How a UAB PA Student Turned a Training Gap into CLEO Education

When Piper Latham started her physician assistant training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of the top medical research institutions in the world, she expected the program to be challenging. What she didn’t expect was how hard it would be to get enough practice reading real X‑rays with clear feedback.

Her classes were strong. Her instructors were excellent. But building confidence in medical image interpretation takes repetition, and most students don’t have a simple, structured way to get that practice. Piper felt this firsthand, and she realized many of her classmates did too.

So, she built a solution.

Between rotations and studying, Piper created the first version of CLEO Education: a tool that lets students practice interpreting real X‑rays and get expert‑verified feedback. It was basic at first, but it did exactly what students needed, and it showed how a homegrown idea could strengthen Alabama’s healthcare talent pipeline.

That early version earned her a spot in the Prosper HealthTech Accelerator, powered by gener8tor. Over 12 weeks, Piper worked with mentors, advisors and coaches who helped her shape CLEO from a student‑built prototype into a real platform. The program also provided investment, which helped her move faster and make key decisions supported by experienced founders.

Inside the accelerator, CLEO grew quickly. The platform became more polished, the learning pathways expanded and early users began practicing cases and giving feedback. Each week brought improvements that made the product stronger and more practical for students, without adding extra cost or complexity to their programs.

Another important part of the experience was the cohort of fellow entrepreneurs. Piper built CLEO alongside four other founders solving healthcare challenges of their own. Sharing ideas and learning from their perspectives helped her make smarter choices and stay focused on creating a tool that supports efficient, hands‑on education.

Today, CLEO Education is a live platform helping students gain real experience reading medical images, something Piper once wished she had more access to during her own training at UAB. It’s growing, improving and reaching more learners, while staying rooted in Birmingham and contributing to the state’s future healthcare workforce.

CLEO has come a long way from the early prototype Piper built between classes. And with continued growth ahead, it remains focused on a clear goal: giving students the practice they need to feel confident and ready for the careers Alabama and the country depend on.