10 mins with...

NADIAH WAN, chief executive officer of Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara, executive director and group chief executive officer of TMC Life Sciences

What do you think is the future for Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara?

We are expanding both Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara and also the TMC Fertility network of IVF clinics, so we definitely see more growth in capacity and services. But more than that, I believe that the future for us lies in creating a sustainable, synergistic platform to serve our customers’ healthcare needs; from preventive and healthy ageing services like our build-yourown health screening packages and traditional Chinese medicine, to offering the latest preimplantation genetic testing at our TMC Fertility centres and of course, the opening of our new Cancer Centre and Nuclear Medicine Centre at Thomson Hospital.

Being the youngest CEO, were there any difficulties faced?

When most people go for meetings, they tend to completely ignore the youngest person in the room which is usually me. I’ve sat in job interviews where I was hiring and the candidate sat and spoke directly to the HR director throughout the interview before finally being told at the end that I would be his boss. But I don’t like introducing myself as a title and usually stick with just my name. So nowadays the team will usually add on the line, “and she is the boss” just to make sure everyone knows.

What has been your most memorable or standout experience thus far through Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara?

I still remember the first leadership retreat we organised in Penang. It happened roughly about a year and half after I joined and about half of the team were newly recruited. During the retreat, we had a design-thinking workshop and I realised that for many of them in healthcare, this was the first time they had ever heard of designthinking and prototyping. Usually, they attend workshops on topics like quality and safety or clinical competencies. But the key thing is that the first step in design-thinking is empathising, and that resonated well with all of us in healthcare. Today, many of them use the basics of the design-thinking process to innovate new ways of delivering care or improving processes at Thomson Hospital and I’m proud of that.

Tell us about a recent meal that impressed you.

I recently revisited my favourite restaurant in KL, Dewakan, after they relocated to KLCC. As usual the chef, Darren Teoh, blew us away with his cerebral, lusciously complex and layered approach to Malaysian cuisine. His respect for the heritage of the ingredients, mastery of a variety of cooking techniques and genuine curiosity for anything edible is readily apparent. Ironically, I felt somewhat exhilarated but exhausted after the meal. To eat at Dewakan requires not just tuning in to all the senses but a full engagement of the mind to connect the dots and fully appreciate what he is trying to do. It was worth every second.

What’s your favourite comfort food?

I need a good cup of smoothly brewed drop coffee in the morning to ease me into wakefulness. We get our beans from a roaster in Penang who sends us a batch every two weeks. Of course, as with any organic product, it’s impossible to get a steady, consistent supply of any particular variety but so far, I’ve been impressed with the combination of Mt Puntang de

Gayo long fermentation wine-processed. My husband Ming, founder and designer of MING watches, is naturally a fanatic for timing and detail. Every time we get a batch, he tweaks the process all over again to figure out everything from the exact size and amount of grind to the brewing time required. When he’s away in Switzerland,

I’m forced to fend for myself and it never tastes the same.