A coalition of healthcare leaders announced the launch of the Alliance for Healthcare from the Eye (AHE) at the ARVO meeting in Salt Lake City this month.
AHE is a cross-sector initiative to harness the eye as a gateway to both ocular and systemic health through artificial intelligence (AI) – a field known as oculomics. This consortium of health systems, clinicians, industry innovators, and policymakers “aims to drive a shift from reactive to proactive healthcare by leveraging ocular data.”
Robert N. Weinreb, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Ophthalmology, at the University of California, San Diego and a founding member of the Alliance, said, “The eye offers a non-invasive, high-resolution window into the body’s vascular, neurologic, and metabolic systems. With advanced ophthalmic diagnostics, AI can help identify early indicators of heart disease, kidney dysfunction, neurodegeneration and other systemic diseases – before symptoms arise.”
The AHE will leverage Topcon Healthcare’s Healthcare from the Eye, which integrates AI-powered analysis of ocular data – such as retinal images and visual function tests – into coordinated care networks of eyecare, primary care, and specialty providers. AHE members aim to identify high-risk individuals early, enhance access to care, enable risk stratification and triage to reduce late-stage disease burden, and shift cost structures toward preventive services.
A foundational manuscript co-authored by AHE members and published in JAMA Ophthalmology highlights how AI-powered ocular pre-screening can support earlier detection, expand access, and reduce healthcare costs, enabling a more efficient and accessible model of care through cross-sector collaboration and existing clinical infrastructure.
Other AHE participants include The Ophthalmologist 2025 Power Listers Pearse Keane, Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence, University College London (UCL) and Anthony Khawaja, Professor of Ophthalmology at UCL.
“We’ve known for more than 100 years that it is possible to use the eye as a window to the rest of the body. This capability has been supercharged in recent years due to the combination of big data, advanced retinal imaging, and artificial intelligence. The Alliance for Healthcare from the Eye will play a leading role in this emerging field of oculomics,” notes Keane.
Khawaja adds, "The science driving AI-powered retinal scans for ocular and systemic diseases is exploding, offering transformative potential for preventive healthcare. Stakeholders across previously siloed systems need to unite and ensure we implement this effectively, responsibly, and sustainably."
