Of all the senses, sight is perhaps our most important. The eye is one of the most incredible organs in nature: it enables us to perceive the world around us, understanding our world through images. And yet we only see a small aspect of reality. But the eye is important beyond just sight. It can also provide a window into our overall health, showing indicators for other things like alzeihmers and blood pressure. In this episode of Invent Health we breakdown the world of modern eyecare to find the ways that tech is improving our collective vision. We’ll hear about preventative procedures, cures to restore sight and the global discrepancies in treatment, alongside really getting to grips with what the future of healthcare looks like for perhaps our most vital organs.
Find out on this week’s episode of Invent: Health from TTP.
This Week’s Guests
Dr Jose-Alain Sahel is currently the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, director of the UPMC Eye Center, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Chair of Ophthalmology. Dr. Sahel previously led the Vision Institute in Paris, a research centre associated with the one of the oldest eye hospitals in Europe. He is a pioneer in the field of artificial retina and eye regenerative therapies and a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Pearse Keane is a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, and an associate professor at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. In 2016, he initiated a formal collaboration between Moorfields Eye Hospital and Google DeepMind, with the aim of developing artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for the earlier detection and treatment of retinal disease. In May 2020, he jointly led work, again published in Nature Medicine, to develop an early warning system for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), by far the commonest cause of blindness in many countries. In October 2019, he was included on the Evening Standard Progress1000 list of most influential Londoners and in 2020 he was listed on the “The Power List” by The Ophthalmologist magazine, a ranking of the Top 100 most influential people in the world of ophthalmology.
Catherine Wyman is a mechanical engineer by background who has developed a variety of medical devices and now leads TTP’s eyecare team. She and the team focus on addressing unmet needs across ophthalmology, including in the areas we are discussing today.
