Building the world's first truly global medical foundation model

Yih Chung Tham^#^{1

2

3

4}, Jocelyn Hui Lin Goh^#^{5

6

7}, Paul Nderitu^#^{8

9}, Yukun Zhou^#^{8

9

10}, An Ran Ran^#¹¹, Sahana Srinivasan^{5

6}, Gabriel Dawei Yang^{7

11}, Gatera Fiston Kitema^{8

9}, Polly Rawlinson⁹, Hongyang Jiang¹¹, Ke Zou^{5

6}, Carol Y Cheung¹², Pearse A Keane^{13

14}; Global RETFound Consortium

Collaborators, Affiliations

Collaborators

Global RETFound Consortium:
Hatem M Abdelakher, Eberechukwu Achigbu, Referano Agustiawan, Islam Sh Ahmed, Shehab Ahmad Al-Abed, Minhaj Nur Alam, Sura Yousef Alaroud, Abdulrahman F Albloushi, Tsedeke Asaminew Alemu, Nchifor Alice, Faisal Alkathery, Otim Ambrose, Kwesi N Amissah-Arthur, Damara Andalia, Fares Antaki, Louis Arnould, Simon Arunga, Olufemi Emmanuel Babalola, Vilma Jurate Balciuniene, Covadonga Bascaran, Ciara Bergin, Carolina Bernal-Morales, Ansgar Beuse, Mukharram M Bikbov, Guzel M Bikbova, Iryna Blagun, Damir Bosnar, Rupert Bourne, Tasanee Braithwaite, Iva Bulat, Philip Burgess, Matthew J Burton, Avshalom Caspi, Ling-Ping Cen, Manju Chandran, Robert T Chang, Kao-Jung Chang, Varun Chaudhary, David Ziyou Chen, Haoyu Chen, Xi Chen, Xinjian Chen, Xuejing Chen, Youxin Chen, Qingyu Chen, Ching-Yu Cheng, Kai Xiong Cheong, Emily Y Chew, Itay Chowers, Nestor Chirinos, Maria Vittoria Cicinelli, Charles R Cleland, Aude Couturier, Catherine Creuzot-Garcher, Dang Tran Dat, Amitha Domalpally, Luciano V Del Priore, Alastair K Denniston, Sebastian Dinesen, Alexander S F Doney, Pham Ngoc Dong, Renaud Duval, Rania Estawro, Nicole Eter, Nnamdi N D Ezuma, Alaa E Fayed, Álvaro Fernández-Vega González, Daniel Ferraz, Bassey Fiebai, Juan Pablo Figueroa Vercellino, Mohammed-Sherrif Napari Fuseini, Orly Gal-Or, Prashant Garg, Zongyuan Ge, Nicola Ghazi, Egide Gisagara, Jakob Grauslund, Carsten Grohmann, Andrzej Grzybowski, Preeti Gupta, Michael Ekuoba Gyasi, Haslina Hamzah, Jinyoung Han, Lloyd C M Harrison-Williams, Murat Hasanreisoglu, Adekunle Hassan, Mingguang He, Qinghua He, Xiangui He, Colette Gaelle Helles, Wenyi Hu, Daniel Duck-Jin Hwang, Shafiq Jafferji, Daniel Jaramillo, Camilo A Jaramillo, Kai Jin, Jost B Jonas, Rahul Jonas, Craig Jones, Awum Joyce Ncheda, Lie Ju, Nelly Kabedi Ngoy, Tengku Ain Kamalden, Ryo Kawasaki, Gyulli M Kazakbaeva, Hagar Khalid, Hina Khan, Rohit C Khanna, Anadi Khatri, Young Kook Kim, Caroline C W Klaver, Victor Teck Chang Koh, Anthony Kuo, Teddy Kwaga, Ecosse Lamoureux, Van Charles Lansingh, Aaron Y Lee, Cecilia S Lee, Theodore Leng, Christopher K S Leung, Jaime Levy, Yuanbo Liang, Gerald Liew, Duoru Lin, Haotian Lin, T Y Alvin Liu, Xiaoxuan Liu, Thaddaeus Wai Soon Lo, Anat Loewenstein, Jing Luo, Alain N M'Bongo Zindamoyen, Savita Madhusudhan, Fernando Malerbi, Lala Mammadova, Wanjiku Mathenge, Simeon Mayala, Luis Mendes, Alexandra Miere, Dan Milea, Paul Mitchell, Terrie E