“It's not how old you are, it's how you are old.” - Jules Renard

While Shakespeare popularized the phrase “the eyes are the window to your soul,” new research suggests that our eyes may also be a window to predicting cardiac, pulmonary, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric diseases.  Physician-researchers from Harvard Medical School, Mass Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have found that they can estimate how likely a person is to develop eye and other systemic diseases by using AI to combine retinal imaging, genetics, and big data. [i ] Retinal imaging is already a commonplace procedure used by Ophthalmologists and Optometrists to evaluate eye health. However, the results of this study suggest its use could be widened. The findings focus on how the thinning of different layers of the retina correlates to an increased risk of developing ocular, cardiac, pulmonary, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric diseases. Previous studies have shown links between retinal health and health conditions, such as aging, cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and neurological diseases such as dementia, stroke, and multiple sclerosis. Unlike previous studies that searched for genes associated with overall retinal health, this study delved deeper into the role of the different cell layers that make up the retina. Further research is needed to confirm actual causality, but for now, there is evidence to suggest that retinal imaging might be used in the future to predict and better manage multiple systemic health conditions including poor heart, metabolic, lung, and kidney function. While eye health is critically important on its own, imagine a time when going in for your routine eye examination could also shed light on other areas impacting your future health and well-being. The new study uncovers possibilities for preventive medicine and cross-collaboration between ophthalmology and other areas of medicine. [i] U sing Retinal Images to Predict Risk of Eye and Systemic Diseases, Harvard Medical School News and Research, February 1, 2024, https://hms.harvard.edu/news/using-retinal-images-predict-risk-eye-systemicdiseases

In 2013, the movie “Her” won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The genius of this sci-fi romance was that it took place in the not-too-distant future when the world would be dominated by Millennials (those born between 1982-1997). The movie’s main character, Theodore Twombly (played by Joaquin Phoenix), falls in love with an intelligent operating system named Samantha. We catch glimpses throughout the movie of a future where the Millennials’ love of intelligent technology is ingrained into every aspect of society.

Generative AI is a new and rapidly emerging form of artificial intelligence that has the potential to revolutionize precision medicine by improving diagnosis, treatment, and drug discovery. It’s comprised of Large Language Models and other intelligent systems that replicate a human's ability to create text, images, music, video, computer code, and more.