AAO 2024: Detail outlined for Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center at Wilmer Eye Institute

News
Article

During a conversation at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting in Chicago, T.Y. Alvin Liu, MD, discussed plans for the James P. Gills Jr, MD, & Heather Gills Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

T.Y. Alvin Liu, MD: Hello everyone. My name is Alvin Liu. I'm a retina specialist, and I'm on the faculty at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing to you our new AI Center at Wilmer.

Recently, we received a very generous donation of $10 million from Dr James B Gills and Mrs. Gills to establish an endowed AI Center at Wilmer, and this will be the first endowed AI center at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I have the honor of being asked to be the inaugural director of the center, together with the endowed professorship. This center will be guided by 3 important core values. Number 1, it will be open to all Wilmer faculty members. Number 2, we will seek to be proactively collaborative with other academic centers, industry and foundations. And Number 3, we will be ready to pivot rapidly in response to the evolving AI landscape. 

In terms of specific initiatives, there are 3 major ones. First, we would like to provide a steady stream of computer science talents in terms of AI to our Wilmer faculty members. Number 2, we would like to establish a permanent data storage site to create a digital twin for all the images and videos at Wilmer. And Number 3, we will establish centralized and steady compute resources in terms of access to GPUs. We have many more initiatives to come, so stay tuned and thank you very much.

Newsletter

Join ophthalmologists across Europe—sign up for exclusive updates and innovations in surgical techniques and clinical care.

Recent Videos
Viha Vig, MBChB graduate student at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, discusses her poster presentation on the relationship between mitochondiral disease, Alzheimer disease, and other types of dementia.
Alfredo Sadun, MD, PhD, chief of Ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles, shared exciting new research with the Eye Care Network during the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting on the subject of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON).
At this year's Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nitish Mehta, MD, shared highlights from his research documenting real-world results of aflibercept 8 mg for patients with diabetic macular oedema.
ARVO 2025: Anat Loewenstein, MD, shares data from herself and her colleagues on meeting needs of patients with diabetic retinopathy
At the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons annual meeting, Sheng Lim, MD, FRCOphth discusses the benefit of endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation for patients with primary open angle glaucoma and cataracts in the CONCEPT study
A photo of Seville, Spain, with the Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology logo superimposed on it. Image credit: ©francovolpato – stock.adobe.com; logo courtesy COPHy
Anat Loewenstein, MD, Professor and Director, Department of Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv Medical Center, discusses the Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology (COPHy)
Anat Loewenstein, MD, speaks about the 22nd Annual Angiogenesis, Exudation, and Degeneration Meeting in February 2025 and shares her global forecast for AI-driven home OCT
Sarah M. Thomasy, DVM, PhD, DACVO, a veterinary ophthalmologist at UC Davis, talks about how her research at the Glaucoma 360 symposium
I. Paul Singh, MD, an anterior segment and glaucoma specialist, discusses the Glaucoma 360 conference, where he participated in a panel discussion on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in glaucoma care.
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.