Malecare is a national cancer support and advocacy organization led by Darryl Mitteldorf, an oncologist and social worker who has spent decades helping patients live longer and happier lives. What began 30 years ago as a response to his father’s prostate cancer diagnosis has grown into one of the largest cancer organizations in the United States. “I saw it as an opportunity for revenge against the disease,” Darryl said.
At the centre of Malecare’s work is Cancer Academy, a digital education platform created to provide cancer patients and their loved ones with clear, practical guidance. “Cancer Academy is a platform for all cancer patients and all people who care about cancer patients,” Darryl said. Through short, focused videos, the platform aims to restore confidence, reduce fear, and help people navigate treatment, symptoms, and everyday challenges more effectively.
Over time, Malecare realised that its educational vision required thousands of videos, each carefully crafted, emotionally supportive, and medically precise. But with a team consisting entirely of social workers and psychologists, producing that volume of high-quality content felt impossible.
“Malecare’s Cancer Academy platform requires thousands of videos,” Darryl said. “Before HeyGen, the challenge was to create thousands of videos at scale with a team of just six people, all of whom are social workers or psychologists, and none of whom have a background in video production.”
Everything changed when the team discovered HeyGen. The platform enabled them to create empathetic, accurate educational videos at scale without specialised filming expertise or expensive production resources.
Breaking production barriers to reach millions of patients
Before HeyGen, Malecare found it difficult to reach the entire community of patients who needed information. “We have 1,20,000 people attending our support groups. There are millions of people diagnosed with cancer, so we are not able to reach many of them,” Darryl said.
Reaching those patients required a standard of video production the team simply could not meet. They needed presenters they could use again and again, clear delivery, and high-volume output, but live recording was slow, expensive, and dependent on external contributors. “We do not have to wait for studio time or for the original speakers to come in. We do not have to hire highly specialised people,” Darryl said. “I am a social worker, and I am creating videos at the same level, or very close to the same level, as professionals who have 20 or 30 years of experience.”
Without the ability to produce content consistently and quickly, many patients did not have access to dependable answers. The team often heard from people watching videos in the middle of the night, feeling scared and unsure whether their symptoms were normal.
“Whenever they're sweating at night and wondering, what am I going to say to my doctor? Or will I live through the night? They could look at a HeyGen-generated video and learn that the medication they're taking does, in fact, have a side effect. You're going to survive the night, and you'll enjoy tomorrow.”
For Malecare, helping patients feel reassured in those moments became central to their mission and was the reason they needed a scalable, reliable solution.
Using AI to expand education with clarity, confidence, and care
The team’s first experience with HeyGen was what Darryl calls a “magic moment”. In just one day, working from his living room, they achieved something that had earlier felt impossible.
“Three of us were sitting in my living room, and at the end of the day, we made 15 videos. It was like, ‘how did we do that?’” Darryl said. “Fifteen absolutely worthy, publishable videos.”
That moment showed them what was possible. HeyGen enabled them to scale production beyond just a few contributors and empower every team member to create strong, consistent video content. “We've shared that workflow with individuals,” Darryl explained. “Psychologists could comfortably make 5 to 10 videos in a day.”
Finding the right voice and tone was just as important. Malecare noticed that cancer patients responded best to approachable presenters, especially those who felt like their school science teachers. After testing dozens of real presenters, HeyGen enabled the team to recreate those warm, reassuring voices in a digital format.
“We can actually imbue each avatar with a distinct personality,” Darryl said. “We could mirror the same high school science teachers that we were using as live presenters.”
Patients often cannot tell which videos feature real presenters and which use avatars, and in many cases, people connect even more deeply with the digital versions. One focus group participant shared an insight that has stayed with Darryl ever since:
“I know that's an avatar. You've told me it's an avatar, but I feel I can have a deeper conversation with them about the very topic they're presenting to me. And even now, I can feel tears coming to my eyes when I think about how we know we've succeeded in connecting with people, helping them feel at ease, reducing their anxiety, and enabling them to actually listen to and absorb really difficult information.”
For Darryl, this emotional response showed that HeyGen was not just enabling scale, it was also deepening empathy. “If there were only one thing to say about HeyGen, it is that you will not only have control, but you will also have the ability to use your creativity and your heart to create conversations for people you have never met.”
Delivering measurable impact and rebuilding patient confidence
HeyGen has become an integral part of Malecare’s workflow, enabling the team to create content with precision and agility.
“I have the ability to create digital education that we can measure, identify which part of a video needs adjustment, and then re-edit it. You can only do that when you have digital control over the performance of the avatar,” Darryl said.
HeyGen also makes the work emotionally and creatively sustainable. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the idea of editing, Darryl describes a sense of ease. “The editing studio means I don’t have to think about the mechanics of editing. I’m not editing, I’m creating,” Darryl said. “It’s a truly remarkable feeling to have.”
Most importantly, patient outcomes are improving. Malecare relies on validated tools to measure changes in patient knowledge, preparedness, and activation. “All of our numbers exceeded our expectations,” Darryl said. “There are very few things that you could say achieve that as quickly as we have been able to demonstrate.”
For Darryl and his team, HeyGen is more than a tool; it is a way to reach patients with clarity, comfort, and hope at the moments they need it the most. “It is like an angel came down through their iPhone and into their head,” Darryl said. “And that is really wonderful.”
