Executive Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer, NU SKIN ENTERPRISES -CL A
Nu Skin PRISM Device & The Future of Skincare | Joe Chang Interview
Nu Skin's Chief Scientific Officer Joe Chang breaks down the development of the innovative PRISM device and why the company ...
About Joseph Chang
Joseph Chang, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Nu Skin Enterprises, appeared in a June 2026 masterclass event focused on Latin American audiences. During the event, Chang discussed the company's Age Lock science and product portfolio, stating that Nu Skin's products are designed to "put under control what was not in control and was aging the person." He encouraged distributors to focus on their passions within the product line, noting that Latin America's focus would likely be on beauty and the LumiSpa device. Chang also promoted an upcoming 2027 event, urging attendees to reserve limited spots. In a June 2024 interview about the PRISM device, Chang described science as a "multi-disciplinary sport" and stated that Nu Skin's research team includes slightly over 70 scientists across the U.S. and China. He emphasized that the company's ability to continue innovation depends on distributor growth, saying "this company doesn't survive without your participation." Chang also noted that research often yields unwanted results, stating that "90% of the time, the answer that you get is not an answer that you want," and that products must be safe and effective.
Transcript (50 segments)
M
MueL0:00
So Joe, before we start, welcome back to Nu Skin.
J
Joseph Chang0:04
Yeah, thank you MueL. It's sort of interesting, I actually never... I know, I know, right? So, but it's been a very exciting over the last year or so, especially with the launch of the Prism device and some of the new things that are coming up.
I sort of felt so passionate about those products and things that I have to stay, you know, because I have to at least help all our distributors and leaders to understand why these products are so exciting and innovative. So I'm back, and in a way I've never left, so I can't even say that honestly. However, I love doing... I mean, Nu Skin to me is a family, and that's why I say I've never left. And it's so good to be back and be able to see all of you again as the chief scientific officer of Nu Skin.
M
MueL0:49
And we're really, really happy, and I'm sure all the OTG and LeaderNet members at the event will be very excited to see you.
J
Joseph Chang1:00
Yeah, don't forget that it's Malta, right? Yeah.
M
MueL1:03
It's wonderful, and I hope you had a great time. I love Malta as a city, and part of Spain is nice and warm.
So we have a few questions, of course product related. I think one of the main questions is always why do we come up with the products that we come up with? Is it based on market trends? Is it based on the work that you do in the laboratories? Is it based on conversation with the field leadership? Can you talk a little bit about that?
J
Joseph Chang1:33
Sure. And it's an interesting process for us at Nu Skin. It's not just about one thing that MueL just talked about. It's about all those things taken together. But most importantly for us is that we are always constantly innovating. Yeah. So we never actually try to develop what I call a me-too product. So depending, sometimes the idea could come from one of you in fact, from the field as well. Perhaps you have a product that's called Beauty Focus Collagen. Frankly, there was a product that many of our leaders felt was an important product to have.
M
MueL2:12
But I'll come into that in a minute, right? And talk about that specifically. But right for now, that's where this product, the idea started.
J
Joseph Chang2:19
Some other ideas could come from our scientific advisory board. That is also something that is unique to Nu Skin. We have a lot of professors, you know, whether it's from Europe, whether it's from Asia, whether it's from the US, they come together and just like this Team Elite meeting, we have scientific meetings, and sometimes the idea will come up and we say, 'Hmm, that's interesting for us to somewhat pursue.' What I'm trying to say is really because of all these different sources of ideas, you know, science is now more of a team sport. Product development is no more one single player that generates all the ideas. It's about a collection of all these talents.
M
MueL3:04
So Beauty Focus Collagen, that's an example of a product that actually came about by a market leadership wish. Yeah. So that's a great sort of entree and segue into this, use that as a specific example. So now we have a source identified, the idea looks good, it's exciting.
J
Joseph Chang3:24
But the first thing we think of, we are not going to make, obviously there are other collagen products in the market, other companies are making, you say we're not going to make that kind of collagen product. We don't want to be just another me-too. If you truly look at what we have in Beauty Focus Collagen product, the difference is because what we did was take that idea and make it better. That's the important thing. Our scientists say, okay, great. For example, yes, our collagen product and maybe our competitive products, they all make new collagen, right, on your skin. That's the fundamental idea.
