Samuel, Yanyan, Gary, Constance, PK, Echo, and Kanwal

In May, we celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States. That month and all year round, we acknowledge the impact of our Asian and Asian American team members and wanted to celebrate the cultures they represent.

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Samuel Teh

General Manager, Malaysia and Singapore

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?
This September will be my 10th year in Cook. I started off as a territory sales manager for the then Critical Care (CC) business unit covering the whole of Malaysia after 8 years in the pharmaceutical industry, a business owner and also held various other sales and marketing positions for 8 other years. Singapore was later added to my CC portfolio in Cook before I changed to be the office manager for Malaysia in 2016 and then general manager for Malaysia and Singapore in 2020. I also took on the Ethics & Compliance responsibilities for Malaysia in 2016 and for Singapore in 2018 and have been at it since. It has been a great ride and I look forward to more adventures with Cook.

What are you passionate about outside of work?
Lots of things indeed. I don’t know where to start but if I were to pick a few, it would be cooking, traveling, and cycling, among others. I love watching cooking shows and get inspired by the dishes being served and would replicate them at home for my wife and 2-year-old son. I like watching the Masterchef series, Jamie Oliver, Robert Irvine, and Rachel Ray. (I secretly hope to open up a nice cozy spot someday serving some pub grub and my favorite beer, Guinness). As for traveling, who wouldn’t like to see the world and experience new culture and food? My wife and I managed to experience the Northern Lights for a few nights along Norway and Finland via a four-wheel drive, snowmobile, and a great husky sled ride. We went on a cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia, in the dead of winter and went for our first ski together. We also like to hang out by the beach and sip some ice-cold beer. We are looking forward to bringing our son on his first European or American adventure in the near future once the COVID-19 situation is under control. Cycling is another one of my passions, and it’s not for the glory of winning competitions but to explore the countryside and savor the local food and scenery along the way.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?
I am technically a Hokkien from my father’s side. Mom was a Hakka. I was born and bred in Penang Island (until I moved to the capital in 2006), which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 and also in recent years received numerous international accolades as one of Asia’s top travel destinations. It is also known as a gastronomic haven where my love of food came about. I am a quarter Straits Chinese (from my great grandmother) or Peranakan (it is a unique hybridization of ancient Chinese culture with the local cultures with display of certain Sino-Malay syncretic attributes, in terms of attire worn, food, spoken language, etc.). I do not wear Peranakan clothing but the food influence in strong in my family. Now comes the Hokkien side. I speak the Hokkien dialect and according to The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) AD Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages, it’s a dying language. Dating back to the Tang Dynasty from China, it has evolved and traveled over time and is spoken in several states in Malaysia and countries like Singapore and Taiwan. I must admit that whenever I go back to Penang and speak to the younger generation there, they would respond back to me in Mandarin (which I only understand a bit) and I would get annoyed as I would expect to be replied in the language that I used. When I ordered food from the hawkers, who most of the time are from the older generation, they would seem surprised that I could speak the local language in the correct accent and that would put a smile on their face. I would need to do my part for the dialect to survive and have been imparting the knowledge to my wife, who is Cantonese. I also need to teach my son the same, and end by saying “kam sia” (thank you in Hokkien) for reading this.

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Yanyan (Vivian) Li

Territory Manager, Reproductive Health (RH), China

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?
Cook is the first and only company that I worked for. I joined RH of Cook Medical as strategic business unit (SBU) support on July 11, 2011, when I graduated from a medical university. This year I will celebrate 10 years at Cook Medical. I started the role of field product specialist in 2014 and focused on physician education, clinical and product training, and all the professional support for all the customers, distributors, and functional departments, if necessary. This role was really exciting, dynamic, and challenging because you need to communicate with different people and keep equipping yourself with new knowledge in reproductive medicine field every day. It gave me a sense of achievement and great happiness. I would like to thank Jianguo Dai and Jason Spittle for all the mentoring and inspiration during that time. They also encouraged me to get a master’s degree in reproductive medicine and embryology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). My current role is territory manager, and I will continue to contribute more from the business perspective. I am still very passionate about this unknown journey. I truly love RH culture, where we help and support each other.

