As the Field of Oculomics Gains Traction, Role of ODs Comes Into Focus

As the current health care environment evolves, many patients are seeking more health information and data from eyecare providers than what has traditionally been derived from an eye exam. And with technology advancing rapidly in areas such as diagnostic imaging and artificial intelligence (AI), the optometric profession is poised to continue its evolution in this space, taking an ever-expanding role in the overall health care of their patients. In this regard, an area gaining increasing attention is the practice of oculomics.

An emerging field, oculomics recognizes the eye as a potential window to detect cardiovascular, autoimmune, or neurodegenerative diseases, among others, and leverages advanced, non-invasive eye imaging technologies such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and AI to identify key biomarkers. Although the concept of the eye-body connection may not be entirely new, the term oculomics has gained significant traction in recent years among those in the optical community as well as the broader health care landscape.

VMAIL Weekend recently reached out to industry leaders for their insights on where the field of oculomics is headed, as well as how ECPs and general practitioners can work together to play a more integral role in patients’ overall health care.

	Ali Tafreshi.

“While eyecare professionals have recognized for more than 20 years that the eye offers a unique window into both ocular and systemic health, the term oculomics, which formalizes and consolidates the field of using ocular data for insights beyond eye disease, was not coined until 2020,” said Ali Tafreshi, CEO and president of the digital health company Topcon Healthcare. “Since then, awareness has grown steadily, and it has accelerated significantly following the introduction of Healthcare from the Eye in 2024, which operationalizes oculomics in a connected care system spanning optometry, ophthalmology and primary care.” Topcon developed Healthcare from the Eye, which is the strategy of applying AI models to imaging data from the eye to facilitate earlier detection and better disease management.

VSP Vision and the VSP Global Innovation Center, which aims to understand how advancement in oculomics will expand the scope of care that can be delivered within an optometric setting and evaluate the role eyecare plays in the broader health care continuum, recently released a report titled The Future of Oculomics. In the report, data revealed that while 87 percent of providers surveyed were not yet familiar with the term oculomics, almost 60 percent of surveyed doctors were already providing health insights to their patients beyond eye health.

Will Flanagan.

“The VSP Global Innovation Center report on oculomics underscores the critical role eyecare professionals play in detecting systemic health conditions through the eyes,” Will Flanagan, head of VSP Global Innovation Center Programs and Partnerships, told VMAIL Weekend. “While the term oculomics may be new to some, eye doctors have long been uncovering health insights that go far beyond vision during eye exams. Today, patients are increasingly eager for more personalized health data from their optometrist, meaning doctors have a powerful opportunity to grow their value and strengthen their patient relationships. The Future of Oculomics report offers insights on the emerging trends in this space.

“One key trend is that oculomics is not new, and is in fact growing rapidly. The eye has always been used as a tool to detect systemic health conditions, but AI is allowing providers to match changes in ophthalmic patterns to even more, new disease states, such as Alzheimer’s and liver and kidney failure, expanding the scope of care that can be delivered within an optometric setting,” Flanagan said.

ODs as First Line of Defense

	Dr. Norbert Gorny.

With the concept that the eye can provide insights into general health gaining growing acceptance, experts contend oculomics offers a measurable way to quantify this relationship. For ODs, this presents a significant opportunity to play a more integral role in a patient’s overall health care by aiding in the early detection and management of a wide range of health conditions. By allowing for earlier detection, oculomics can also facilitate a more personalized approach to medicine.

“ODs will continue to be an accessible, essential front door to the health care system. That is a role that will continue to expand as awareness and understanding of oculomics increases among patients and other health care providers,” said Flanagan.

“Doctors will play a central role as always in the future of oculomics. Understanding this on a fundamental level is why we’re taking a collaborative approach,” said Dr. Norbert Gorny, chief scientific officer at EssilorLuxottica. “The doctors not only carry the knowledge and experience of the eye—this window to a more predictive, personalized world—they are trusted by their patients. Furthermore, ODs are in a pivotal position for significantly improving interoperability for the sake of better patient outcome.”

Michael Chaglasian, OD, FAAO.

In May 2025, the Alliance for Healthcare from the Eye (AHE) was launched at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting in Salt Lake City. A consortium of health systems, clinicians, researchers, payors, policymakers, regulators, data privacy experts, and industry leaders, AHE provides a structured forum for identifying the barriers to implementing oculomics in real-world care. The organization defines the calls to action needed to advance clinical, regulatory, operational and ethical standards, with partner organizations including Microsoft, National Vision, New England College of Optometry, and SUNY College of Optometry.

