Why I started MYMI aka ‘Darren’s Vanity Project’

5 months ago, I started MYMI.

It stands for Monash Young MedTech Innovators, and our vision is to be the bridge for interdisciplinary collaboration in the healthcare / medtech space, and to be the catalyst for bright young things to move into the sector to enact positive change.

Our mission : Propel Melbourne to be the epicenter for healthcare innovation and MedTech for students in Australia within the next 5–6 years with Monash University at its epicenter. 5–6 years representing the average time span of a double degree.

We’ve grown from an early Insta story of mine, to a team of 24 and a community of over 400, with representation across all levels of the university experience, from Lecturer, to Post Doc, to PhD to all undergraduate year levels (1st — 6th year).

I’m terrified. I’m excited. And Above all else, I’m hopeful for the future. My team is incredible. They truly are. They believe in me and I, them. It puts pressure on me to be better, to guide and mentor. To know *most* of the answers but going with them to find out the answers that I don’t.

I’m writing this so that I know how this felt in the beginning. The rush of blood to the head, the late nights as my mind kept me awake, my trembling hands as I contemplated the possibilities. It’s also for future leadership to know where I was coming from and hopefully, maybe, empathise with my decisions and learn from my (many) mistakes to come.

When I was a first year, I wanted to be a biomedical engineer. I still want to be one. So very much. It’s the most human form of engineering you can do. The human body is unfathomably complex, and what we can come up with pales in comparison. Previously I had wanted to be a doctor. I had it all planned out. Study hard, do med for a few years and work with Doctors Without Borders for the rest of my life.

Somewhere along the line, those ambitions shifted to biomedical engineering. To my mind, it combined my love for people, with my love for wicked and complex problems. I thought it would mean working with people, from all walks of life, to build and engineer things that would improve the human condition. The thought of something that I had designed, or built, was saving someone’s life was incredibly compelling.

I still remember the day I received my offer letter from Monash. I remember waking up my parents, hugging my dad and crying tears of joy. This was what I wanted. First generation immigrant living away from home with no real connections in Australia, but fully determined to make something out of myself. (That’s like an entire thing, but issues of race and identity is a piece for another day, eh?)

So in 2015, I entered Monash as a bright-eyed jaffy.

4 years later in 2018, I had fallen out of love with my degree. 4 years in, and there had been close to nothing that was showing me the way to use my talents to put a Darren shaped dent in the world, to just help people. 4 years in, the dissonance grew, and I considered dropping out or switching degrees. Law or Commerce maybe?

The only thing that stopped me from doing that, was just honestly, being next level stubborn.

I *hate* admitting defeat.

I wanted to take take control of my destiny and make sure that I would dictate where my life would lead. Because most of the time, that’s the only thing that’s required. (This is spoken from a position of privilege — however large or small) I recognised that privilege so I felt compelled to ensure that the doors I would open up for myself would stay open to allow people more prodigiously talented than me to get where they want to go, and dream the dreams they want to dream.

All the while, my mind and anxiety was a constant stream of :

‘Don’t do this.’

‘You don’t deserve to be working on this.’

‘ You will fail, you would have wasted a year of your life when you should’ve gone for internships, and you’ll be left behind.’

And I was like, you’re probably right, but also, fuck you, and fuck ’em, because I knew that I would hate myself for not trying anyway.

So, I looked around for people who were on the same boat. Doing cool things is much more comforting when it’s done with cool people. I was lucky enough to find my co-founder Santiago. He’s pretty cool and doesn’t afraid of anything. Here’s the turning point:

So much for ‘giving me a hand’, dude’s given and continues to give me his arms and legs.

Thus, back to the question at hand, why would anyone do this for free, and sacrificing so much when I could be doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Safe route. Be asian doctor #1923, or moving into some corporate role. (Those are still options by the way, I aint picky to be honest).

A core thing is that I see MYMI as my chance to shape the conversation around what is achievable by students, starting at Monash. I am seeking to change culture and create an organisation that can serve as an island and safe space where all are equal, there’s license to step out of self-imposed limitations and start doing and figuring things out on the fly.

I seek to create a design-led organisation that champions and lives the values that I live by, and find people that resonate with these values to build something special with them, within healthcare.

These deeply personal values being:

• An overwhelming need to leave a positive mark in the world
• A deep care for others,
• A bias for action,
• Never taking myself too seriously
• Inclusion
• Resilience (mum calls it being stubborn)
• An obsession for continuous improvement

So, to you future leadership or MYMI community, or just random young person. I hope that you carry the spirit of this into the future. The world needs more bright young things doing cool stuff for the benefit of humanity.

MYMI might not be around in 5 years, or maybe it will and we’ll be on our way to achieving incredible things. You bet I’m trying everything in my power to make this a reality, no matter how imperfect that reality turns out to be.

Simply because it’s just too fun a ride to get off of.

See you in November. I’m trying my best. Hope it’s enough.