\u201cWe don\u2019t make anything that sits on a shelf in inventory. Custom means six or seven variations, and you pick the best fit. We don\u2019t make those.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name MedCAD doesn\u2019t exactly roll off the tongue, but its origin is simple: Med for medical and CAD for computer-aided design.<\/p>\n
Hairston ends 2025 on a prosperous note with revenues approaching $15 million and predictions of exponential growth next year when two \u2014 soon to be three \u2014 orthopedic implants certified by U.S. Food and Drug Administration kick in. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re growing like crazy,\u201d Hairston said.<\/p>\n
![\"Nancy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OGGWPDE3V5H4XOWYXAHDHDSUXA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Nancy Hairston, MedCAD president and CEO, looks at a cranial implant with Alan Klompus, senior product manager, in their office on Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Brian Buss, executive vice president, said MedCAD is running at a 40% year-over-year clip. \u201cBut venturing into the orthopedic field is likely to make us a bigger dot on the map.\u201d <\/p>\n
Horrors of war<\/p>\n
Hairston\u2019s life-changing moment in 2025 had nothing to do with making money.<\/p>\n
She recently returned from an eight-day mission in Ukraine<\/a>, accompanying four U.S. reconstructive and ocular surgeons who operated on dozens of horrendously disfigured patients in Kyiv and Lviv. <\/p>\n The U.S. team worked in tandem with Ukrainian surgeons and staff under the constant threat of Russian ballistic missiles. \u201cWe squeaked by until we had to spend our last night in a shelter,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The mission also included Jorge Corona, a Dallas ophthalmologist who specializes in oculoplastic and orbital surgery. <\/p>\n \u201cNancy was brave enough to come all the way to Kyiv and Lviv,\u201d Corona said, adding that having Hairston in the operating rooms to consult with the surgical teams was highly beneficial. \u201cShe has a tremendous level of energy, but also, she\u2019s an incredible team player. When Nancy needed to be mindful, calm and collected, she always was.\u201d<\/p>\n Hairston had donated titanium implants and intricate surgery plans for two previous missions used to reconstruct 11 soldiers and civilians\u2019 mangled faces. But this was her first trip to see the horror firsthand and help implant her devices into five victims in the operating room.<\/p>\n \u201cThe injuries are so brutal,\u201d Hairston said. \u201cYou walk into the hospital and everyone is missing an eye, maybe two. And it\u2019s not just soldiers. It\u2019s civilians, too. Women are coming from other parts of the country where they are getting pummeled and their faces are horribly disfigured. Blasts by drones are really devastating to the tissues of the face.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was heartbreaking, sad and all so senseless.\u201d<\/p>\n Sculpting meets CAD <\/p>\n Hairston was born at Baylor Hospital in 1968 \u2014 the youngest of six siblings in a Catholic, three-generations-old Dallas family. Her grandfather was a surgeon at Parkland Hospital, and her father owned a produce company at the Farmers Market.<\/p>\n \u201cI was fascinated by anatomy and loved to paint, draw and sculpt,\u201d Hairston recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I had the brains to be a doctor. I had difficulty in math and sciences, so I took everything that Ursuline [Academy] provided in photography and art.\u201d<\/p>\n That self-assessment seems a tad ludicrous today.<\/p>\n After earning her degree in sculpture from Loyola University in 1990, Hairston interned at Mary Kay Cosmetics in Dallas, which was using cutting-edge 3D animation modeling to make presentations for its sales representatives.<\/p>\n Nancy Hairston, MedCAD president and CEO, speaks with Preston White, a biomedical designer, in their office on Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how I got exposed to modeling on a computer,\u201d Hairston said. \u201cI was just an intern and taught myself how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Another lesson came when Mary Kay saw her wearing pants on the elevator and sent her home to put on a dress.<\/p>\n Hairston went to work for the company in Toronto that invented Mary Kay\u2019s software. During her seven years there, she picked up expertise in special effects, business animation and video game development.<\/p>\n In 2000, Hairston launched her own product development company: Bratz Dolls \u2014 \u201cthe trashy cousin to Barbie\u201d \u2014 for Mattel, playsets for Disney and Fisher-Price and housewares for Williams Sonoma.<\/p>\n She weaned herself off toys and housewares while she bootstrapped her medical implant business with the help of two angel fund rounds.