Bozhi Li is a 2025 graduate of the MSc Digital Health and Entrepreneurship programme at UCL Global Business School for Health. Before entering healthcare, his background was in communication, digital content, and marketing, focusing on how information and narrative influence human behavior.
Today, Bozhi is the Founder of Jiuhe Herbal Teahouse (九和草本茶研社) and a content creator in the tea industry. His work focuses on “information equity”: breaking down the barriers between traditional tea industry and modern business. By transforming local “traditional experience” into a standardized global language, he aims to make tea a global daily habit that improves public health outcomes. He also serves as the Head of Communication and Publication for the GBSH Alumni Association.
Why I chose GBSH
Before joining GBSH, I had always wanted to contribute to the healthcare sector, not because I aspired to become a clinician, but because healthcare is where individual wellbeing, social equity and system design collide most visibly.
Coming from a communication and media background, I had spent a lot of time thinking and experimenting about how information spreads, how trust is built, and why well-intentioned ideas often fail to reach the people they are meant to serve. Over time, I realised that many of the challenges healthcare faces are not purely technical, but structural and human: misaligned incentives, inaccessible knowledge, and a disconnect between systems and everyday life.
I chose GBSH because it offered a credible entry point into healthcare without asking me to abandon my previous skills. Its focus on leadership, systems thinking, and innovation aligned with how I imagined the future of healthcare, not as a closed, treatment-only system, but as a collaborative ecosystem that includes technology, lifestyle, prevention and culture. UCL’s academic reputation and GBSH’s clear positioning as a health-focused business school gave me the confidence that this transition was both impactful and sustainable.
My experience at GBSH
My time at GBSH was challenging, demanding, and deeply rewarding. Entering healthcare without a prior medical background meant learning fast and learning broadly. The programme equipped me with a wide range of skill sets, from user-centered design and needs assessment to healthcare technologies, AI, and foundational medical and health knowledge.
What made this learning meaningful was its interdisciplinary nature. Working alongside classmates from clinical, engineering, policy and business backgrounds constantly pushed me beyond my comfort zone.
One project that stayed with me was a group assignment where we developed a patient-facing chatbot using IBM Watson, designed to support individuals experiencing headaches in making timely and informed decisions. This tool helped users understand their situation and recognise potential red flags. The goal was simple but impactful: to help people avoid prolonged, unnecessary suffering from headaches while also reducing avoidable GP and ER visits at a time when NHS resources are extremely constrained. This project captured what GBSH does best. Each of us brought different strengths: clinical reasoning, technical development, user experience, finance, and strategy; and together translated a concept into a functional, system-aware solution. The project was later presented at LonWHO, allowing us to share our approach with a wider global health audience and engage in discussions around digital triage, patient empowerment and system sustainability.
GBSH shaped not only what I know, but how I think: rigorously, empathetically, and with a systems perspective.
Impact: Then & Now
Before GBSH, experience was primarily in media and the creative industry. While the work sharpened my ability to engage audiences and craft narratives, I was increasingly aware that I wanted to apply these skills to something more structurally meaningful. GBSH became the pivot point, giving me the knowledge, cognitive framework, and peer community to change direction with confidence.
“Following graduation, I interned at the Global Health Industry Innovation Center (GHIC) in Beijing, a full-chain incubator focused on the ‘industrialization’ of medical research. Working at the intersection of healthcare, engineering, and R&D, I saw firsthand how brilliant discoveries often stall during the transition from lab to market. This experience was a turning point; it taught me that health impact depends as much on implementation and scalability as it does on discovery.
However, I also realized that improving general health outcomes does not rely solely on treatments alone. The foundation of health is built on proactive wellness and preventive care.
I transitioned into full-time entrepreneurship. Today, these experiences converge in Jiuhe Herbal Teahouse. A space uses tea as a medium, for integrating preventive health through lifestyle. More than just a place to enjoy tea, it serves as a platform for curated events—ranging from tea education and cultural programs to interdisciplinary discussions, all centred on the idea that health is lived daily, not only treated episodically.
In parallel, I work as a content creator to modernize the fragmented tea industry. My goal is to transform this traditional craft into a standardized, global language. I believe that by building this bridge, we can make tea culture more accessible and resonant. Ultimately, as more people embrace it as a daily habit.
Alongside my work, I remain actively involved in the GBSH Alumni Association. Together with fellow alumni, we have strengthened global connections across cohorts and regions, and are now focused on building platforms for mentorship, collaboration, and long-term impact. What we are creating is not just a network, but a shared space for health-oriented leadership beyond graduation.
Advice for current & future students
To current and future GBSH students, I would say: Use this period intentionally. GBSH offers a rare environment where you can explore new fields, test ideas and work across disciplines at a relatively low cost and high frequency, intellectually, professionally and personally.
If you are transitioning from another field, don’t see that as a disadvantage. Bring your existing skills into healthcare and allow them to interact with new knowledge. Some of the most meaningful insights emerge at the edges between disciplines.
Engage actively with your cohort, take projects seriously, and apply what you learn beyond the classroom whenever possible. The value of the programme is not only in the content, but in how you use it, to experiment, to collaborate, and to shape a direction that feels both rigorous and personally meaningful.
Finally, healthcare needs people who are willing to explore, translate, and connect. This is the time to do exactly that.