For over 50 years, the National Eye Institute (NEI) has been a driving force for cutting-edge vision research, education, and public health guidance. In this episode, we speak with Michael F. Chiang, MD, Director of the NEI. A pediatric ophthalmologist by training, Dr. Chiang's work focuses on the application of biomedical informatics to ophthalmology, in areas ranging from telehealth to artificial intelligence to health data management. Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Chiang describes the elegant intricacies of the human eye, shares what excites him most about digital health, discusses the urgent need for reformation in medical education, and shares his mission as the leader of the nation's foremost agency for promoting eye health.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• Dr. Chiang’s upbringing in a family of engineers and eventual path found to ophthalmology - 2:22
• How the practice of ophthalmology is changing and the role of informatics in this change - 6:43
• What pediatric ophthalmology entails, and why this work inspires Dr. Chiang to this day - 10:39
• The mechanical intricacies of the human eye - 14:20
• Dr. Chiang’s reflections on how his education in engineering shapes the way he practices medicine - 18:03
• The importance of patient stories and how modern clinical practice leaves little time for them -  22:55
• How artificial intelligence is changing medicine and what that means for the future role of doctors - 25:55
• What excites Dr. Chiang most about the future of medicine, and what concerns him the most - 33:40
• Dr. Chiang’s vision for the National Eye Institute - 44:10
• Advice to young clinicians on lifelong curiosity and adaptiveness - 46:04

In this episode, we discuss Marshall McLuhan’s aphorism “the medium is the message” and the subsequent work of Neil Postman on “medium as metaphor.”

You can follow Dr. Chiang on Twitter @NEIDirector.

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