Associate Professor Ravi C Bakaraju founded nthalmic and has served as its Chairman and MD since its inception. During first 5 years, he spearheaded various novel ophthalmic technologies, namely S.T.O.P®, P.A.U.S.E® and A.R.R.E.S.T®, for the management of myopia, and MEIBOLEYES® for the management of dry-eyes, leading a team to expand a bunch of quirky ideas to significant product portfolios under an established ISO13485 framework, which now serve as foundational pillars for the organisation growth trajectory into field of myopia management and dry eyes. These technologies have successfully secured the necessary funding for their R&D journey, with plans to enter the market starting from 2025 onwards.

Previously, Bakaraju held executive roles at the Brien Holden Vision Institute as Head of R&D, where he oversaw all the institute’s translational research projects and innovation activities. Under his leadership, the R&D team of over 20 staff members developed a range of innovative vision correction products. Bakaraju, as the lead inventor on these patents, played a pivotal role in transforming these inventions into multiple commercially licensed products for his previous employer. These products include MYLO (mark’ennovy, UK), SEED EDOF for presbyopia (SEED, Japan), and SynergEyes iD EDOF (SynergEyes, USA).

Bakaraju is a lead inventor on 90+ granted and pending patent applications around novel lens designs and concepts spanning myopia control technology, novel presbyopia correction and other innovative vision correction platforms. Over the years, Bakaraju has co-authored 60+ peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts in the areas of visual optics, optical modelling techniques, presbyopic contact lenses, peripheral refraction, model eyes and general ophthalmic instrumentation. He has also co-authored about 90+ scientific abstracts.

Bakaraju has been a recipient of numerous international awards for his research accomplishments, which include the notable American Optometric Foundation’s William Ezell Fellowship in 2009; runner-up for the 3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science in 2014; and the prestigious Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the American Academy of Optometry in 2015. He was awarded a distinguished certificate of recognition for outstanding achievements by the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute Alumnus in 2016. He was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman in 2022 by the Society of NRI, UK.