A lineage of trusted digital systems
The lineage runs through interactive computing built for the highest-stakes work — systems trusted because the evidence said so, not because of who built them. The principle held at every step, across every field the Association now covers: a system earns trust through evidence and validation, not authority alone.
The largest yet most neglected healthcare resource, worldwide, is the patient.
Sixty years of earning trust through evidence
From the LINC — one of the first interactive personal computers — through procedurally invariant systems engineered at Wisconsin and validated at national scale, one principle holds: a system is trustworthy only when the evidence says so.
- 1962
The first interactive personal computer
The LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer), built by Wesley Clark and Charles Molnar, is widely recognized as the first interactive personal computer. NIH-funded and released as a public-domain design, it put real, reliable computing directly into the hands of the people doing the work - the root of a tradition that trusts the user and the source. - 1965
Computing changes how evidence is captured
At the University of Wisconsin, Warner Slack builds the first interactive computer interview, founded on a simple conviction: the person closest to the facts is the most reliable source. The 1966 report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the computer-administered interview produced more complete and accurate records than the human-run process — an early demonstration that well-designed interactive systems outperform ad-hoc human process. Trustworthy systems begin by capturing evidence directly at its source. - 1973
Procedurally invariant computing at Wisconsin
John Greist and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin build a pioneering interactive assessment system running on a LINC computer. It asked every person the same questions in the same order — procedurally invariant where human process is not — and the structured, model-driven output was more consistent and accurate than unaided judgment. The principle was computing: remove the variability, trust the evidence, prove it holds. - 1979
A line to Epic Systems
In a Madison basement, John Greist helps found Human Services Computing - with Judith Faulkner, who had studied computing in medicine under Warner Slack, and several others. Renamed Epic Systems in 1983, it grows into one of the most widely used health-record systems in the world; Greist served on its board until 1983. The Wisconsin lineage that began with a patient interview runs directly into modern health computing. - 1997
Digital systems enter high-evidence domains
By Meret’s account, John Greist’s team builds the first computerized patient assessment used in a rigorous clinical trial — carrying interactive digital systems into some of the most evidence-demanding settings any software enters. Every question asked the same way, every answer recorded the same way, every time. - 2011
A validated gold standard
Kelly Posner and colleagues publish the validation of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale across multiple studies, turning expert judgment into a standardized, reproducible instrument - the discipline of measuring the same thing the same way, and proving it. - 2012
Evidence becomes the expectation
U.S. regulatory guidance establishes prospective, standardized assessment as the norm in clinical trials - shaped in part by Thomas Laughren, a coauthor of the 1973 Wisconsin study who had become a director at the FDA. Within four decades, a Wisconsin research idea had become a regulatory expectation. - 2014
A digital instrument validated at scale
The electronic assessment system built in Madison is validated across more than 74,000 administrations in 33 independent studies — showing that a well-designed digital instrument is consistent and reliable far beyond any single site or operator. Reliability, consistency, and independent validation become the working definition of a system worth trusting. - 2016
Meret Solutions
Meret Solutions is founded in Madison, Wisconsin (per the company’s record) to extend more than fifty years of computer-interviewing practice into clinical and educational settings, with its assessment systems and the eC-SSRS at its core. - 2017
The Meret Association
The Meret Association for Trusted Digital Systems is established with the support of Meret Solutions to recognize, across every discipline, the engineers and researchers who build digital systems the world can rely on. The Association governs its recognition independently.
What the lineage teaches
Across six decades and many disciplines, the same four principles separate a system the world can trust from one it merely tolerates. They are the standard the Association now applies, in every field.
Consistency
A trustworthy system treats every case the same way, every time. The 1973 Wisconsin interview asked each person identical questions in identical order - removing the variability that creeps into any human-run process.
Evidence at the source
Capture data directly and faithfully where it originates. From the first patient interview onward, this lineage trusted the source and recorded it without distortion.
Validation over assertion
A system earns trust only when independent evidence says so - not because of who built it. Every step here was published, scrutinized, and validated before it was relied upon.
Reproducibility
Results that hold across people, places, and time. Standardized, validated instruments return the same answer regardless of who administers them - the foundation of a credential the world can rely on.
The people behind the Association
The Meret Association was founded with the support of Meret Solutions. Its recognition of Fellows is governed independently by the Selection Committee.
John Greist is one of the pioneers of computerized medicine. In 1973, at the University of Wisconsin, he and his colleagues built a pioneering computer interview for risk prediction - work that helped establish a principle the Association now carries into every field: that a system earns trust through evidence, validation, and candor, not authority alone.
