18 19KBLA Community

You’ve had a very diverse career, spanning medicine, writing, business, and more. Please share with us a brief self-introduction of yourself and an overview of your life’s journey so far.

I am the CEO of a new venture, NovumWaves, dedicated to developing terahertz technologies for novel applications, and through this we aim to revolutionize medicine. I also serve as Innovation Ambassador at the Korean Business Leaders Alliance and hold academic appointments at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Health Sciences and Technology, the University of Melbourne, and Libera Accademia Belle Arti in Brescia, Italy.

hroughout my life, two things have endlessly fascinated me: biology and innovation. How life works—and in the disease, how it doesn’t—is truly amazing, though much remains a mystery. Einstein once said, “he most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and since,” adding that absent mystery one “is as good as dead.” And growing up in New York City, I’ve always sought to imagine new, diferent, and better ways of doing things—that is to say, innovation. One seems more alive when you are sensitive to the world and try to make it better. So I would add to Einstein: “So long as you’re not moving forward in this world of mystery, you are not quite alive.”

hese twin interests led to studying biochemistry at Harvard, then medical school and graduate school at Columbia, around which time I developed the scientiic idea, the one that underlies NovumWaves, which in turn motivated a transition to business, including consulting (at Booz, Allen, Hamilton and Sg2), executive management, the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), various other roles, and eventually where I am now.

Before we talk about that, you’ve no doubt come across some very interesting people. Who would you describe as having had a particularly signiicant impact on your life and career?

I’ve had the good fortune to meet many remarkable igures—there’s no way to count them all. Back in college, often the

time for one’s most formative experiences, I came across many wonderful people, but three have had an especially lasting inluence.

here was Bruce Beall, coach of the varsity lightweight crew. Harvard crew is a serious sport with Olympians and other elite athletes always passing through the boathouse. Bruce Beall was one such Olympian and he kindly agreed to write a letter of recommendation to medical school on my behalf. Paraphrasing, he wrote that “Ogan is one of the most dedicated persons I’ve ever met. And I should know, since Olympic competition epitomizes dedication.” Truly humbled, these words have continued to inspire, as I think to myself, “An Olympian

once praised my dedication, so dedicated I must be!” Bruce’s recommendation was more than that: they were the words of a master coach, one who to this day still guides me from afar.

Another inluence would be Derek Bok, former President of Harvard. At the Baccalaureat address she exhorted to the newly graduated: “Go International!” Taking up his advice, I went out into the world, working in France, Germany—many other locales—and now Korea.

And then there is Martin Karplus, in whose research group I did my senior thesis at Harvard. Prof. Karplus won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013 and his pioneering work in protein dynamics has been inspired me ever since, essentially the fundamental idea behind NovumWaves. Basically, protein dynamics means that proteins, the machinery of life and the targets for most drugs, are actually not solid objects but are vibrating—like living and breathing. hese motions are essential to protein function—indeed, what makes life happen—and much of what I have done over the past 30 years has revolved around exploring the implications of this fact.

Fascinated by the Undulations of LifeMedical Doctor, Technologist, Writer, CEO, International Man of Mystery,

Dr. Ogan Gurel tells us why he won’t stand still and neither should you.

people read and enjoy it. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able, simply through one’s writing, to touch someone from a afar.

Tell us about your goals for the KBLA Innovation Series.

Innovation is deined as bring new ideas to reality, usually through the combination of such ideas. So, simply put:

in addition to bringing some of the leading thinkers and doers to our KBLA membership, I hope that the seminar series itself can spark new innovation among those participating. So the KBLA Innovation Series is not just about innovation, it is innovation. Now in practical terms, that means we bring together not just the thought leaders, expert in the “idealities” of innovation, but also those who grapple with its everyday “realities.” We recently hosted Philipp Kristian Diekhöner from Singapore, who has launched several large and small corporate innovation initiatives. Last month, we had Karyn and Eric Schroeder, joint leaders of the Kimberly-Clark Global Innovation Center, present their experiences and best practices.

