Our Entrepreneurs: Min Lee

Meet #OurEntrepreneurs. Introducing Min Lee, a Project Manager at NHS England and Improvement.

Tell us a bit about yourself 

I am a co-founder who is leading the product development and operations at Humin, our mental health tech start-up. I also manage projects for digital transformation in NHS England.   

Before my career, I studied at Imperial College London where I realised how difficult and deep the fields of neuroscience and computational medicine are. I then studied business management at Imperial, which forced me to face my burning desires in entrepreneurship that I neglected for years (I am from South Korea and Korean parents can be often quite strict about taking risks). I then went to join an exciting mental health start-up that was developing a novel therapy for severe depression, where I found my ‘calling’ to work in mental health. This lead me to complete a master’s at King’s College London on technologies for healthcare, specifically focusing on researching the need for technical solutions in severe mental illnesses. I then joined the NHS and here we are, on the CEP programme!  

I enjoy exercise, reading and creating content on YouTube. My YouTube channel shares content for South Korean students, graduates and parents who are living or wanting to move to the UK. I’ve moved to the UK alone when I was thirteen and I had a lot I wish I knew beforehand!

Why did you apply to the programme and what are you looking forward to? 

I found out about this programme following one of the team leader’s recommendations in the NHS. I am still grateful this person recommended the programme to me, and it shows how good coaching and leadership can facilitate innovation.  

I applied because we need to keep NHS in mind from the very beginning if we want to bring a meaningful change in UK healthcare and bring scalable, positive impact to people. Having the opportunity to meet people and the inspiration I would get by joining the programme cohort were also big motivating factors. 

I look forward to opportunities to learn about what incredible work others are doing in the programme. I’m also looking forward to showcase the hard work and progress our team has achieved, share learnings with others and share the good spirit, and promote equality and diversion in the NHS innovation and leadership. As well as networking with other entrepreneurs on the programme.

Tell us about your innovation  

At Humin, we are helping people who struggle with mood management by enabling automatic behaviour tracking to give objective, personalised insights and empower users with their data.  

I first started to recognise a problem in how we assess mental health through my personal experience with bulimia nervosa (a type of eating disorder). Then I spent a year researching this topic at King’s College London, where I realised that the lack of continuous, high-quality information is an evident problem with significant consequences for people, especially with mood disorders. I also met my co-founder at King’s, who is also committed to innovating how we assess and understand mental health.

This start-up is a huge opportunity for us to transform the way we assess, treat, and manage mental health

What motivates you? 

There are many motivation factors. I believe that our approach to mental healthcare absolutely needs to change and that technology can support us (if done properly that is).  I am grateful and thrilled every day to be working with my team who are open, balanced, cares about people and has integrity. 

And for me to be satisfied with my life, I need to know that I have helped other people. 

What are your ambitions for the next year?

The most important aspect is to engage with a wide range of people including potential users, healthcare professionals, advisors and investors.  

This year, we want to present you our prototype and take our lessons from the Panacea Stars Develop 2022 programme to make a kick-start in developing our minimum viable product. 

How can we find out more?

Visit our website at https://humin.uk/ to learn more, register for early access and to speak to us. You can also find us on LinkedIn and follow me on Twitter, Thank you!