UCL ophthalmologist honoured by Royal Society for pioneering AI-driven eyecare advances

Professor Keane has been named the 2025 recipient of the Gabor Medal by the Royal Society, recognising his work in developing AI methods for retinal image analysis and for advancing the diagnosis of eye disease.

Professor Keane is known for his work advancing the field of oculomics, which is the use of eye scans to detect early signs of conditions such as dementia, stroke and heart disease.

Professor Keane commented: “I am deeply honoured to receive the Gabor Medal for distinction in interdisciplinary work. I have always drawn inspiration from the Royal Society’s founding ethos of bringing together scientific minds from different disciplines to tackle the biggest challenges facing society.

“In that spirit, I would like to thank the many talented and driven scientists who have been part of my journey, especially three inspirational champions of my work:  Eric Topol, Alastair Denniston and Sir Peng Khaw.”

Pearse Keane is Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and Director and founded of the INSIGHT Health Data Research Hub, the world’s largest ophthalmology bio-resource. He is also an NIHR Senior Investigator.

Professor Keane’s pioneering research at UCL and Moorfields sits at the intersection of ophthalmology and data science. In 2015, he initiated a landmark collaboration with Google DeepMind, resulting in a 2018 Nature Medicine study showing that AI could match human experts in identifying over 50 eye diseases from an image of the retina. Since then, he led the development of an novel AI system that has the potential to not only identify sight-threatening eye diseases but also predict general health, including heart attacks, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease.

Links

• Professor Pearse Keane’s academic profile
• UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
• UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences
• Moorfields Eye Hospital
• Royal Society awards