Kolkata: A former student at IIT Kharagpur, now based in California, pledged to donate a seed fund of 1 million dollars (about Rs 8.5 crore) to his alma mater for developing the country's "first indigenous low-field bedside MRI system".
Jyoti Chatterjee graduated from the mechanical engineering department of IIT Kharagpur in 1977. The initiative is a tribute to his father, Biswanath Chatterjee, who was a teacher at IIT Kharagpur's metallurgical engineering department, and his mother, Nilima Chatterjee.
"Though I was born in Kolkata, I spent the first six months on the IIT Kharagpur campus. We then shifted to Durgapur as my father took up a job with Durgapur Steel Plant.
It gives me immense satisfaction to be back in IIT Kharagpur and foster this collaboration as a tribute to my parents," Chatterjee shared.
IIT Kharagpur has also signed an MoU with xImaging Inc, led by alumnus Chatterjee.
IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty said, "With the confluence of indigenous deep-tech innovation and visionary alumni support, we are poised to create the world's first ultra-low-cost MRI — a disruptive leap from high-end laboratories to the hands of those who need it most.
This initiative embodies our mission to democratise advanced healthcare — blending cutting-edge physics, device innovation, and AI to create a self-reliant, affordable MRI solution for the bottom of the pyramid.
The alumni endowment has ignited this long-awaited transformation at a defining momentIIT Kharagpur stands ready to make healthcare imaging universally accessible."
The IIT Kharagpur alumnus, who was awarded the prestigious Henry M Chance Research Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, has been an engineer and entrepreneur for over four decades.
Chatterjee was also awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship by the govt of the US. He co-founded Research Engineers Inc, an engineering software company based in Orange, California, US, and also led the IPO of Research Engineers Inc.
Chatterjee was the president and CEO of the Asian Division of Holtec International, the world's largest designers and manufacturers of nuclear power plants.
"The main aim is to strengthen and transform the MedTech ecosystem with solutions that are integrated with AI.
The AI-enabled low-field bedside MRI system is a first-of-its-kind product that will make advanced medical imaging more accessible, affordable, and portable for healthcare facilities ranging from tertiary hospitals to rural clinics," Chatterjee said, adding that he is immensely grateful to his wife and sons for their support.
Chatterjee shared that he is ready to contribute more funds, if necessary, for the development of this useful solution. IIT Kharagpur and xImaging are also jointly planning to raise an additional 5 million dollars to accelerate prototype development and commercialisation.