AI eye-screening company co-founded by UQ doctor has tool installed at 500 sites worldwide

Optain Health grew out of an AI algorithm Tan helped develop as a University of Queensland medical student to screen for retinopathy of prematurity, a disorder that can blind premature babies. The project centred on bringing screening services to patients, particularly in remote areas, rather than requiring them to travel to specialists. The company's tabletop device, which Tan likens to an Oculus virtual-reality headset, captures retinal images in less than a minute; its AI, approved by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, provides a diagnosis at the point of care.

Tan, who splits his time between Brisbane and New York, said access was a challenge in ophthalmology. “People with eye diseases don't just live in Brisbane; they're spread all throughout the state,” he said, noting Queensland is 2.5 times the size of Texas. “Something I've been so passionate about since my medical school days is: how can we use technology to really democratise access to ophthalmology services?”

Tan said he thought AI had huge potential in healthcare and felt strongly about clinicians having “a front-row seat in shaping how we use AI in healthcare.”

Former Wallabies captain and eye surgeon Dr Mark Loane, a UQ alumnus who has spent more than 40 years treating eye conditions, visited Tan in New York about a week ago and tested the device. He said much of the resolution of problems had already been invented and the question was how to roll out delivery systems to provincial areas of Queensland and Australia. “It's a wondrous closing of circles,” Loane said of Tan's progress since Tan had introduced him at a 2014 UQ lecture.

Tan said AI was an esoteric concept when he joined UQ's medical school, but the school fostered “a feeling of possibility.” He said the impacts of Gardasil, the HPV vaccine invented at UQ, began to be seen in 2010.