing him with the creative tools and the vision to think differently about the healthcare experience.
As Founder and CEO of HEAL Medical Group (part of healthcare holding company New Frontier), Tam is at the helm of a multi-specialty care provider spanning internal medicine, general surgery, oncology, aesthetic and assisted fertility. “My boss and the chairman of the company had the wisdom and foresight to recognise that healthcare is one of Hong Kong’s core strengths that we can share with the Mainland. So seven years ago we embarked on a journey of building and consolidating different healthcare operations across Greater China. Today, we operate over 30 hospitals and many more clinics and day centres. To be able to help people so directly is the most enjoyable part of my job.”
“I want to make the most of my creative ability and entrepreneurial spirit to be able to do some good in our community.”
His focus is primarily on exceptional care, compassion and a friendly environment. HEAL Aesthetic, for example, is located downtown in Hong Kong’s CBD and operates more like a private members club than a clinical space. It has a calming, relaxing interior design and a warm and nurturing vibe. Dedicated to aesthetic and wellness transformation, it puts the focus on customer care and community. “When we started HEAL Aesthetic we wanted it to be an antidote to many of the major aesthetic medicine chains which are often characterised by overt marketing and unscrupulous sales tactics,” he explains.
Tam believes that when doing a business, setting intentions is as important as market positioning. “We wanted to create a space where people can genuinely be nurtured inside and out. And that comes with a lot of planning in terms of our community programming and activities above and beyond the core treatments and therapy we provide.”
Tam is a fan of combining traditional therapies like TCM with modern technology. “TCM does wonders in terms of tuning our main core functional systems,” he says. “The digestive, nervous, and endocrine systems are intrinsically tied to how we feel and of course how we look. Fixing these systems together with the aesthetic work that we do creates optimal outcomes.”
He has noticed more and more clients opting for alternative treatments, outside the mainstream. “Of course we get the common requests for injectables and energy-based machine treatments. But more and more people are looking for TCM and other functional medicine solutions,” he reveals. “They are seeking systemic changes to make themselves not only look and feel better but also perform at their very best.”
In a post-pandemic world, Tam has seen people’s outlooks on health and wellness changing. “I think there’s definitely an interesting duality here. On the one hand, people are more aware and precious about their own health - and rightly so.” He continues: “But on the other hand people have also realised the ephemeral nature of life, so are making most of the time lost - those guys are living it up! That’s the beautiful balance of life we all have the opportunity to shape.”
Q / A :
What inspires you and motivates you?
My family and friends inspire me. I really believe in the saying that we are the average of the closest people we hang out with. Motivation-wise, there’s nothing overly grandiose. But I do want to make the most of my creative ability and entrepreneurial spirit to be able to do some good in our community.
What does self-care mean for you?
I really am the worst. I use soap bars for my body and hair. I do a lot of business entertainment so my diet is all over the place. But I’m lucky to have all these facilities and people I can reach out to fix me. I play quite a bit of tennis and golf as a counter balance.
And travel. I think frequent travel is a great mental self-care hack. Being in a leadership position, we give a lot of who we are away every day. When travelling, it’s an opportunity to recharge, but also a way to collect ideas, creative references and experiences that can be deployed later down the line. Eventually the dots will always connect.
“Live and play by your own rules. And optimise for your own health and happiness. While others may judge, none of it really matters in the long run.”
Do you have a morning/evening wellness routine?
I structure sports and family time into my weekly routine. I add travel into my monthly routine. And prioritise some form of transformation into my decade routine (like a study sabbatical).
How do you relax?
I play sports and have meals with friends. And massages are on tap at our venue.
What’s an important piece of wellness advice you can give?
Live and play by your own rules. And optimise for your own health and happiness. While others may judge, none of it really matters in the long run.
Lastly, and it’s something I tell my kids - be kind and tread lightly.
An inspirational quote that resonates with you?
“Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically.” — Nelson Mandela
Website: heal-aesthetic.com
Instagram: @heal.aesthetic
