Healthcare systems in the US and around the world are facing the rapid growth of multilingual communities, shortages of healthcare personnel, and increasing pressure to reduce costs.
In this context, traditional interpretation solutions are often slow, costly, and difficult to scale. Lexi was created to fill this gap by providing a real-time, AI-powered medical interpretation platform that can be deployed at scale, complies with healthcare data security standards, and maintains both clinical accuracy and cultural sensitivity.
Lexi is led by a multilingual, immigrant-founded team fluent in 15 languages, with expertise spanning healthcare, AI, design, and business. The team reflects the very communities Lexi serves and is deeply shaped by personal experiences of linguistic and cultural barriers in healthcare.
Lexi was co-founded by Linh Pham and Siddharth UR, who met while studying Design Engineering at Harvard University.
Lexi is a real-time, AI-powered medical interpretation platform designed to eliminate language barriers in healthcare, addressing the needs of approximately 30 million patients in the US who face difficulties in medical communication due to limited language proficiency.
The platform supports access via web, mobile devices, and landline telephone calls, and integrates with enterprise call centre and telecommunications systems. Lexi supports patient care before, during, and after clinical visits, including post-visit summaries in the patient’s preferred language. The entire platform is designed in full compliance with HIPAA, meeting stringent requirements for medical data security.
Over the past year, Lexi received widespread recognition from academic institutions, media outlets, the global technology community, and the design industry.
Lexi won the Overall First Prize in the Social Enterprise category at the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition (HBS NVC) — one of the most competitive startup competitions in the global academic ecosystem. The award affirms Lexi as a leading social enterprise startup of 2025, with a viable model and measurable social impact.
In design, Lexi received the iF Design Award Gold 2025, placing the project in the top 0.7% of outstanding designs worldwide and recognising its human-centred approach to healthcare design.
In technology, Lexi won the Gold Award and the Grand Stevie at the Stevie® Awards for Technology Excellence 2025 — the highest honour of the entire programme, reserved for the solution with the highest overall score of the year. The project was also recognised by Fast Company in its Innovation by Design programme, affirming Lexi’s ability to integrate technology, design, and social impact.
In addition to these major awards, Lexi has been honoured at many other prestigious forums, including: Champion of the HLTH Health Equity Startup Competition — recognising startups with outstanding contributions to reducing inequality and improving access to healthcare; Fast Company — Innovation by Design Honoree — celebrating design-led innovation; TechCrunch Disrupt — Startup Battlefield—recognising Lexi within the global technology startup ecosystem; the Visible Hands Fellowship — a programme supporting founders focused on social impact; and the Female Founder Circle Pitch Competition — First Prize, honouring leadership and innovation by female founders.
Founded with the mission of narrowing language gaps in healthcare, Lexi’s series of international awards and recognitions demonstrate its emergence as a representative example of globally competitive AI healthcare startups, while delivering clear and sustainable social impact.
