New Partnership to Advance Artificial Intelligence in Ophthalmology

Contacts:

	AAO Media Relations (415) 561-8534 media@aao.org
	ACR DSI Media Relations Kevin R. Walter (202) 420-0153 PR@acr.org

SAN FRANCISCO—July 28, 2021— The American College of Radiology® Data Science Institute® (ACR DSI) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology today announced a collaboration that will expand ACR DSI’s groundbreaking AI-LAB™ platform to include eye care. Leveraging use cases and data from the Academy, this collaboration will accelerate the use of machine learning in the ophthalmic industry to the benefit of patients across the globe.

“We’ve now made it easier for the ophthalmology community to access real world examples for our own use cases. By working together with ACR, we are leveraging a platform developed for the radiology community to educate our own community about AI development and encouraging new AI to be developed that will benefit our specialty,” said Tamara R. Fountain, MD, president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

The Academy will provide the ophthalmology content and the ACR will provide the IT infrastructure to integrate the use cases and datasets into the landmark AI-LAB. This enables developers to build algorithms that include defined data elements and images useful for training and testing models. The Academy’s Committee on Artificial Intelligence, chaired by J. Pete Campbell, MD, MPH is leading this initiative.

“This is another vital step toward making the groundbreaking AI-LAB platform the central hub for medical artificial intelligence algorithm development,” said Bibb Allen, Jr., MD, FACR, chief medical officer of the ACR DSI. “By sharing the AI-LAB as a resource for other medical communities, the ACR DSI supports efficient development of AI algorithms that can advance modern patient care.”

The ACR DSI made the initial version of the AI development framework available in April 2019. Get more information on ACR AI-LAB at ailab.acr.org.

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About the American Academy of Ophthalmology

The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons. A global community of 32,000 medical doctors, we protect sight and empower lives by setting the standards for ophthalmic education and advocating for our patients and the public. We innovate to advance our profession and to ensure the delivery of the highest-quality eye care. Our EyeSmart® program provides the public with the most trusted information about eye health. For more information, visit aao.org.

About the ACR Data Science Institute

The American College of Radiology® Data Science Institute® (ACR DSI) was launched in May 2017 to develop and use AI to help radiologists improve medical imaging care. The free, vendor-neutral framework ACR AI-LAB™ was developed to offer radiologists the tools to learn the basics of AI and participate directly in the creation, validation and use of healthcare AI.