He is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and Research Professor (Volunteer) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. His university and publisher biographies credit him with more than 300 professional journal articles, book chapters, and books.
His research helped pioneer computer-administered assessment and therapy across four decades: a comparison of computer- and interviewer-administered diagnostic interviews (1987); one of the first randomized trials of computer-administered cognitive behavior therapy for depression (1990); a computer-administered version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale; interactive-voice-response administration of standard rating scales at scale; and - most distinctively - computer-guided behavior therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder, evaluated in a multi-site randomized trial (2002). A recurring finding across this work, and across computerized interviewing since the 1960s, is that people often answer a computer more candidly than a clinician.
In 1979 he helped found Human Services Computing - with Judith Faulkner, who had studied computing in medicine under Warner Slack, and several others - the Madison company renamed Epic Systems in 1983; he served on its board until 1983. He also founded PRN Systems and Healthcare Technology Systems, and serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Medical Officer of Meret Solutions, the Association’s founding sponsor.
- Built a pioneering computerized risk assessment, 1973
- Pioneered computer-guided behavior therapy for OCD (multi-site RCT, 2002)
- Helped found Human Services Computing (later Epic Systems), 1979
- Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Meret Solutions
Christopher Snyder has led electronic patient-reported assessment and treatment since 2005, when he joined Healthcare Technology Systems as President and CEO. He began his career in finance and brand marketing and has held executive leadership roles across technology-based industries, including as President and CEO of Essentia, a global ingredient-technology company.
He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and serves as Chief Executive Officer of Meret Solutions.
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Meret Solutions
Revere Greist has over two decades of experience developing and implementing computerized patient assessments and treatments. By Meret’s account, he worked with Pfizer on the first computerized patient assessment in a pharmaceutical trial in 1997, and has developed several successful digital treatment programs for mood and anxiety disorders.
He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, and advanced degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Carrying the work forward
Director of Business Development, Meret Solutions
Tyler Miller brings decades of experience building trust-based partnerships between mission-aligned organizations, guided by honesty, empathy, and clear communication.
References
The lineage above rests on the public record. Primary studies link to PubMed; corporate history reflects the organizations' own published accounts.
- 1.Slack WV, Hicks GP, Reed CE, Van Cura LJ. A computer-based medical-history system. N Engl J Med. 1966;274(4):194-8. PMID 5902618.
- 2.Greist JH, Gustafson DH, Stauss FF, Rowse GL, Laughren TP, Chiles JA. A computer interview for suicide-risk prediction. Am J Psychiatry. 1973;130(12):1327-32. PMID 4585280.
- 3.Posner K, Brown GK, Stanley B, et al. The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale. Am J Psychiatry. 2011;168(12):1266-77. PMID 22193671.
- 4.Greist JH, Mundt JC, Gwaltney CJ, Jefferson JW, Posner K. Predictive value of baseline electronic C-SSRS assessments. Innov Clin Neurosci. 2014;11(9-10):23-31. PMID 25520886.
- 5.Selmi PM, Klein MH, Greist JH, Sorrell SP, Erdman HP. Computer-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression. Am J Psychiatry. 1990;147(1):51-56. PMID 2403473.
- 6.Greist JH, Marks IM, Baer L, et al. Behavior therapy for OCD guided by a computer or by a clinician. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(2):138-145. PMID 11874215.
- 7.Kobak KA, Greist JH, Jefferson JW, Mundt JC, Katzelnick DJ. Computerized assessment of depression and anxiety over the telephone using IVR. MD Comput. 1999;16(3):64-68. PMID 10439605.
- 8.Turner CF, Ku L, Rogers SM, et al. Increased reporting of sensitive behaviors with computer survey technology. Science. 1998;280(5365):867-873. PMID 9572724.
- 9.LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer). Wesley Clark and Charles Molnar, 1962 - widely recognized as the first interactive personal computer.
- 10.Epic Systems / Judith Faulkner. Company co-founded in Madison, Wisconsin, 1979 (as Human Services Computing); renamed Epic Systems in 1983.
- 11.Meret Solutions. Company history and team (the parent organization’s own account of the lineage).
The Association turns this heritage into a standard the whole field can be measured against
What began as computing built for demanding, high-stakes work is now a discipline across every domain. The Association recognizes the people who build digital systems the world can rely on, on the evidence and the judgment of peers.