Aarav Khatri is having quite a sophomore year. 

Between his app – Symptofy – being selected by Rep. Andy Kim (D-3^rd Dist.) for a Congressional App Challenge Award, the 16-year-old is the latest local “National Cyber Scholar” named by the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation (NCSF).

This week, Aarav is attending #HouseofCode, a two-day event at Capitol Hill where the winners of the Congressional App Challenge are set to showcase their technology to members of Congress. Symptofy will be featured at the U.S. Capitol, as the Robbinsville teen mingles with tech industry leaders and fellow coders from around the country. 

The Congressional App Challenge was founded in 2015 as a bipartisan initiative by the Congressional Internet Caucus. The contest inspires and recognizes U.S. students, while also transforming how Congress views computer science, coding and STEM. #House of Code is considered the “new national science fair.”

As one can imagine, Aarav is very excited to be involved to be in Washington Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the representatives, show my app more and see the apps that others have created,” the sophomore said. “And we get to tour the Capitol and the White House.”

Aarav said the app honors his late grandfather. Previously, apps he created would help solve “small problems” that he faced, but Symptofy is bigger – and it could help solve bigger problems. Like those his grandfather faced.

Aarav’s grandfather suffered from Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and it seemed every day there was something new to add to an already overwhelming number of issues. The complexity of his symptoms led to misdiagnosis and delays in treatment, the student said.

Symptofy collects a person’s medical data and stores it in one place. The patient, family and doctors can have easy access to data related to any medical condition, Aarav said.

“I found a need for collecting data especially since he had dementia, and every day there’d be a new problem and new things going on,” Aarav said. So, I thought collecting data would really help the doctors for my grandfather and countless others.”

The teen hopes his app can help doctors make more informed decisions, such as better managing medicine dosages, gauging which medications can best help with symptoms as well as see if certain prescriptions can have a negative effect. The app can also be customized to best suit a patient’s needs.  

“Once you have all that data, over a period of time, the app shows you in a graph view and it makes it easy for you and the doctors to notice the differences,” Aarav said. “Like when you switch from this medicine at 50 mg to 25 mg, your symptoms may get easier. My app helps medical professionals, families and patients make more informed decisions.”

Doctors are provided with a summary of the severity of a patient’s symptoms to determine the effectiveness of their prescribed medicine and diet. The app would keep healthcare providers informed as they navigate complex treatment options for medical disorders causing multiple symptoms across the body. 

“I’m inspired by Aarav’s idea for such a valuable healthcare tool that could help so many families like his own who have had a loved one living with complex medical conditions,” Kim said. “Every year, I’m impressed by students across this district and I’m glad the Congressional App Challenge provides a chance to celebrate and showcase New Jersey talents and innovation.”

The win is exciting and encouraging, Aarav said. 

“I’d spent a lot of time designing this app and I’m excited to see that people think it is a good idea too,” said the techy teen, who intends to pursue coding as a profession.

With an interest in computers since he was very young, Aarav began delving into coding in middle school. He embraces new challenges and coding concepts come easy for him.

“There’s always new things to learn in coding,” he said. “Like when I was making this app, I hadn’t used specific toolkits before. I hadn’t worked with a database. And there’s always new things to learn when debugging code. But I think once you have the concepts down, it’s easier to learn and it comes more easily.”
As for the NCSF competition, Aarav competed against more than 35,000 students nationwide for a top score in solving real-world cybersecurity problems. In recognition of his achievement, he

earned an invitation to participate in the Cyber Foundations Academy – a multi-week online program based on the nationally-recognized SANS Foundation’s training course and certification. 

And like many teens, he is also interested in video games and game development. In middle school, he even created a few before focusing his coding efforts on Symptofy.

When he does get spare time, Khatri enjoys video games and ping-pong. He also is treasurer and a member of the Hackathon Club as well as the Math League and Model UN. He also participates in Robotics with his FTC team REAPR, which advanced to the state championship this year.

That rare spare time is also taken up by CodeConnect, a non-profit student volunteer organization that teaches coding in different programming languages. Aarav is president of the Robbinsville branch of CodeConnect, which hosts free classes every week for middle and elementary school students, like his brother Avyaan Khatri, who is in the fourth grade.

“My parents (Maneesh Khatri and Neetu Chillar) are very happy that I created something useful. Until now, I’ve been creating small video games,” Aarav said. “This is something that’s helpful and my dad’s proud that it relates to my grandfather – his father – and honors him.”