business
Physician delivers maternity lab coats
■ A West Virginia internist creates specialized medical wear after struggling to find lab coats that fit during her own pregnancy.
By Victoria Stagg Elliott — Posted Feb. 7, 2011
Making sidelines pay
Doctors who branched out beyond running their practice tell why they did it, how they did it, and what you should know before you do it.
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Name: Maria Tranto, DO
Specialty: Internal medicine
Location: Weirton, W.Va.
Company: PROcreations sells a maternity lab coat designed by Dr. Tranto. The patent is pending (link).
Annual revenue: Data are not available on the 18-month-old company. Dr. Tranto and her partners say the firm is profitable.
Why she started the business: Dr. Tranto had trouble finding a lab coat that fit right after she became pregnant during her residency.
She tried buying ones in larger sizes, but nothing was a good fit.
"It looked ridiculous. It was ill-fitting, and maternity lab coats were nonexistent," Dr. Tranto said. "PROcreations truly was invented out of necessity. Other maternity lab coats do not exist. That's shocking, isn't it?"
Maternity scrubs were available, but lab coats were not. So Dr. Tranto and her husband, George Dimitriou, MD, started thinking seriously about what this type of garment might look like, and what it would take to get it into production. A growing number of physicians are female, as are other lab-coat wearers, such as veterinarians and pharmacists.
Dr. Tranto designed a coat that expands and contracts with a belt and buttons on the back to accommodate a growing middle during pregnancy and a smaller one after delivery. She and her husband connected with two other partners, and the first coat was shipped in October 2009. They also found an additional market in women who were bigger in the hips and found that it fit better that usual lab coats. "We were surprised that it was not just for maternity use," she said. Coats range from $68.50 to $76.00.
Why she still practices: "Medicine is my calling. It always has been, and I just cannot give up my calling."
Words of wisdom: "Networking is very important. It's critical that you meet other people who can take your product to market."
