"Handwritten Letter and Medical Certificate from Cancer Patient Strengthen Commitment to Bridging Healthcare Information Gap"

Isuhyun Tesser CEO
'Ontol' Service That Easily Explains Medical Certificates

Lee Suhyun, CEO of Tesser, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at the office building in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Lee Myunghwan]

Recently, a bundle of documents was delivered to the headquarters of Tesser, a medical artificial intelligence (AI) startup located in Gangnam-gu. The documents, sent by a customer who identified themselves as a cancer patient, included a handwritten letter, a diagnosis certificate, medical records, and medical images. The letter expressed frustration about not being able to understand the test results at all. Tesser provided this patient with analysis results using their ‘Ontol’ service. Suhyun Lee, CEO of Tesser, said, "After receiving the letter, I realized how serious the information gap problem is for patients," adding, "It made me realize once again how important it is to make it as easy as possible for patients to understand."

Tesser is a company that provides customized AI solutions based on healthcare data. Currently, it operates the ‘Ontol’ application, which uses AI to interpret patients’ medical diagnosis certificates. They also offer ‘Ontol 3D,’ which converts medical images into three-dimensional (3D) models to make them easier for patients to understand, available through a dedicated web page.

CEO Lee embarked on developing Ontol with the aim of addressing the ‘medical gap’ between patients and doctors. As was the case with the patient who sent the letter, diagnosis certificates patients receive often contain many medical terms and English words. Although medical staff often explain the diagnosis details to individual patients, explanations are frequently insufficient due to limited consultation time. Based on this, they developed Ontol, a service that uses AI to simplify and explain diagnosis certificates in an easy-to-understand manner.

Since launching the service last year, Ontol has gained popularity primarily among cancer and rare incurable disease patient groups, despite being in its early stages. By simply uploading test results on the Ontol app, patients with limited medical knowledge can receive easy-to-understand explanations. Technologies such as AI, optical character recognition, and natural language processing are used to interpret the test results. Text is extracted from diagnosis certificates photographed directly by patients, then analyzed using AI. The analyzed content is then explained in a way that is easy for people to understand through natural language processing technology.

Ontol Application. [Image source=Ontol Application capture]

Given the nature of the service, AI learning from patient data is crucial, and they are continuously improving AI’s analytical capabilities by analyzing patients’ diagnosis certificates. Reviews left by patients who have used Ontol on app stores, expressing gratitude, have been a driving force behind the service’s development. CEO Lee said, "Recently, a user left a review saying it’s an app they would want to use even if they had to pay for it, which left the strongest impression on me."

Protecting personal information is also a critical issue for Tesser, as the Ontol service mainly handles sensitive medical information. Tesser has established related guidelines to protect personal data. Customers using the service are required to give consent for personal data collection. When analyzing diagnosis certificates, all personally identifiable information such as names is anonymized before the analysis process. When Tesser employees need to access medical data during service operation, the access time and purpose are all recorded. CEO Lee emphasized, "Creating a secure environment where personal information can be safely handled is the most important issue."

CEO Lee, born in 1990, is a Millennial and Gen Z (MZ) generation CEO. Interested in providing health-related services since university, Lee encountered software development and independently acquired programming and development knowledge for nearly five years, unrelated to their major in Korean medicine. Programming experience began in elementary school, which helped maintain interest in development during university. Shortly after starting serious study, Lee’s skills improved rapidly enough to secure actual development projects. Later, Lee decided to start a business and founded Tesser in 2019 with co-CEO Jaesung Ahn.

CEO Lee is preparing to grow Ontol into a comprehensive healthcare platform. Currently, the service mainly provides diagnosis certificate analysis, but plans to add a community feature within the app where patients can communicate. The Ontol 3D service, currently offered separately via a web page, will also be integrated into the Ontol app. They are preparing a service that will analyze health checkup results for the general public in an easy-to-understand way, in addition to medical diagnosis certificates. After stabilizing the service, they plan to develop a business-to-business (B2B) revenue model targeting hospitals and other institutions. Earlier this month, they secured seed investment from Bluepoint Partners. Their goal is to begin discussions for the next round of investment as early as late this year or early next year.

CEO Lee’s goal is clear. He said, "The top priority is to use data to alleviate the difficulties patients face," adding, "Based on this, it would be great to expand into broader areas and create a new ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.