LA JOLLA, Calif. — Topcon Healthcare announced the launch of the Institute of Digital Health (IDHea). The platform was designed to accelerate AI research and digital health innovation.
IDHea provides fast and secure access to unique real-world and clinical trial datasets, driving breakthroughs in health care applications that improve outcomes in both ocular and systemic diseases. IDHea empowers researchers and innovators to push the boundaries of digital health solutions.
Part of Topcon’s Healthcare from the Eye initiative, the strategy of applying AI models to imaging data from the eye to facilitate earlier detection and better management of disease, IDHea provides a platform to transform clinical data into actionable insights through AI-powered analytics and seamless connectivity. It was developed to unlock exclusive datasets and fuel digital health advancements. By bridging the gap between data and discovery, IDHea propels innovation toward a future of predictive, personalized and proactive patient care.
IDHea is built on the FAST principle, ensuring that data access is:
- Fast — providing rapid access to a vast repository of real-world and clinical trial ocular data
- Accessible — data is available anytime, anywhere through a secure cloud-based infrastructure
- Safe — the platform adheres to industry-standard practices for privacy and security for a safe and trustworthy data environment
- Transparent — each data request undergoes rigorous review by an independent data access and governance committee following established and publicly accessible policies
Advancing AI-Powered Diagnostics
IDHea offers access to highly structured, multilevel-labeled datasets from primary care and eye care screening settings, encompassing both healthy individuals and a broad spectrum of eye conditions.
“We established IDHea to accelerate development of AI-powered clinical decision support systems and oculomics, the science of analyzing ocular data to identify, diagnose and manage ocular and systemic disease,” said Julia Coelho, VP of Data and Digital Strategy.
The Topcon Healthcare Innovation Center (THINC) provides expertise and resources to accelerate AI development and reduce time to market. Innovations can be scaled globally using Topcon Healthcare’s Harmony platform.
IDHea offers deeply phenotyped, real-world and clinical ocular data curated specifically for precision AI development. This includes high-resolution imaging, visual function metrics and multimodal health data aligned with clinical outcomes. It creates an unprecedented foundation for digital health innovation.
IDHea is supported by strategic data partners — Illinois College of Optometry (ICO), Keplr Vision, New England College of Optometry (NECO), New View Optometric Center (NVOC) and Visionworks. The launch is a significant milestone enhancing access to real-world ocular data, thereby facilitating meaningful research in digital health care.
IDHea enables researchers to advance AI diagnostics by establishing a strong foundation for studying healthy eye anatomy and disease deviations.
Empowering Innovation with Responsible Data Sharing
IDHea’s governance framework empowers responsible innovation through ethical, secure and transparent data practices. An independent committee of experts in medicine, technology, policy, and ethics oversees all data requests to ensure fairness and accountability. IDHea shares transparent policies that clarify its data decision-making. Summaries of fulfilled requests reinforce trust. Backed by a secure computing infrastructure and industry-leading de-identification protocols, IDHea protects privacy while enabling safe, impactful research. This commitment empowers scientific discovery while safeguarding the rights of data contributors.
“Topcon Healthcare’s motivation to facilitate broad access to ocular data is an important first step towards accelerating data standardization,” said Anthony Khawaja, PhD, Chair of the independent data access and governance committee. “Such an initiative will significantly reduce the current limitations for innovation that the proprietary formats of ophthalmic data impose.”
With IDHea, the future of ocular and systemic disease research is within reach. By leveraging data, we’re building a more connected and efficient global health care ecosystem.
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