Airdoc Showcases AI-Powered Retinal Assessment Practices at the 1st Southern China Medical Artificial Intelligence Conference

From May 21 to 23, the 1st Southern China Conference on Medical Artificial Intelligence, the Inaugural Meeting of the Medical Artificial Intelligence Branch of the Guangdong Medical Association, the First Academic Conference on Medical Artificial Intelligence of the Guangdong Medical Association, and the Smart Health Innovation Forum opened in Guangzhou. With strong support from relevant departments, including the People’s Government of Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, and the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, the conference was jointly organized by the Guangdong Medical Association, the Medical Artificial Intelligence Branch of the Guangdong Medical Association, and the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University.

On May 22, the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, in collaboration with the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, hosted the Smart Health Innovation Forum under the theme “Smart Healthcare in the Greater Bay Area, Serving Healthy China.” The Asia-Africa Ophthalmology Session of the Smart Health Innovation Forum invited experts from China, Singapore, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco to share insights on the diagnosis and treatment of complex eye diseases, covering conditions such as keratitis, conjunctivitis, glaucoma, and strabismus.

Speech by Professor Chen Yuzhong, Chief Medical Officer of Airdoc

Among them, Professor Chen Yuzhong, Chief Medical Officer of the Chinese medical AI company Airdoc and Deputy Chairman of the Smart Healthcare Committee of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, was invited to participate in the Africa-Asia Ophthalmology Session of the forum. He delivered a keynote speech titled “Practice of AI-Based Retinal Assessment in Medical Innovation and Patient Services,” sharing Airdoc’s current research and application achievements.

In the realm of medical innovation, Airdoc and the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou jointly undertook a key project under the National Key R&D Program’s special initiative on “R&D of Digital Diagnostic and Therapeutic Equipment.” Titled “R&D and Clinical Trials of AI-Based Screening and Diagnostic Systems for Common Diseases Causing Blindness, Birth Defects, and Death,” this project developed an auxiliary diagnostic model for retinal diseases based on color fundus photographs. This model can identify more than ten common fundus diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and pathological myopia. Building on this foundation, Airdoc has further developed a series of models that directly predict cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk, dementia risk, and hyperthyroidism risk from retinal images.

At the clinical application level, Airdoc’s AI-assisted diagnostic system for diabetic retinopathy based on fundus images became one of the first in China to receive a Class III medical device certificate from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in August 2020. The product outperforms comparable devices marketed in the United States in terms of performance and multi-device compatibility. Its proprietary image quality control module not only saves time for nurses and patients but also ensures medical quality.

In the realm of health applications, Airdoc has cumulatively served over 10 million individuals. In 2020, it released China’s first AI-driven data analysis report based on a dataset of one million individuals from physical examination centers. Looking ahead, Chen Yuzhong stated that AI-based retinal recognition technology will see broader development and application in multi-disease screening, diverse scenarios, large-scale early screening, risk assessment, and treatment efficacy evaluation.

It is reported that Airdoc’s AI-based retinal health assessment system accompanied the Chinese Navy’s hospital ship “Peace Ark” on a 155-day visit to Africa in 2018, assisting in the fulfillment of China’s medical aid missions to African countries.

This conference has further strengthened academic exchanges and mutual cooperation among ophthalmologists from Asia, Africa, and around the world. Ophthalmology experts from multiple Asian and African countries have jointly established a “Belt and Road” milestone in the field of ophthalmology.

“Smart Healthcare in the Greater Bay Area, Serving Healthy China”: The 1st Southern China Medical Artificial Intelligence Conference conducted in-depth discussions on hot topics such as academic trends, technological frontiers, policies and regulations, standard systems, and public needs in medical artificial intelligence. The conference invited dozens of internationally renowned scholars, distinguished academicians, and top industry experts to jointly discuss and share the latest scientific and technological achievements, interpret laws and regulations, and envision future development, thereby writing a new chapter in smart healthcare. The event aimed to promote the high-standard, high-quality, and high-efficiency development of the Medical Artificial Intelligence Branch of Guangdong Province and smart healthcare services.

Director Shen Jianfeng of the National Health Commission, Director Zhou Mutang of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, President Yao Zhibin of the Guangdong Medical Association, Minister Chen Huahong of the Guangdong Medical Association, and Deputy District Mayor Chen Xi of the Yuexiu District People’s Government supported and attended this conference.