Hala Deng: Transforming Healthcare Communication with MedTrans
Hala Deng (‘24), a first-generation college graduate from Iowa State University (major, biology), is an innovative entrepreneur transforming healthcare interpretation with her business, MedTrans. Drawing from her personal experiences as a non-native English speaker, Hala aims to bridge language barriers that prevent quality patient care.
Hala dipped her toe into entrepreneurship by participating in the ISU Pappajohn Center’s Food Insecurity Challenge, where she and her team secured second place. Motivated by this success, she explored other opportunities, including the College-by-College Pitch Off, where she pitched MedTrans, an AI-driven software designed to offer 24/7 on-demand healthcare interpretation services.
MedTrans addresses a critical need that Hala identified in her own experience working in a pharmacy: the challenge non-English-speaking patients face in understanding medical instructions. MedTrans will integrate seamlessly with existing healthcare software, requiring no additional equipment or training. Its features include real-time transcription, recordings for legal and medical reviews, and layman’s translations of complex medical terms. “If a doctor uses the term ‘osteosarcoma’ the patient will hear it translated as ‘tumor of the bone’ rather than the complex medical terminology that could further confuse them,” shared Hala.
After winning the College-by-College Pitch Off, Hala received guidance from the ISU Pappajohn Center and ISU Small Business Development Center (SBDC). With their help, she developed a business plan, finalized her LLC, and engaged with potential customers at Mary Greeley Medical Center, whose feedback emphasized the need for simple, user-friendly solutions.
Hala was accepted into ISU Startup Factory cohort 16. Here, she refined MedTrans’ financial model, transitioning to a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model after in-depth discussions and mentorship. Financial projections were a steep learning curve for Hala, requiring extensive research into healthcare providers’ current expenditures on interpretation services. Hala found support in the collaborative ISU Startup Factory environment, which helped her navigate these challenges.
“The ISU Startup Factory helped me unravel all the layers of starting a business I wasn’t aware of…The team reassured me that with time, I’ll make more connections and have more resources available to me. It is just going to take focusing on one segment of the business at a time until I build up a great team around me.”
Hala believes that MedTrans has the potential to break down linguistic barriers in healthcare, ensuring equitable care for all patients. “The ISU Startup Factory helped me understand why I want MedTrans to exist and showed me that it’s possible to get this business off the ground.”
Though the path ahead is long, Hala is confident that MedTrans will transform healthcare communication, empowering providers to deliver better care to diverse populations.