South Brunswick Native Part Of Winning Team In 2025 TCNJ Biz Plan Competition

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Yasaman Galer, a South Brunswick native and South Brunswick High School graduate, has claimed the $30,000 first-place prize in TCNJ's 2025 Mayo Business Plan Competition as part of Team Juniper.

The team developed an innovative AI transcription platform designed to revolutionize medical documentation and billing processes.

Working alongside teammates Livia Minaides and Isha Patwardhan, Galer helped create a solution born from personal observations of healthcare inefficiencies.

"We've seen our friends and family members go through healthcare struggles where they feel they're not being heard by the doctor," Patwardhan said. "It inspired us to come up with an idea for how we can make people's lives easier."

As a biology major on the pre-med track who has shadowed physicians in various settings, Galer witnessed firsthand how time-consuming patient documentation could be.

She assembled a cross-disciplinary team with fellow biology major Patwardhan and marketing major Minaides to address this challenge.

Their winning concept is a web-based application that records and transcribes medical consultations into concise visit summaries for both doctors and patients.

The AI-powered platform goes further by recommending appropriate insurance billing codes based on the transcription. By integrating with existing hospital systems, the app allows healthcare professionals to focus more on patient care rather than administrative tasks.

"I truly learned the value of networking," Minaides said, reflecting on the team's preparation process, which included seeking guidance from industry professionals, alumni, and past competition finalists.

For Galer, who graduates this May with a finance minor, the competition provided valuable entrepreneurial experience that has shaped her career interests. "I'm hoping to get involved in startups or in tech in some way or capacity in the near future," she said. "Finding the intersection of medicine, technology, and business is where I'd really like to focus my attention."

The competition featured 16 teams who developed their projects throughout the academic year. The finals, held at Mayo Concert Hall on March 26, saw the top three teams presenting to a panel of five alumni judges.

The competition awarded a total of $60,000 in prizes. Team NODE secured the $20,000 second-place prize for their app facilitating collaboration between schools, families, and healthcare providers to support student success. Team Confi/o took third place and $10,000 for their platform helping startups and small businesses create smartphone app prototypes without coding experience.

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