Yosep Ji, PhD

“If you think everything you eat will benefit you, that’s not true. You need a transporter to deliver what you eat into your blood stream, and your microbiome is that transporter. You might eat very well, but if you don’t have the right microbiome for what you eat it won’t benefit your body.” 

Since his student years, Dr. Ji has been deeply involved in researching the microbiome, the hundreds of kinds of microbes in the intestine that digest nutrients, support the immune system, decompose toxins and otherwise contribute to human health. As CEO of HEM Pharma, he leads work that seeks to understand how individuals’ microbiomes differ to gain insight for personalized nutrition and interventions, including the development of microbes that help promote health. 

An early student of gut microbiology, Dr. Ji cofounded Holzapfel Effective Microbes, now HEM Pharma, with Professor Wilhelm Holzapfel in 2016 to advance the study of the human microbiome. HEM Pharma developed and leverages the Personalized Pharmaceutical Meta-Analytical Screening (PMAS) technology to understand, and then predict, how a particular gut microbiota responds to a specific intervention.

Since 2020, Amway and HEM Pharma have collaborated to develop personalized probiotics with the goal of supporting wellness through gut-health-related benefits such as immunity, weight management, brain health, skin health and more. Amway has made two strategic investments in HEM to support those goals, and the collaboration has so far produced an at-home test to analyze the microbiome and personalized probiotic system that are now sold by Amway Business Owners in South Korea. 

Through his participation in that collaboration, Dr. Ji has developed solid relationships with Amway scientists and other Amway Scientific Advisory Board members. His role as a Board member evolved from those relationships. 

Dr. Ji obtained his PhD in life sciences from Hangdong Global University in Pohang, South Korea, where he also received his master’s and undergraduate degrees. He twice received the Young Scientist Award at the International Scientific Conferences of Probiotics and Prebiotics (IPC) and is the recipient of several other scientific awards in Europe and Asia. He is a frequent author and keynote speaker in microbiome-related science.