Many more outstanding events are coming up: Ben Chung, Innovation Center Lead at Cisco, Dr. YoungHwan Kim, the CTO of Samyang Holdings and previous EVP leading

So would that be your current mission in life?

My overall mission—both past and present—is to impact positively on this world. As the saying goes, “Nothing is more important that one’s health,” healthcare has been my focus. More speciically, I’ve sought to explore and develop, scientiically and practically, the implications of what I call protein electrodynamics. Launching NovumWaves is the latest incarnation of that.

Can you tell us about your Korea experience so far. When did you come? Why did you come? How long do you plan to stay?

By the way, this idea of “Protein Electrodynamics and Terahertz Medicine” represents a form of “Bioelectronics”, something which is gaining increasingly attention. For example, GlaxoSmithKline launched a multi-million dollar bioelectronics initiative. Korea is certainly one of the world’s leading centers in electronics. Hence the connection to Korea. So I arrived here over ive years ago—November of 2010, joining as a Director (부장) in the CTO oice in the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT). I accomplished quite a bit at SAIT, advising them generally on biohealthcare technologies, writing research papers, even a few patents. And while in the Open Innovation oice at SAIT, in collaboration with leading researchers around the world (for example, at MIT, Ohio State University, University of Southampton, University of California–Irvine, University of Texas–Dallas and others), we actually advanced the protein electrodynamics idea quite a bit. How long will I stay? I plan to stay for as long as necessary to get this idea to the next level. But as President Bok, told us, “Go International,” so I will work wherever is best to make this reality. But for now, Korea is the place.

Tell us about your book Waves. Why did you write it? What were your goals? What role does it play in your life?

Waves is essentially the literary embodiment of the protein electrodynamics and terahertz medicine idea. As mentioned, this idea has medical applications, for both diagnosis and therapy. But it can also be used for military purposes. Like any technology, there are many sides, many possibilities, and the novel explores such wider dimensions. his is, in my own mind—and to share with others—is what I wished to accomplish. here are other aspects to Waves. Published back in February of 2009, the book also serves an intellectual property purpose, making public this core idea of terahertz radiation being used to detect and modulate proteins for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. NovumWaves, or anybody for that matter, can enter freely into this ield with the winners in this industry being those who succeed with its various technical and market implementations. But ultimately Waves is entertainment. I loved writing it—though not at all easy—and it gives me great pleasure to hear when

So what exactly is “protein dynamics, “protein

electrodynamics” and “terahertz medicine?” The idea is

actually quite simple:

1. We know that proteins vibrate. This is protein dynamics

and what Martin Karplus (and others) pioneered.

2. We also know that proteins have charges and dipoles.

This is a fact.

3. And vibrating charges and dipoles emit and absorb

electromagnetic radiation, which simply arises out of the

laws of electromagnetism, what are often called Maxwell’s

equations. This, also, a fact, one which makes radios

smartphones and all our electronics possible.

4. So therefore, proteins should emit and absorb

electromagnetic radiation—I call this protein

electrodynamics—and there have been many studies,

including some I have been involved with, showing that this

is, indeed, the case.

5. Therefore, proteins are like radios.

6. Radios can be detected and can be modulated. That’s

just the way they work.

7. And so proteins can be detected and modulated.

8. This “detection” and “modulation” becomes a new form

of diagnosis and therapy respectively,

9. It turns out that frequency of these vibrations lie in

the terahertz range, which is between the microwave on the

low frequency side and the infrared on the high frequency

side of the electromagnetic spectrum.

10. Hence this leads to the possibility of terahertz

medicine, namely new ways of achieving diagnosis and

therapy in a non-invasive and biologically speciic way.

NovumWaves is a venture that aims to bring all this—protein

electrodynamics and terahertz medicine—to reality.

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the Materials R&D Center at Samsung, Chungha Cha, Co-founder and Chair of the KGBC “Re-Imagining Cities” Foundation, and others. So I hope all KBLA members will participate in this informative, engaging, and very well-received seminar series.

