Cathleen Kuo is Co-Founder and CEO of Opalite Health, an AI-powered medical interpretation platform solving language barriers in healthcare. She is a physician and AI healthcare researcher with over 200 publications and holds 2 patents.

Cathleen earned her MD and conducted extensive neurosurgery research at University at Buffalo, where she developed the Cervical Vertebral Bone Quality (C-VBQ) score. She is the child of immigrants who don't speak English, experiencing language barriers from both patient and physician perspectives.

Cathleen developed the C-VBQ score, an innovative MRI-based algorithm for assessing bone quality in the cervical spine that is becoming the new standard in neurosurgical practice, replacing DEXA scans. Her research spans over 150 publications in neurosurgery and AI healthcare, with expertise in machine learning applications for medical diagnostics.

Opalite Health was founded in 2025 and is backed by Y Combinator (W26), serving patients and providers across 10+ states including hospitals, community health centers, and telehealth providers. The platform saves 20% time per session and millions annually on interpretation costs while delivering superior translation quality at 50% lower cost than traditional services.

Opalite Health's AI medical interpreter is used daily across 10+ states and is set to roll out in a large healthcare enterprise, addressing the needs of over 30 million people in the US with limited English proficiency. The platform works inside existing clinical workflows and EHRs, providing instant 24/7 interpretation without delays in patient care.