What are you passionate about outside of work?
My biggest passion is traveling. I love to explore the world and experience different cultures, taste all kinds of food, and meet more interesting people. I also love reading, cooking, hiking, and spending time with my family.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?
There are 56 ethic groups in China, and the largest group is Han, which covers 92% of the total population. Chinese culture often refers to the elements of Han group. But actually the other 55 minority ethic groups maintain their own cultures, language, characters, customs, food, clothing, and festivals, which are completely different from the Han group. For example, I come from the Tujia minority ethic group with a population of 5 million in China.

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Gary Ong

Asia-Pacific (APAC) Urology Sales Manager

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?
APAC Urology sales manager. Other role is APAC MedSurg sponsor role (excluding China & Australia)

What are you passionate about outside of work?
Outside of work, my passion is finding good pizzas.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?
My Burmese heritage is still integral to my identity. Burmese typically show a deep respect for the elderly.
The longyi is the most common type of traditional dress that’s worn on a daily basis. It is a piece of large cloth that resembles a sarong that’s worn by both men and women. Males tie the front in a knot that hangs out whereas the ladies tuck it into the side. The only things that differ between the genders are the patterns and how it’s worn. A typical masculine longyi has a simple checked pattern on a dark-colored cloth, whereas feminine ones are more colorful. You’ll see pretty much everyone in Myanmar (formerly Burma) wearing this, often accompanied by sandals or flip-flops. People heading to the office or a more formal and professional environment will opt for a longyi with a shirt. In Myanmar, a longyi is a suitable item of clothing for pretty much every occasion.

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Constance Loh

Senior Legal Counsel, APAC

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?
I work in the Legal department and am the Senior Legal Counsel for APAC, based out of Cook’s Hong Kong office. I also belong to the APAC Leadership team and have many chances to interact with the leaders not only in the APAC region but also in Park 48 and EMEA.

What are you passionate about outside of work?
Reading, trying different cuisines, interacting with people and learning about their cultures and backgrounds, traveling to new places, and understanding differences in ideologies and cultures.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?
I was born in Singapore and grew up there. Singapore is a great backdrop of different races, cultures, and religions and somehow it all works relatively harmoniously together. Much effort has been made in Singapore to appreciate and understand each others’ cultures and religions and as such, it has created a nation of people who appreciate living harmoniously together and would try to behave in the way that respect the differences in others. I’m not saying that it’s perfect, but it perhaps provides a good blueprint of how people should behave!

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PK Koduri

Global Market Outlook Manager, Vascular

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?
I currently work as a Market Outlook manager in the Vascular division. After graduating from the University of Louisville with a master’s in chemical engineering, I joined Lexmark International, the printer manufacturer, to manage semiconductor chip suppliers for the inkjet printhead product line. By the time I left Lexmark, I had an MBA and stints in product management, innovation management, and strategic planning. My wife’s job and a timely buyout offer from Lexmark brought me to the Indianapolis area. An informational interview marked the beginning of my exciting journey at Cook. I started as a clinical specialist, became a product manager to launch Zenith Fenestrated Endograft, and eventually a global program manager for strategic projects, all in the Aortic Intervention SBU, before taking on my current role. In this role, I collaborate closely with my other two colleagues in the Market Outlook group to develop future scenarios, which I hope will help us better prepare for what’s to come in the years ahead.

