Growing Soof Solutions from the ground up
Since completing the MHL program, Mausoof Adamson has successfully raised $240,000 from angel investors and is now in the process of securing an additional $1.5 million in funding. With interest from investors in the UAE and Pakistan, she is expanding Soof Solutions beyond the U.S., aiming to make a global impact. Her company’s first product is ready to hit the market, and she’s assembled a strong leadership team.
"The MHL program taught me so much about building a company," she said. "Coming from a Ph.D. background, I had to shift my mindset — not just focusing on the customer, but on building a strong team and fostering a positive environment for employees. Learning how to organize, lead and prioritize my team’s well-being has been invaluable to me to this day."
Revolutionizing communication through AI
Soof Solutions’ innovative AI-driven app suite is designed to improve communication for individuals with speech impairments. The suite includes three apps — one for patients, one for caregivers and one for healthcare providers.
- Patient App: Utilizes eye-gaze tracking on an Apple® iPad to help users communicate their needs through personalized images. It also monitors mood using emojis and interactive displays, with responses recorded and shared with healthcare providers.
- Caregiver App: Allows caregivers to receive information about the patient's needs and monitor their status, promoting independence and enhancing social interaction between the patient and caregiver.
- Provider App: Enables healthcare providers to assess patient status, monitor progress and assign new content for communication rehabilitation, all within a single platform.
Additionally, the company is working on an “eye health score” feature, which will use collected data to detect early warning signs of strokes and seizures, offering potentially life-saving insights for at-risk individuals.
“The real AI component is going to come when we finish collecting our data in about a year and a half,” Mausoof Adamson explained. “We need the data in order to develop an algorithm that uses the metrics from the eye, and we call it an eye health score, so that we can actually detect seizures and strokes. It's not a diagnosis, it's just added information that makes preventing another stroke possible.”
A global impact and future vision
Mausoof Adamson’s company is already conducting case studies, including one case study in Missouri focusing on a seven-year-old with a partial chromosomal deletion and another study in Pakistan for older adults in the neurology department. Hospitals are taking notice, with two institutions inquiring about the app suite for clinical use.
For the family of the young girl in Missouri, the technology is already making a profound difference, allowing her to express herself in ways that were previously out of reach.
“She’s always so excited anytime she’s communicating and we actually get what she’s saying. Her face lights up – she’s clapping and she squeals,” Mindy, the girl’s mother, said. “I think this is an option where she’s going to be a lot happier and to know that she’s understood, she’s heard and that we want to hear from her.”
"Employing cutting-edge technology has not always been on the forefront of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices, or AAC, as they are commonly referred to in the field of Speech-Language Pathology. Soof Solutions is changing that,” Katherine Reese, M.A. CCC-SLP, the girl’s speech language pathologist, said. “Soof Solutions aims to support some of our most severely disabled patients with access to life-changing expressive communication. Additionally, by developing the Soof AAC apps with varying features for patients, their caregivers and health care providers, we can address the entire care team's needs for a more holistic and inclusive solution."
Reflecting on her journey, Mausoof Adamson emphasizes how the MHL program shaped her trajectory.