<\/p>\n Today, the bulk of MedCAD\u2019s revenue comes by supplying global medical giants with patient-specific implants and surgery instructions \u2014 the biggest being Zimmer Biomet, which specializes in orthopedic reconstructive products.<\/p>\n MedCAD also has direct-to-hospital relationships with Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas and Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have cancer of the jaw, you\u2019ve got to get it out now,\u201d she said, snapping her fingers. \u201cSo everything we do is quick turn. For Baylor and Hermann, we\u2019ll ship it by the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n All of MedCAD\u2019s raw materials \u2014 including titanium, biomedical plastic and resin \u2014 are subject to tariffs. She\u2019s been able to renegotiate contracts with suppliers in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Germany. <\/p>\n The big hit has been the rapidly escalating price of resin from Israel, used in her 3D prints.<\/p>\n Her biggest problem is scaling growth \u2014 not just financially but also talent. She has 67 employees. Those who play a part in engineering and designing surgical cases need to be able to blend science and technology with art.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have technologists who are engineers but can color outside of the box. They\u2019re like the digital hands of the surgeon,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we have people with artistic backgrounds like me who can be taught the medical side.\u201d<\/p>\n As the company grows, Hairston might consider financial opportunities to scale the company. \u201cBut we are very comfortable where we are at the moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Buss got to know his now-boss when he was co-founder of a medical device company and Hairston provided 3D printing expertise for products his company was bringing to market.<\/p>\n \u201cNancy needed what pretty much anybody growing a medical device company needs,\u201d said Buss, who came to work as executive vice president for her 13 years ago. \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to lead a medical device company from a start-up to a mid-term growth level. To go from $1million to $20 million takes a certain mindset, and I had experience with that twice.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Hairston is the best networker that he\u2019s ever met and listens. <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s able to process a lot of input and come up with the right decision that\u2019s not necessarily the most democratic,\u201d Buss said. \u201cShe knows when to buck the trend and take the path least taken.\u201d<\/p>\n Meet Nancy Hairston<\/p>\n Title:<\/b> President, CEO of MedCAD<\/p>\n Age:<\/b> 57<\/p>\n Born:<\/b> Baylor Hospital, Dallas<\/p>\n Resides:<\/b> Dallas<\/p>\n Education:<\/b> Ursuline Academy of Dallas, 1986, Bachelor of Arts, sculpture, Loyola University, 1990.<\/p>\n Professional:<\/b> Board of Trustees, Loyola University<\/p>\n Personal:<\/b> Longtime life partner<\/p>\n SOURCE: Nancy Hairston<\/p>\n MedCAD<\/p>\n Founded: <\/b>2007<\/p>\n Ownership: <\/b>Nancy Hairston, two small angel investors<\/p>\n Headquarters:<\/b> Dallas near Fair Park<\/p>\n Manufacturing plant: <\/b>Plano<\/p>\n Products and services: <\/b>Titanium implants for cranial and facial reconstruction; implants for lower extremities expected in 2026; detailed surgical plans for implants<\/p>\n Employees: <\/b>67, dispersed in different time zones<\/p>\n Annual revenue: <\/b>Approaching $15 million<\/p>\n Sources: Nancy Hairston, MedCAD<\/p>\n Bowl games, economic reports and holiday closings.<\/p>\n For better or worse, this year reshaped North Texas\u2019 economy in many ways. <\/p>\n What Nancy Hairston found wasn\u2019t a \u2018smoldering hellscape.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nancy Hairston once used her 3D-animation, digital-sculpting and computer-aided-design skills to help Mattel make Bratz Dolls. Now the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":470975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,64,1596,1141,158,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-470974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115780876978861975","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nancy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/E2FYMN7SPNGHDDMOZLSPGMQWIM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Teresa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766675849_19_EYO6MPYRNNB4TC4YZHE6KGXDN4.jpg\")
<\/a>Dallas-Fort Worth business datebook for the week of Dec. 28<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766675850_277_7RS5PX2BW5H43B5MLT54ITN6TQ.jpg\")
<\/a>The top Dallas-Fort Worth business stories of 2025 hint at what\u2019s coming for 2026 <\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nancy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766675851_723_SLM4MVMODZFHBIYIDCSXX3TVYQ.jpg\")
<\/a>Dallas CEO ventures into Ukrainian warzones<\/a><\/p>\n