The following transcript has been edited for clarity.

Hi, my name is Sharon Bakalash, MD, PhD, CBA; I’m the founder of Focus A-Eye. We have just concluded our inaugural meeting, which happened pre-ARVO. It was a stellar meeting with many innovators, small and big companies, and clinicians from all disease areas: glaucoma, cataract, myopia, and of course retina. During the meeting, we were trying to bridge the gap between the high pace at which innovation in the AI space is moving and real-world adoption. And we were trying to do this in a very interactive way.

So at the meeting itself, we basically entertained the full ecosystem—clinicians from all disease areas, industry leaders, innovators—all in one room. We moved, or tried to move, from the theory into focused actionable insights, not just concepts. And we also worked purposefully to accelerate this adoption via all means of communication, whether it was interactive panels, our reverse Shark Tank, and pro-and-con debates. We have a very end-to-end view where we highlighted both preclinical innovations all the way to real-world clinical implementation. And most importantly, we are trying to create those cross-functional relations to create the microcosm and to foster the conditions for future development.

We aim to continue the work going forward, whether it would be through publications, webinars, and other means of communication. And we already have planned our next meeting for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) on October 10 in New Orleans.

So whether you're a physician, an innovator, a startup company, a strategic company, a pharma company—you all need to jump on the train. The tsunami of AI is already here, and we need to tackle it in a collaborative way in order to get this adopted in real life and bring real change into patients' lives. RP