Today, the FDA issued the first-ever approval for an autonomous artificial intelligence algorithm that can independently diagnose a disease without a doctor. It’s called IDx-DR and as you might have guessed it was created to diagnose diabetic retinopathy. IDx is the artificial intelligence diagnostics company who developed the algorithm and worked with the FDA to secure clearance after completing an FDA clinical trial involving 900 individuals.

IDx-DR was previously granted “Breakthrough Device” designation by the FDA which means that the application for its clearance was given an expedited review by the agency. In this episode of VisionTECH we are joined by the president and founder of IDx, Dr. Michael Abramoff to discuss the application and implications of autonomous artificial intelligence algorithms in eye care.

Dr. Abramoff is a fellowship‐trained medical retina specialist who also holds a PhD in computer image analysis. He has been a pioneer in the field of computer-assisted diagnostics for over 20 years and has published extensively on the applications of artificial intelligence techniques to the diagnosis of eye disease.

Dr. Abramoff currently serves as professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, with joint appointments at Biomedical Engineering as well as Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Abramoff has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications on machine learning, neural networks, retinal image analysis, diabetic retinopathy, and other retinal disease which have been cited over 18,000 times in total.

 

Dr. Abramoff can be reached at:

[email protected] for questions regarding AI applications.

[email protected]@uiowa.edu for clinical questions.

 

To follow Dr. Abramoff’s current projects visit:

www.eyediagnosis.net to learn about the work being done by IDx.

medicine.uiowa.edu/eye/abramoff to learn about Dr. Abramoff’s research.

 

Disclosures:

Dr. Abramoff: IDx Inc. (Founder, President, Consultant)

Fayiz Mahgoub: None