Moffitt, Jibran Mohamed-Noriega, Susan Mollan, Magdy Moussa, Marion R Munk, Danson Vasanthan Muttuvelu, Rodrigue Mwami, Annick Mwilambwe, Deogratias Mzurikwao, Onnisa Nanegrungsunk, Vinay Nangia, Ritesh Narula, Nnamdi Nd-Ezuma, Thanh Triet Nguyen, Truong X Nguyen, Jason Pithuwa Nirwoth, Jean Claude Niyonzima, Josiane Mare Njoya, Henry Ebong Nkumbe, Piet Noe, Ogugua Okonkwo, Adaora Chinwendu Okudo, Maximiliano Olivera, Mehdi Ounissi, Songhomitra Panda-Jonas, Ki Ho Park, Direk Patikulsila, Andreas Pollreisz, Kunliang Qiu, Giuseppe Querques, Rajiv Raman, Sandhya Ramrakha, Chetan Rao, Caio Regatieri, Jose Roca, Francisco J Rodriguez, Paisan Ruamviboonsuk, Charumathi Sabanayagam, Rui Santos, Mario J Saravia, Mariko Sasaki, Muhammad Bayu Sasongko, Seang-Mei Saw, Friederike Schaub, Philipp Schwember, Ruyue Shen, Danli Shi, Rufino Silva, Sobha Sivaprasad, Gabor Mark Somfai, Su Jeong Song, Eric Souied, Ingeborg Stalmans, Niall Strang, Jens Julian Storp, Yousif Subhi, Manju L Subramanian, Xiaodong Sun, Simon K H Szeto, Hitoshi Tabushi, Toru Takebayashi, Leona Takeuchi, Gavin Tan, Marcus Chun Jin Tan, Francis Victorie Tanga Doumbe, Alice Cecilia Elsie Taylor, Clement C Tham, Rebecca L Thomas, Reremoana Theodore, Arun Thirunavakurasu, Alon Tiosano, Mattia Tomasoni, Paris Tranos, Theophile Tuyisabe, Jan Van Eijgen, Raul Velez-Montoya, Oksana Vitovska, Stela Vujosevic, Siegfried K Wagner, Ningli Wang, Sophia Y Wang, Xiaofei Wang, Ya Xing Wang, Felicia Widyaputri, Gwyn S Williams, Graham Wilson, Tien Yin Wong, Wei-Chi Wu, Zhichao Wu, Bowen Xu, Guihua Xu, Jie Xu, Peifang Xu, Jason C Yam, Yasuo Yanagi, Juan Ye, Samantha Min Er Yew, Fabian Yii, Honghua Yu, Ling Yuan, Linda Zangwill, Javier Zarranz-Ventura, Meixia Zhang, Mingzhi Zhang, Xiayin Zhang, Yalin Zheng, Hua Zhong, Zhuoting Zhu, Xiangjia Zhu, Dinah Zur

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
² Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
³ Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
⁴ Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (Eye ACP), Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁶ Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, Singapore.
⁸ NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
⁹ Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Hawkes Institute, University College London, London, UK.
¹¹ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹² Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. carolcheung@cuhk.edu.hk.
¹³ NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. p.keane@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁴ Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK. p.keane@ucl.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40921805
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5

Building the world's first truly global medical foundation model

Yih Chung Tham et al. Nat Med. 2025.