M
MueL4:02
Mhm.
J
Joseph Chang4:02
But what's the point of making new collagen? Because you are going to live in the same place where the previous type or your current collagen is being destroyed by your environment, like the sun. So we say we got to find a way to protect even this new collagen, and that's where we say we have to protect it. So we included an ingredient, an antioxidant particularly that stays on the skin to protect the new collagen. So now we have built, we are now protecting.
M
MueL4:33
And there's another one for the skin that is very important: moisturize. All of you understand, right, in order to keep your skin healthy, you have to keep it hydrated, right.
J
Joseph Chang4:43
So what did we do? We put an internal sponge, not a real sponge, but a chemical sponge that we call ceramide, so that it can hold the water under your skin better.
M
MueL4:54
Wow.
J
Joseph Chang4:55
That's a difference. Most of you use external moisturizers. We say we may be able to do one better: to keep it internal. When you take the Beauty Focus Collagen product, it has an internal moisturizer. So what do we do? Build, protect, moisturize. No other collagen product out there does that. So that's how we innovate, right? It's not to just make another me-too product, it's to make it actually even better. That's one example.
M
MueL5:23
Yeah.
J
Joseph Chang5:24
Prism is another one. Maybe I'll just say it now. That's an idea that we got from a university from the very early days. Oh my goodness, it's more than 20 years now. But we have progressed this particular device to a point now that many of you are looking at it as a disc rather than a portable measuring the palm, right? Just all you have to do is put it on a finger. But the most important thing is that it's no more the previous scanner. What we have done is that with this Prism, with the introduction of AI into the world, we're able to look at all the data that we have over the last 20 years and be able to say, what does it mean? You measure antioxidant, what does it really mean? Well, we are able to translate that. The Prism now is actually a nutritional monitor. It's not just an antioxidant monitor. That's the transformation. That's another innovation that if we don't have the science, we would never ever have been able to do that. So these are just two examples. It can come from many places: university, the leader in the field, and some of our internal ideas from our scientists as well, but they all go into what I call a collective bin, and that's where we say, how can we do better?
M
MueL6:53
I actually have a question on that too, because we of course know all the scientists in Bravo, but how many people are involved when you develop a new product? Can you say something about that so people understand how the process and maybe the teams look like.
J
Joseph Chang7:08
Yeah. I always felt that when people say we are doing science, well actually what do you mean by that? In this day and age, science is a multi-disciplinary sport, I call it. You guys all play football, right? If I have the biggest and most talented center forward striker and I pick all 11 players as strikers, you will never win. You have to pass, right? Strikers are not very good in passing. You got to have a midfielder, like a Beckenbauer or somebody like that, to direct the whole sport. Science is the same way. It has to have different types of scientists. We have nutritionists, we have biochemists, we have device engineers, and so on and so forth. But fundamentally, it's a team.
M
MueL8:00
Yeah.
J
Joseph Chang8:00
And collectively, between our US group of scientists, we also have some China scientists as well. Together we have about slightly over 70.
M
MueL8:12
Yeah.
J
Joseph Chang8:13
And depending on the project, if it's a skin project, then the skin biologists and folks like that will be more involved in that. And then on a nutritional supplement, it's the same thing. So yeah, we cannot do science with just one person.
M
MueL8:29
And I know you said about Prism, that was actually a project that has been running for 20 years. But is there anything that you can say about how long it takes from an idea to a product on average?
J
Joseph Chang8:41
Typically on a consumable, I think that's what hopefully MueL is asking me, like Beauty Focus and so on, this consumable whether it's a skincare or a supplement that we develop, typically it's about 18 months.
M
MueL8:54
Okay.
J
Joseph Chang8:55
Yeah. The reason why it takes so long, remember what are we at Nu Skin, right? We produce not just effective products. We are also hoping that you realize we are producing safe and effective products. That word, to me personally, I'm more focused on making sure the product is safe, especially on the nutritional side. You're taking it into your body. And that's what we have to prove. Sometimes when we make a product, I want to make sure we have all the safety data before we focus on effectiveness.
