Clinicians and Engineers Behind MERIT AI
Athreya MedTech is the research arm behind MERIT AI — Medical Embedding & Reasoning Intelligence Technology. It grew out of an ophthalmologist's ultrasound research and an ocularist's prosthetics practice, and now includes the engineers who build the software in Bengaluru.
Our Mission
To help a clinician read an eye ultrasound without years of B-scan training, by building MERIT AI one stage at a time — and proving each stage on phantoms, then animal eyes, then human eyes before we claim it.
Our Vision
A handheld probe and a laptop that let a district clinic in Karnataka get the same reading of an eye ultrasound a tertiary eye hospital would, with a clinician signing every result and a specialist able to review the case when it matters.
Core Values
The rules we hold ourselves to when deciding what to build and what to say about it.
Innovation with Purpose
Every tool we build serves a clinical need. The first question on every project is which measurement a clinician currently takes by hand, and how often it comes out different the second time.
Built for the Clinic, Not the Demo
Ocular emergencies such as retinal detachment are time-critical, and many first-contact clinics have no one trained to read a B-scan. We design for that clinic: a handheld probe, a short workflow and a clinician who signs every result.
Interdisciplinary Innovation
Ophthalmologists, AI engineers, ocularists, and research methodologists work as one team. The ocularist who fits artificial eyes and the engineer who fits the segmentation ellipse review the same scans.
Integrity & Trust
Scans are de-identified before analysis, models run on our own hardware rather than a public cloud, and data handling is designed around HIPAA and the Indian DPDP Act.
Global Responsibility
India has 1 ophthalmologist per 70,000 rural residents. A portable probe with measurement software is one way to take part of an eye examination to where those residents are. Remote review by a specialist is planned, not yet built.
Milestones
What has happened so far, dated.
Founded
Athreya MedTech established as a division of Athreya Inc.
ONSD Research Programme
Began work on standardising optic nerve sheath diameter measurement.
Indian Company Incorporated
Athreya Medtech India Private Limited registered in Bengaluru.
Classification Stage Built
MERIT AI stage 1, trained and tested on phantom and synthetic scans, January to April.
First Academy Batch
Ten sessions on ultrasound physics, biometry and research methods, February to April.
BOS Summit and BOS Innovate
MERIT AAS presented at the Bangalore Ophthalmic Society summit and entered into its innovation showcase, 1 and 2 August.
Associated Institutions
Institutions where members of the consortium have trained, worked or hold membership.