“I firmly believe that optometrists will have a vital role in delivering oculomics to the general population,” said Michael Chaglasian, OD, FAAO, associate professor at the Illinois College of Optometry, who serves as the chief of new technology and data science. “As primary eyecare providers, ODs are well-positioned to encounter patients at all ages and image them with technology that is familiar to their offices and begin the process of identifying potential future diseases. While ophthalmology will certainly have some role in oculomics, I believe that the optometrist role is likely to be much greater because of the differences in patient populations between their offices with ODs having younger healthier patients that are prime for early identification of future disease processes.”

The Challenges Ahead

Several key challenges must be addressed for oculomics to scale effectively, particularly across primary eyecare, specialty eyecare, and the broader health care ecosystem, experts advise. These barriers include standardization, data security, privacy, infrastructure and operability, and the need for large, diverse, high-quality datasets to train, validate and monitor AI algorithms.

“There are a few obstacles. While OCT adoption has increased in recent years, it’s still not in every practice,” said VSP’s Flanagan. “For oculomics to scale, enabling technologies like the OCT will need to be ubiquitous or near ubiquitous. And, maybe the biggest hurdle, is ensuring that a robust referral chain is in place before oculomics can penetrate the marketplace. Providers are not going to relay any insights or information that sits outside of their core domain without knowing exactly where that patient can and will go for continuity of care. Building that OD-MD-OMD network will be critical.”

In October, AHE and the Collaborative Community on Ophthalmic Innovation (CCOI) announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the global adoption of oculomics in health care. The goal is to elevate oculomics into a cornerstone of systemic health care, enabling earlier detection, better coordination, and improved outcomes for patients worldwide, the announcement noted. A global catalyst uniting patients, clinicians, researchers, regulators and industry to accelerate breakthrough science into real-world solutions, CCOI works to unlock the eye’s potential to advance both ophthalmology and the broader health care ecosystem.

“To enable scalable adoption, we are partnering with government, academia, and industry to build a connected care system that leverages robotic diagnostics and vendor-inclusive software platforms. This infrastructure links care teams across specialties and payors, helping integrate oculomics into everyday clinical workflows and accelerating its impact on population health,” said Topcon’s Tafreshi.

Start-Ups and Collaboration

The field of oculomics is continuing to see an uptick in activity. Recently, in October 2025, Topcon Healthcare established IDHea, Inc., a new company focused on accelerating drug discovery and oculomics research by combining extensive imaging data with AI-driven analytics.

In mid-November, EssilorLuxottica announced that it had become a member of CCOI, joining a core group that includes research, industry and other key leaders in the optical community. In making the announcement, the group advised that as part of its membership, it will engage in CCOI’s key workstreams, including myopia, oculomics, AI, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, applying its scientific and technological strengths to advance global eye health.

The company also recently announced the creation of a scientific advisory committee, bringing together scientists and thought leaders from converging fields of science, technology and health care to provide strategic guidance and forward-looking insights. Acting as a catalyst for transformative thinking, the advisory committee aims to collaborate with a global network of scientific institutions and advise on new frontiers in the group’s core areas of research, including oculomics, AI and ethics.

“For decades we’ve seen the eyes as a window to our health, so the concept of oculomics itself is not new,” Dr. Gorny said. “We’ve been investing heavily in areas like AI and retinal imaging and empowering doctors with products and solutions to implement these technologies. What’s remarkable is how advancements in AI, neuroscience, ophthalmology and other fields have opened up a new frontier we could not have imagined before. We intend to be pioneers here with the best minds in science and medicine by our side.”

Further, a recent report from The Vision Council highlights growing trends and applications in AI usage in eyewear and eyecare. The Focused inSights – Artificial Intelligence: Case Studies from the Optical Industry report draws on interviews with AI experts from across the vision industry conducted by The Vision Council’s inSights Research Program.

Conclusion

Health care experts agree that most patients are eager to receive valuable systemic health insights from their eye exams, indicating a high level of public awareness and demand for oculomics applications.

“As oculomics involves identification of multiple systemic conditions, which are beyond the scope of optometric expertise, the optometrist will need to make the appropriate referrals to the proper health care providers and locations in order to guide them in getting their patients follow-up care,” said Dr. Chaglasian.

“Education, communication, standardization, and collaboration are essential for optometrists to take on an expanded role in oculomics,” Tafreshi added. “ODs should actively engage with the evolving science of oculomics, understanding the current capabilities of AI applied to ocular data, what conditions can be detected today, and what advancements are emerging. Preparing their practices now will ensure they can deliver oculomics effectively in the years ahead.”