Oculare AI wins Rep. Mike Quigley’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s Fifth District

When asked what inspired the creation of Oculare AI, Arnav Shenoy said, “My inspiration to build my app came from 3 different instances. The first reason for building Oculare came from reading daily medical news outlets. Reading the numerous news articles and reports online, I’ve been intrigued by the various gaps in medical technology, specifically in regions where specialized ophthalmologists are scarce or unavailable. Statistics like ‘about 7 million people in the United States have vision impairment’ kept appearing across sources, further piquing my curiosity. What struck me most was learning that diabetic retinopathy affects 30% of diabetic patients and often progresses silently until irreversible vision loss occurs. Reading about how early disease detection algorithms can help save numerous lives just in a matter of seconds made me realize the technology existed, but the accessibility didn’t.

“My second source of inspiration came from recognizing how inaccessible eye disease screening actually is in rural and underdeveloped Chicago communities. I overheard some of my neighbors complain about delayed eye examinations due to long wait times for specialist appointments, expensive screening equipment costing thousands, and transportation barriers to distant hospitals. As a result, I wanted to build something simple yet accessible. So eventually, I thought of phones: smartphones have high-quality cameras capable of capturing quality images, yet I’d never heard of anybody building tools to bridge this gap between technology and healthcare.

“My third source of inspiration has come from my annual visits to India. Extending beyond the US, many of my family’s neighbors in India and (similar to the US) underserved communities don’t have access to prompt medical feedback from an ophthalmologist in the region. I watched elderly relatives struggle with deteriorating vision simply because the nearest eye specialist was hours away and unaffordable. For some, financial stability and costs weren’t a problem; rather, prompt medical diagnoses were.

“The intersection of technology and medicine has ever since inspired me to create healthcare tools for global communities—a mission I plan to pursue through my undergraduate studies and career. So, I pushed myself to make a change by building out Oculare. I wanted to demonstrate how student developers can contribute meaningful solutions to pressing healthcare challenges, proving that innovation doesn’t require massive resources. Rather, all you need is creativity, determination, and some technical skill. Most importantly, I realized that someone’s zip code, income level, or proximity to specialists shouldn’t determine whether they receive potentially sight-saving early detection.”