I am an interventional cardiologist and the founder of Tricog Health.
On any given week, I might spend Monday morning in a catheterization lab at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, saving a patient’s life with my hands. By Tuesday, I’m reviewing data from an AI system that my team built — one that monitors hearts across 16 countries. On Sundays, I see patients at my family’s village clinic — the same clinic my father started half a century ago.
This is not a contradiction. It is the point.
I started Tricog in 2014 because I kept watching patients die from heart attacks that were entirely treatable — if only they had been diagnosed in time. In India, we have one cardiologist for every 250,000 people. Most of them are in cities. The patients who need them most are not.
So I asked a question that changed my life: What if an AI could read an ECG in seconds and connect a patient in a village clinic to a cardiologist hundreds of kilometres away — before it’s too late?
That question became Tricog. Today, our AI operates in over 12,500 clinics and hospitals across 16 countries. We have screened more than 35 million patients and identified nearly one million critical cardiac cases — people who might not be alive without early detection.
Recognition:
- Forbes Asia 100 to Watch (2025)
- India’s 100 Most Influential People in AI (2025)
- ET Startup Awards — Top Innovator (2019)
- Fast Company World Changing Ideas (2017)
- NASSCOM AI Game Changer (2018)
Background:
I studied medicine in Bijapur, trained in general medicine in Belgaum, and specialized in cardiology in Chennai under Dr. Thankachalam and Dr. Ranganath Nayak. I remain a consultant interventional cardiologist at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore — still in the cath lab, still seeing patients.
Personal:
My mother, Mrs. Hema, and my father shaped everything I believe about medicine — that it belongs to everyone, not just those who can afford it. My wife, Dr. Shantini, is a pediatric dermatologist. Our sons Ram and Arnav keep me honest — one wants to be a doctor, the other a pilot.
I write here about the things I think about most: the architecture of heart disease, the promise and limits of AI in medicine, and what it means to build something that saves lives at scale.
If that sounds like something worth following, subscribe to First 90 Minutes — my newsletter on hearts, AI, and what it takes to save lives at scale.
The Doctor Who Builds 