As student debt continues to dominate the higher education debate, one resident in the Yale New Haven Health System is launching a company to curb medical student loan payments.

Last April, Shady Henien, a resident at Bridgeport Hospital, founded Student Promise, an Iowa-based company that aims to help students secure low interest rates for their student loans. By bundling students collective debt for investors, the company plans to offer students interest rates lower than the federal loan rate for post-graduate students, which is currently 5.4 percent. In May 2013, the company made it to the semi-final round of Shark Tank an ABC television show that brings in aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to potential investors and is now in the process of securitizing the student loans and issuing bonds.

The idea is that we collectively combine all of our medical student debt, and then send it off to shareholders in the form of student tuition bonds, Henien said. According to Henien, the U.S. governments high interest rate on student loans makes little sense for medical students, who are a low-risk group. Unlike homeowners, whose interest rate hovers at around 1.5 to 2 percent and whose average default rate is higher, medical school students have a 0.5 percent default rate, he said.

Though the federal government is unlikely to lower student interest rates anytime soon, Henien said he believes investors will see medical student loans as a low-risk, high-reward investment. The fact that Student Promise will bundle debt also stratifies the risks, he added.

In addition to helping out students and investors, Student Promise could be a creative solution for states that are currently losing doctors, Henien said.

By 2020, Henien said there will be a shortage of around 150,000 physicians across 10 states, including Connecticut. While some states already offer loan forgiveness to medical school graduates if they stay in-state, Henien said he recommends that every Student Promise investor also get a tax-free return on investment from the state.

Its a triple win investors have security, the students interest rate is almost cut in half [and the state benefits,] he said.

According to Dean of the Yale School of Medicine Robert Alpern, 80 percent of Yale medical students graduate with some debt. The average amount of debt among these students is $124,000, compared to the $170,000 national average, he added.

In 2008, the medical school improved its financial aid policies, allowing students with annual family incomes below $100,000 to receive financial aid. While Alpern said the new policy has decreased the average debt for Yale medical students, he admitted that $124,000 is still a significant burden. The medical school continues to encourage alumni to make financial aid scholarships their top giving priority, he said.

While pressing debt may incentivize students to turn to alternative outlets like Student Promise, Mark Kantrowitz senior vice president and publisher of Edvisors Network, a resource center that advises students on financial aid said Student Promise is still unlikely to be successful.

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Yale New Haven Health system resident targets debt