M
MueL9:32
So that's why it takes so long because some of the safety studies I cannot do them in just a month, we have to do it over 3 months and so on.
J
Joseph Chang9:42
And remember, even after we have designed all this, we have to go into manufacturing, and that's another set of issues we have to resolve. So that adds on another time too.
M
MueL9:54
So maybe on that topic, how many products are not making it to a final product? Is there also a selection of products that you maybe make in the laboratory and or in the production it fails? Is there something to say about that?
J
Joseph Chang10:08
Oh okay. I think on the average we probably throw away 90% of our projects. Only 10% of our products will actually finally emerge with a new product that we can launch. It's research, right? I mean if we are going to truly believe that we are doing science, and what is science? Science is dependent on research, and when you do research, you don't have an answer yet. You have to wait for the answer to come from your studies, and sometimes, well, very often 90% of the time, the answer that you get is not an answer that you want. You say it's either not safe, or neither is it actually a very good and effective product, or they don't manufacture very well, we have many ingredients that don't mix very well with each other. So all these things contribute to the fact that 90% of projects don't work out and we have to go back to the drawing board.
M
MueL11:09
90%.
J
Joseph Chang11:10
Yeah.
M
MueL11:14
Yeah, wow. So in Europe we have a quite extensive portfolio actually, we got a question from someone saying we almost feel that we have everything that we need. But we also know that your mind never stops thinking and your team. So, is there anything that you're working on right now or future state or things that we can expect? Maybe a little secret that you can share with us.
J
Joseph Chang11:38
Sure. All right. So I think you're asking right, you're right. Science never stops and it's always giving us new knowledge that we can use for new products and so on. That's always true. I'm thinking, when I look, you're right, we have many many products, we have covered most of the fields, whether it's skin, whether it's on health inside the body and so on. But we're starting to see, looking from your perspective from the field, if you will, it's very difficult to choose. How do we choose? We're trying to use digital apps and so on to help you to do that. I'm hoping, I think it will be efficient and you'll be able to use that to choose what are the best products for you. Okay. Now there's another level that you're thinking of. So because I'm now talking about personalization.
M
MueL12:36
Mhm.
J
Joseph Chang12:37
We're beginning to understand, especially from the ageLOC technology that we developed over the last 10 years, that each and every one of us have very subtle but significant differences.
M
MueL12:49
Yeah.
J
Joseph Chang12:50
So I'm hoping with that knowledge now, we are going to be able to help you personalize the products just for you. That's the big vision for the future, you know, personalization of our products for each and every one of you. And we're working towards that end. Actually, the Prism that we just launched is actually the first step we're taking towards that direction.
M
MueL13:20
Yeah.
J
Joseph Chang13:20
Because it's telling us data, because in order to personalize for you, I ought to have data from your body. And that's what we're trying to do. Prism is the first step, getting information from your body. Then once that information is at the highest level, we can put it into artificial intelligence and then help us personalize.
M
MueL13:44
Yeah.
J
Joseph Chang13:44
So that's the broad future.
M
MueL13:47
I think that brings us to the end of the questions. So I wanted to thank you in the name of all of our guests at the event. Maybe a final message to our leaders that are now together in Malta. What do you expect from the leaders in Europe and maybe when can we see you in life in Europe one day again?
J
Joseph Chang14:06
Yes, indeed. I'm really hoping to see all of you again. But the most important thing, this company is for you but also by you, all right, and we are only with you. So if you take those three things together, all right, this company doesn't survive without your participation. And what is that participation? The participation is growth, right? Because in order for us to do the science and all the innovation that we have been doing for the last 40 years, to continue it on, that requires resources and those resources can only come from you. That's the most important. It's your company and for us to continue to do it, we must grow, and this company, frankly, in my mind, can never ever survive without all of you. So remember that this is your company and our products, it's all for you, and the promise obviously is the fact that our products will never ever embarrass you when you talk about our products to any new customer, any new person, because we have done the research. That's what it means to be science-based, to have data, to have evidence, to have that level of confidence that these products will always be the best you can get.
M
MueL15:33
Thank you very much for your time and who knows, next year we're going to be there in person.
J
Joseph Chang15:39
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much.