Sight + Sound Bites: Digital Twin of the Eye

José-Alain Sahel, MD and Jay Chhablani, MD speak about the digital twin of the eye.
Born in Algeria, educated in France and trained at the Universities of Paris, Strasbourg and Harvard, Dr. José-Alain Sahel led several first-in-man vision restoration clinical trials (Gene Therapy, Retinal Prosthesis, Optogenetics). He founded and directed (from 2008 to 2021) the Institut de la Vision in Paris, a site for basic research on vision and translational research on multiple conditions, including untreatable inherited and age-related ocular diseases. This Institute is ranked among the top worldwide and comprises 18 principal investigators and more than 300 members. It functions in synergy with the Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital and the Clinical Investigation Center, overseeing more than 80 clinical trials, some of them within the most advanced areas of biomedical technologies worldwide, including several first-in-human trials such as retinal implants and gene therapies.
Recruited to Pittsburgh in 2016, Dr. Sahel is Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School/University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and The Eye and Ear Foundation Endowed Chair. He is actively expanding the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh (now more than 30 PIs), launching breakthrough trials and developing new models of care around a new translational Vision Institute (400,000 square feet, opened in April 2023) with a strong focus on vision restoration (optic nerve regeneration, prosthetics, neuroprotection, and optogenetics).
Dr. Sahel has published over 700 peer-reviewed articles and co-authored more than 90 patents. He co-founded a dozen start-up companies: Fovea Pharmaceuticals, GenSight Biologics, Pixium Vision, Sparing Vision, SharpEye, VegaVect, Avista, Tilak, Cilensee, Tenpoint and Netramind.
Dr. Jay Chhablani, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Research at the UPMC Vision Institute, is a vitreo-retinal surgeon whose areas of interest are macular disorders, artificial intelligence, automated retinal image analysis and advanced imaging techniques. He has been consistently funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and various foundations. He has published more than 590 articles in peer-reviewed journals with a focus in the field of choroid. He is the editor of books Choroidal Disorders, Central Serous Chorioretinopathy, and Choroidal Neovascularization. He is on the reviewing boards of all high-impact journals including Science Translational Medicine and Lancet and on the editorial board of several journals including the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Chhablani serves on the grant reviewing board of various funding agencies and is a member of many esteemed societies such as the Macula Society and the Gonin Club. He is a member of various scientific committees in various national and international societies including the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He has delivered more than 200 invited lectures and has been invited for visiting professorship by many universities around the world and has won several national and international awards and delivered multiple named lectures.
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