T.Y. Alvin Liu, M.D., an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine and director of the Wilmer Precision Ophthalmology Center of Excellence, will participate in the keynote address at Ophthalmology Times’ EyeCon 2022 in Marco Island, Florida, Dec. 16, where he will speak on artificial intelligence applications in ophthalmology. He is also co-presenting on “Optimizing Advances in Diabetic Retinopathy.”

We spoke to Liu to get a sneak peek into what he’ll be talking about during the conference.

Can you share a little about what you’ll be presenting in your keynote address?

I’ll be focusing on the megatrend that combines artificial intelligence and remote monitoring. AI is really hot right now. It’s especially important for medical fields such as ophthalmology and radiology, since we use a lot of images.

That’s what the newest AI, called deep learning, is good for. The problem is that in ophthalmology, you have to get the images first. Most existing imaging machines are very expensive and bulky, making it impractical to put a machine like that in the home if you want to do home monitoring or at-home images. That’s always been the limiting step when it comes to tele-ophthalmology, but now there are a slew of devices that should be available fairly soon.

As a retina specialist, I’m especially excited about OCT machines. You can combine this with AI, and that can really change the landscape of ophthalmology. I think this megatrend of advancement in hardware in the form of smaller, lighter and cheaper at-home imaging and monitoring devices, combined with AI, is going to be a very powerful trend.

What will you be focusing on in your presentation on advances in diabetic retinopathy?

I’ll be presenting on diabetes with Quan Nguygen, who is a professor at Stanford. I’m going to talk about the current state of care for diabetic macular edema, and he’s going to talk about some of the emergent therapies. Specifically, I’ll be talking about current management, the kinds of medications available and, based on best evidence and clinical trials, the recommended treatment regimens for diabetic macular edema.

What do you want attendees to take away from your presentations?

These are exciting times for ophthalmology. Recent advances can really change the game as far as how care is delivered, and I hope attendees will come away better informed and empowered.