Mercer Times

Team Juniper achieved a significant milestone by winning the 2025 Mayo Business Plan Competition with a $30,000 prize. The team developed an AI transcription platform designed to streamline medical documentation and billing for healthcare providers and patients. Comprising Yasaman Galer ’25, Livia Minaides ’27, and Isha Patwardhan ’26, the team proposed a web-based app that records consultations and transcribes them into summaries, potentially saving healthcare professionals time during patient care.

Patwardhan remarked on their motivation: “We’ve seen our friends and family members go through healthcare struggles where they feel they’re not being heard by the doctor. It inspired us to come up with an idea for how we can make people’s lives easier.” Galer, sharing her hands-on experience in healthcare settings, noticed that documenting patient encounters is cumbersome and recruited her team. The app is designed to integrate with existing hospital systems, facilitating the use of AI for suggesting billing codes based on transcriptions.

Throughout the competition, Team Juniper sought mentorship from experts and past competition participants to refine their approach. Minaides emphasized the importance of networking: “I truly learned the value of networking.” For Galer, who graduates in May, the event aligned with her aspirations in combining medicine, technology, and business: “I’m hoping to get involved in startups or in tech in some way or capacity in the near future.”

The competition involved 16 teams who worked on their projects over nearly an academic year. Three finalists presented at the Mayo Concert Hall on March 26 before a five-member alumni judge panel. Prizes totaled $60,000, with the runner-up NODE securing $20,000 for an app enhancing collaboration between schools, families, and healthcare providers. Third place, Confi/o, received $10,000 for developing a concept assisting startups and small businesses in app prototyping without coding.

Established in 2011 by finance professor emeritus Herbert B. “Buddy” Mayo, the competition is supported by an endowment through the TCNJ Foundation, underscoring New Jersey's strong support for entrepreneurial initiatives.