Harker students Krish Maniar, grade 10, and Kabir Ramzan, grade 9, together with Saratoga High sophomore Shafin Haque, received the grand prize and several other awards at the HackDefy 2.0 hack-a-thon, held the weekend of March 27. Within 24 hours, the team developed a technology called EyesAIght that analyzes retinal images using artificial intelligence to help ophthalmologists determine the stage of diabetic retinopathy, a condition that can cause vision loss and blindness in diabetics. One in 10 Americans are currently diagnosed with diabetes, and 84 percent of patients are unaware of their condition because no objective assessment tool exists to automate detection, the team explains in its project overview.
EyesAIght also estimates the likelihood that diabetic retinopathy can cause blindness, thereby allowing physicians to determine appropriate treatment options. EyesAIght also produces a convenient summary report for review by physicians by utilizing natural language processing technology, .
In addition to winning the grand prize among 162 participants, comprising both high school and university teams at HackDefy, the team also received the Best High School Hack award. The trio also received awards at other hack-a-thons, including Best Healthcare Project at Merge 2021 and Best Medical Hack at Hack-2-Connect 3.0. For their efforts the team received over $650 in cash prizes and over $5,000 worth of non-cash prizes.