What are you passionate about outside of work?
I love the idea of having multiple interests at any given moment in time. My family is, without a doubt, the center of my attention, but I also try to devote enough time to try new things and learn new skills. Over the years, I have tried my hand at restoring a classic BMW convertible, vintage cameras, and mid-century modern furniture. I have dabbled in film photography and maintain a portfolio at paxkoduri.com to those interested in checking it out. My current obsessions are building the perfect vintage audiophile setup on a budget, 3D printing, and working towards a certificate in data science at IU. I rediscovered my love for tennis now that my daughters have started playing it. We are a dog-loving family and are proud parents to four dogs: two Jack Russell Terriers, a Dalmatian, and a Dachshund.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?
I am from the South Indian city of Hyderabad, a cultural melting pot and a global center for biosciences and information technology. I also attended the Indian Institute of Technology, which draws some of the best students from all over India. I experienced the diversity of a vast country like India from the comfort of my home and my dorm. I even ended up speaking more than three languages and understanding a few more. This particular aspect of my cultural background and heritage helped me adapt to my new life in the US quickly, and I am very proud of it.

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Echo Zhang

Chief Operating Officer, Cook China

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?

My current role is chief operating officer of Cook China, before this I served as Finance manager in Cook China.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

My passion is traveling and food. I loving traveling and experiencing different types of culture and trying different kinds of food.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?

China has a long history and has many heritages of culture and food. Chinese people love food, we have different types of food from north to south, west to east. Some are extreme spicy, some are sweet, some are mild; there are many different cooking methods steaming, boiling, braising, deep frying, etc. Food plays an important role in our daily life, there are so many Chinese words linked to “eating.” In China, when people meet each other, we don’t talk about the weather, we normally exchange greetings by asking “Have you had lunch/dinner?” Other food-related phrases are when people are being jealous is called “to eat vinegar,” work in Chinese is also called “rice bowl,” being popular is called “eat fragrants,” taking advantage is called “eat tofu,” being sued is called “eating lawsuit,” if someone or something is unable to endure anymore we will say “Can’t eat it to make it vanish.” There are so many words about eating and food, it sounds very interesting isn’t it?

I’d like to introduce one documentary called “One Bite of China” to the people who love food; this documentary TV series focused on the history of food, cooking, and eating in China. It introduces the history behind various types of foods in China in more than 60 locations. You will definitely want to try all of them after watching it!

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Kanwal (Kav) Jaggi

APAC Pricing and Contracts Manager, MedSurg

What do you do for Cook and what other roles have you held?
My Cook journey started in the summer of 2015, right after completing my graduate degree at Indiana University (IU), when I was hired as an analytics intern to support the Urology SBU. After a successful internship, I was fortunate enough to be offered a full-time role as a strategic sales and pricing analyst for MedSurg.

As an analyst embedded within the division, I benefitted greatly from Cook’s transformational efforts in the data analytics space along with an ever-increasing focus on commercial activities such as strategic price management. This afforded me plenty of unique opportunities to use data and storytelling to derive insights and drive better decision making in a variety of projects across the company. Owing to a combination of factors, the next step in my journey involved relocating to Hong Kong as the pricing and contracts manager for APAC in the summer of 2018. Since then, I have been primarily responsible for creating, implementing, and managing pricing strategy and processes across the region along with being heavily involved in our ongoing efforts in China.

What are you passionate about outside of work?
Outside of work, I love spending time with friends and family, and you can usually find me trying a new restaurant in town on a Friday night, chilling by the beach on Saturday, and hiking some beautiful (and easy) Hong Kong trails on Sunday. I am also passionate about sports, mostly football (supporting Arsenal FC) and cricket (I get tired of watching Arsenal lose so India winning helps makes up for it). I love bingeing shows and am a movie buff as well. More recently, I’ve been immersing myself in the world of cryptocurrencies and stocks.

What is one thing about your cultural background or heritage that you want people to know?
An element of Indian culture that I find beautiful is the emphasis placed on togetherness and family. Having grown up in a household with three sisters and having spent most weekends surrounded by my extended family (including my father’s nine siblings), I have witnessed first-hand the strength and power that lies in the unity of the family. For as long as I can remember, there was always an emphasis placed on the bigger picture or the greater good, which is an incredibly valuable perspective to have.

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