How has coming to Korea changed your life? How has the country and its people shaped your thinking?

Being in Korea, deeply embedded in Asian culture, has ofered profound learning experiences. I would say that among all the developed nations, Korea is probably among those that are most culturally diferent for Americans and other westerners. hese cultural diferences are certainly challenging and one is often outside ones comfort zone. But I am a better, smarter person being exposed to such new and diferent kinds of thinking and living. here is a word in Korean (틀리다), which has two meanings: one being “diferent”, the other being “wrong.” For me, diferent is often right.

If you could give policy makers in Korea a single piece of advice, on any subject, what would it be?

For policy makers and business leaders, it is important to encourage openness to new and diferent ideas. here are tremendous pressures, some of it subconscious, to conform, to resist change and outside inluence. his is not just a Korean problem, but it is especially extreme here. Consider the language inluence cited above, witness that all cars here are either black, silver, or white—and so on. And inally, there’s North Korea, whose entire national psyche is about self-reliance and resistance to all things foreign. hey call it 주체. I call it failure. South Korea, acutely dependent on an export-driven economy, categorically must be open to the outside inluences and ideas.

If you could give business leaders in Korea a single piece of advice, on any subject, what would it be?

My advice to business leaders in Korea, again, is to be open to

new ideas, and in particular to be globally minded. I’ve advised many startups while here and I would say that the single biggest factor holding back their success is not being globally minded. Notwithstanding recent pressures, no one can deny that Samsung has been enormously successful. Part of the reason for that was the Chairman’s insistence back in the mid-1990s that even if the company was best in Korea that meant nothing. hey must be the best globally. Like Derek Bok told us, “Go International!”With respect to expat business leaders, my advice would be similar. Western companies should likewise not believe that their way is the best way. Insisting to “Do it the American Way” is similarly close-minded. [Back in the 1980s, everyone thought the Japanese had developed the best management system. You can see where that led.] Anyway, we can learn a lot from Korea, and likewise Korean business leaders can learn much from others. Such is the mission and spirit of KBLA, bringing together leaders from diferent backgrounds for mutual learning and advancement. As mentioned before, “If we are not innovating, we are just as good as dead.”

You have done a lot in your life already. What’s next for you?

I’m involved in many projects here in Korea and globally, including at KBLA as well as serving as President of the Board at the Camarata Music Company. But my main mission, my life’s work, will be to launch and drive forward NovumWaves. As mentioned, it is a terahertz technology holding company / “venture builder” with the goal of revolutionizing medicine through what one might call the “radiation of life.” We have a three-stage execution model (all initiated in parallel) involving a near-term industrial applications “roll-up”, a mid-term wellness/cosmetic startups, and longer-term medical projects aimed at cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other serious conditions. Above all, I hope to have fun and make a little progress in understanding that mystery we call life.

How did you both end up in Korea? How did you meet each other?

A Samsung advertisement set in hailand was in fact indirectly responsible for the serendipitous startup alliance. While working as an Executive Producer with a leading Korean advertising ilm production company, Carlo met Alina, who at the time was doing some research for a ilm industry related startup she considered embarking on. During an animated conversation, he presented her with the opportunity to join his project team in Korea which, at the time, was developing a project very similar to the one that she was considering.

After about a year of negotiations and discussions, the

original team had broken up due to a disagreement between the founders about the vision and execution of the project. However, because Alina and Carlo had developed a strong working relationship during that time, they decided to explore opportunities together. One of the dissolved project’s service providers, a leading Netherlands based Cloud Computing Corporation, invited the pair to join them on an internal project. his later led to a partnership in a jointly founded VC focusing on cloud computing related investments.

But Carlo’s nascent interest in the Korean startup scene began long before then, during his time in the advertising ilm industry (TVCs) while working with some of the best advertising creatives, agencies and directors in Korea. At

Accelerate Korea

Taking Korea’s Startups

to the World

Korea’s startups face a unique set of challenges to making their

way in the world. This is how one team aims to help them.

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