Jonathan Herps: Welcome to the podcast. I'd like to introduce David Boehm, Chairman, Co-Founder, and CEO of Misan Health. David, welcome.
David Boehm: Thank you, Jonathan. Nice to be here.
Jonathan: Tell us your origin story — the key moments that got you to where you are today.
David: I'm originally from Sydney, Australia, though I've spent most of my life in Hong Kong. I'm a Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant by profession. Most recently I've been involved in mining ventures and hospitality ventures across Asia. We started Misan Health Group around seven years ago with a clear purpose: to offer people a fundamentally different approach to their health.
The global pharmaceutical complex is powerful and we're not looking to disrupt or compete with it — there's real value in pharmaceutical medicine in many situations. But we want to offer something complementary — an approach more aligned with healing people naturally, addressing the underlying causes of disease rather than simply medicating symptoms. That's the philosophy at the heart of everything we do.
Jonathan: What are you currently working on at Misan Health?
David: Over the last seven years we've built a platform to bring plant-based, bioidentical therapies directly to patients — without the lengthy regulatory pathway that synthetic drugs require, because these are natural medicines. We're now focused on developing a number of plant-based medicines, with the most exciting being chlorogenic acid — a compound extracted from a traditional Chinese medicinal herb. There are over 9,000 published papers on chlorogenic acid. It's not a new substance, but our partners in China have developed it into a far more effective and concentrated form.
What makes it particularly remarkable is its mechanism of action: rather than attacking cancer directly, it supports the human immune system to do that work itself. In clinical trials, it has shown high efficacy against multiple cancer types — including glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. Because it's an immune-support compound, its applications extend well beyond oncology. We're initially bringing these products to Asia, then globally.
Our medical director is Dr. Johannes Wesley, a co-founder and integrated functional medicine expert focused on root causes rather than symptoms. Our broader scientific network includes leading figures from Germany, Australia — including cardiologist Dr. Ross Walker and neurosurgeon Dr. Charlie Teo — and China, where Professor Lee Weibin, one of the world's foremost neuro-oncologists, conducted the chlorogenic acid clinical trials. Everything we do is underpinned by rigorous science.
Jonathan: Tell us about the Misan luxury villa resort in Koh Samui and how it connects to the health business.
David: Misan Villa Resort opened in Koh Samui in 2007. The name was selected by a branding agency — it refers to one of the original four gardens of Buddha, evoking wellbeing, peace, and harmony. The resort sits directly on Mae Nam Beach, voted one of the top beaches in Southeast Asia — beautiful white sand, fresh air, outstanding Thai cuisine, and an environment of genuine calm. We have one of our Misan clinics located within the resort complex, so guests can combine a holiday with treatment. That integration of wellness and travel is central to the Misan experience.
Jonathan: Walk us through your daily habits and routines.
David: I'm fortunate to have a deeply supportive wife. I've adopted the Buddhist way of life through our marriage, so my morning begins with prayers and meditation at our home Buddha shrine, followed by exercise — either a run or the gym — and then breakfast. That sequence prepares me properly for the day. I have seven children and four grandchildren, two of whom are here in Bangkok aged two and five — wonderful company that keeps me grounded. I aim to finish formal work by around 6 PM; my brain tires by then. Evenings are for family, friends, and colleagues — a good dinner and a glass or two of wine. That rhythm works for me at 68.
Jonathan: What has been your most significant failure or challenge, and what did you learn?
David: Without question, the biggest failure in this business was expanding too quickly, too early — and then not responding fast enough when the world changed. We had our first clinic in Thailand performing well by 2018, so we grew with confidence: a 1,500 square metre clinic in Hong Kong, another in Vienna to serve the Russian-speaking market. By the end of 2019 we had beautiful facilities, fully staffed, ready to go. Then COVID arrived in 2020.
