Roberta Lipson, United Family Healthcare
Campaign Statement
The coming year will continue to be critically important for the role Amcham can play with respect to repairing the serious damage which has been done to the U.S.-China relationship. The unpredictable and volatile state of the trade and diplomatic relationship combined with challenges in the Chinese economy will call for proactive and dynamic leadership of Amcham and the stewardship of the board.
I am proud to have spent the last 40 plus years engaged in activities to further the U.S. China relationship, with many years as a member of the AMCHAM-China board, leveraging my roles as an entrepreneur bringing new concepts in medicine and healthcare to the Chinese market at United Family Healthcare; or as a philanthropist in my role as founder of the United Foundation for China’s Health; or as a community organizer in my role as the founding chair of the China Healthcare Partnership; or as a member of the U.S.-China Business Council Board of Directors. I have taken seriously the responsibility to maximize my impact as an individual, and as a leader, to further the peaceful relations between our countries, through promoting our business and societal collaboration and understanding.
In the lead-up to PNTR and China’s WTO accession in the 1990s, I served for many years as a member of the Amcham-China Board of Governors, and then again, when the US-China relationship became increasingly strained, I rejoined the board from 2021-2024, including two years as Vice Chair, and concluding as the interim Chairman after Sean Stein stepped down. In the past year, during my mandatory hiatus due to term limits, I continued to participate with the board, ex-officio, as Chair Emeritus.
Over this time, I have attended countless government and community meetings, often speaking on behalf of the chamber, sharing our platform with government officials in China and the U.S., nationally and locally, as well as in the business communities and civil society of both countries about the realities of business on the ground. I enthusiastically participated in the Washington door-knock for the past several years, spreading our message through the halls of Washington, of the importance of promoting peaceful relations and the crucial role that business plays toward that end. I also arranged several information dinners for our membership with Ambassadors from third country embassies, in order to better understand the complex multilateral dynamics at play. During my period as Vice Chair and Chair, I also led several reforms of our board’s governance practices.
I believe that the work that we have done over the past few years, together with the capable AMCHAM professional staff, has had a positive impact. However, I do believe there is so much more that needs to be done. The economic and political environment is challenging but also presents many opportunities for our members. Our members need to be able to count on AMCHAM to help them make the most of these opportunities and avoid the risks that lurk.
If elected I will commit to devoting myself to that effort.
Biography
Roberta Lipson is the founder of United Family Healthcare (UFH) and the V. Chair of New Frontier Health, Chair Emeritus of Amcham-China and Director of the U.S.-China Business Council. She has over 40 years of experience as a pioneer in the healthcare industry in China. She originally co-founded United Family Healthcare’s predecessor company Chindex in 1981, expanding the business from China’s top medical equipment distribution company into China’s first and largest foreign-invested healthcare system. After over two decades, UFH’s healthcare platform inludes 11 hospitals and almost 20 clinics in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, and Shenzhen, as well as an internet hospital serving patients nationally. The company has become the provider of choice for those seeking premium, personalized healthcare. United Family Healthcare was rated in 2016 as “The Most Trusted Healthcare Brand of China” by the Chinese Business Journal, and has appeared at the top of private hospital listings every year since .
As founder and CEO Ms. Lipson took her company public on NASDQ in 1994, and then again merged with a NYSE:NFH in 2019, and in 2021 was again part of the buying consortium to re-privatize the company .
Ms. Lipson is an active leader in the business community in Beijing, currently serving for the eleventh year as a director and audit committee chair of the U.S. China Business Council, and is Chair Emeritus of the Board of Governors of AmCham-China, having served previously for four consecutive years, with two as V. Chair and concluding as interium Chair, before her one year mandatory hiatus. She has previously been Co-Chair of the AmCham Healthcare Forum and founding Chair of the Healthcare China Program (HCP) . She also chairs the Board of the United Foundation for China’s Health (UFCH), and is a co- founder of Beijing’s Jewish Community – Kehillat Beijing.
Because of her outstanding contribution in China, Roberta Lipson received “The Great Wall Friendship Award”, the highest honor that Beijing government gives to foreign experts in Beijing. In 2014 Roberta was honored by AmCham as the inaugural recipient of the China Pioneer Award. She was named as a “Top 10 Business Leader of China” by Sina.com in 2015, given the Brandeis University Asper Award for Entrepeneurship and earlier she led the company to win the U.S. State Department ACE Award for Corporate Excellence. This year she has been named as the Global Woman Asia Health Innovation Groundbreaker honoree.
She has lived and worked in Beijing for over 40 years, and in 2017 Ms. Lipson received Foreign Permanent Resident Card. Ms. Lipson holds a BA from Brandeis University and an MBA from Columbia University.