Byron L. Lam

Mark J. Daily Professor of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Florida, USA

Make a bold prediction for the future of ophthalmology.

I have been fortunate to have been a clinical scientist in inherited retinal disease (IRD) and neuro-ophthalmology. The power of genetic testing has blossomed, and I believe that modifying genetic factors in IRD will be discovered; moreover, novel subjective imaging and functional modalities will serve as better outcome measures in IRD clinical trials. Combination treatments with more than one modality, such as gene therapy, in the treatment of IRD will be common. Prophylactic gene therapy of unaffected carriers of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy to decrease disease penetrance will be the norm to achieve better outcomes.

If you weren’t an ophthalmologist, what would you be doing instead?

I decided to pursue ophthalmology at the end of my third year in medical school, which is rather late by today’s standards. I think I would have been a physicist if I had not gone into medicine.

How do you think AI and machine learning will impact ophthalmology?

AI will be transformative in the diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic diseases by increasing the accuracy and the speed of clinical assessments. Ultimately, AI will improve visual health tremendously; it will increase the volume of research, and as newer diagnoses and treatments are discovered, this will translate into a need for more ophthalmologists.