When your business depends on people travelling to reach you and the world shuts down, revenue goes to zero. I remember hearing the CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines say that despite studying at Yale, Harvard, and Oxford, nothing had prepared him for that scenario. I hadn't prepared for it either. I genuinely believed the lockdown would last a few months. It didn't. By the second half of 2020 we closed Vienna — which was fortunate, as the Russian market never returned after the Ukraine war — and converted Hong Kong to a referral model.
The cost was millions of dollars. The lesson was twofold: don't scale before your foundations are stable, and once reality changes, adapt immediately. I wasn't agile enough. I held on too long to assumptions that were no longer valid. That's the most expensive mistake I've made.
Jonathan: What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
David: Two pieces stand out. The first came from a senior Woolworths executive I met as a young man stacking shelves at university. He said: plan five years ahead — not just in business, but across every dimension of your life. Where do you want to live? Do you want to be married, have children, start a business? Five years is the ideal horizon: far enough to plan meaningfully, close enough to execute with clarity. That advice has guided me ever since.
The second came from my father, a Jewish man born in Germany who fled the Nazis, survived the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II, and never received a formal education. Because of that, he was absolutely insistent that my sister and I pursue ours as far as possible. He pushed me through to qualification as a Chartered Accountant when I wanted to leave school and travel. That foundation has been invaluable across every venture. The best thing you can give your children is a great education.
Jonathan: What has been your biggest learning as a business owner?
David: Humility. Business humbles you every day — and running a medical business amplifies that enormously, because you're working alongside doctors who are, by definition, among the highest academic achievers in the world and are conditioned to know they're the smartest person in the room. Navigating that dynamic requires genuine humility.
More broadly: you must be willing to take risks, stand by your principles, and accept that there is always more you don't know than you do. I try to put myself in uncomfortable situations regularly — not just in business but physically — I've climbed Kilimanjaro, for instance — because discomfort accelerates learning faster than comfort ever will.
Jonathan: What's the most important characteristic of a great leadership team?
David: Cultural intelligence and respect. I've built a team that spans Thai, Chinese, German, Australian, and other nationalities — and what may be completely normal in one culture can be deeply offensive in another, often without either party realising it. The leader's job is to understand those differences, respect them, and build a working culture that draws on the strengths of each tradition rather than imposing a single framework on everyone.
In terms of people: finding true A-players is the hardest thing in business. I've been fortunate to have some exceptional, loyal people around me — some for over 30 years. For this business specifically, I believe the CEO needs to be medically qualified, and I've been actively trying to hire myself out of that role since we started. We've had several candidates in deputy CEO roles — none have fully worked out yet. We recently appointed a doctor who shows real promise, but finding someone who combines medical expertise with administrative and people leadership skills in a single individual is genuinely rare. The search continues, but building and nurturing the team we have in the meantime is what we focus on.
Jonathan: Any books, podcasts, or tools you'd recommend?
David: Podcasts are my primary learning medium — they allow me to learn while exercising, which suits my schedule well. I focus heavily on health and medical content from outlets including the ABC, BBC, and international sources from Germany and China. The one I return to most consistently is The Intelligence from The Economist — concise, well-curated daily coverage that keeps me genuinely informed about what's happening in the world. On navigating media more broadly: I'm increasingly concerned about the difficulty of finding balanced, factual reporting. I try to stick to sources that present information rather than advocate for a position.
Jonathan: Any final advice for entrepreneurs looking to grow?
David: Three things. First — don't be afraid to fail. Most new businesses fail. Every successful entrepreneur has failed, usually multiple times. What matters is whether you can pick yourself up and continue. Second — do your research. I'm an impulsive person by nature and I haven't always done enough due diligence before committing. Learn from my mistakes on that front. Third — find the best people you can, give them your trust, but if that trust is broken, let the relationship end. I have tried to rehabilitate professional relationships after a breach of trust on multiple occasions. It has never worked. When trust is gone, move on cleanly. Every time I've held on hoping it would improve, it cost more than walking away would have.
Jonathan: David, thank you so much — it's been a genuinely fascinating conversation.
David: Thank you, Jonathan. Always a pleasure.
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