. 2025 Sep 8.

doi: 10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Collaborators

Global RETFound Consortium:
Hatem M Abdelakher, Eberechukwu Achigbu, Referano Agustiawan, Islam Sh Ahmed, Shehab Ahmad Al-Abed, Minhaj Nur Alam, Sura Yousef Alaroud, Abdulrahman F Albloushi, Tsedeke Asaminew Alemu, Nchifor Alice, Faisal Alkathery, Otim Ambrose, Kwesi N Amissah-Arthur, Damara Andalia, Fares Antaki, Louis Arnould, Simon Arunga, Olufemi Emmanuel Babalola, Vilma Jurate Balciuniene, Covadonga Bascaran, Ciara Bergin, Carolina Bernal-Morales, Ansgar Beuse, Mukharram M Bikbov, Guzel M Bikbova, Iryna Blagun, Damir Bosnar, Rupert Bourne, Tasanee Braithwaite, Iva Bulat, Philip Burgess, Matthew J Burton, Avshalom Caspi, Ling-Ping Cen, Manju Chandran, Robert T Chang, Kao-Jung Chang, Varun Chaudhary, David Ziyou Chen, Haoyu Chen, Xi Chen, Xinjian Chen, Xuejing Chen, Youxin Chen, Qingyu Chen, Ching-Yu Cheng, Kai Xiong Cheong, Emily Y Chew, Itay Chowers, Nestor Chirinos, Maria Vittoria Cicinelli, Charles R Cleland, Aude Couturier, Catherine Creuzot-Garcher, Dang Tran Dat, Amitha Domalpally, Luciano V Del Priore, Alastair K Denniston, Sebastian Dinesen, Alexander S F Doney, Pham Ngoc Dong, Renaud Duval, Rania Estawro, Nicole Eter, Nnamdi N D Ezuma, Alaa E Fayed, Álvaro Fernández-Vega González, Daniel Ferraz, Bassey Fiebai, Juan Pablo Figueroa Vercellino, Mohammed-Sherrif Napari Fuseini, Orly Gal-Or, Prashant Garg, Zongyuan Ge, Nicola Ghazi, Egide Gisagara, Jakob Grauslund, Carsten Grohmann, Andrzej Grzybowski, Preeti Gupta, Michael Ekuoba Gyasi, Haslina Hamzah, Jinyoung Han, Lloyd C M Harrison-Williams, Murat Hasanreisoglu, Adekunle Hassan, Mingguang He, Qinghua He, Xiangui He, Colette Gaelle Helles, Wenyi Hu, Daniel Duck-Jin Hwang, Shafiq Jafferji, Daniel Jaramillo, Camilo A Jaramillo, Kai Jin, Jost B Jonas, Rahul Jonas, Craig Jones, Awum Joyce Ncheda, Lie Ju, Nelly Kabedi Ngoy, Tengku Ain Kamalden, Ryo Kawasaki, Gyulli M Kazakbaeva, Hagar Khalid, Hina Khan, Rohit C Khanna, Anadi Khatri, Young Kook Kim, Caroline C W Klaver, Victor Teck Chang Koh, Anthony Kuo, Teddy Kwaga, Ecosse Lamoureux, Van Charles Lansingh, Aaron Y Lee, Cecilia S Lee, Theodore Leng, Christopher K S Leung, Jaime Levy, Yuanbo Liang, Gerald Liew, Duoru Lin, Haotian Lin, T Y Alvin Liu, Xiaoxuan Liu, Thaddaeus Wai Soon Lo, Anat Loewenstein, Jing Luo, Alain N M'Bongo Zindamoyen, Savita Madhusudhan, Fernando Malerbi, Lala Mammadova, Wanjiku Mathenge, Simeon Mayala, Luis Mendes, Alexandra Miere, Dan Milea, Paul Mitchell, Terrie E Moffitt, Jibran Mohamed-Noriega, Susan Mollan, Magdy Moussa, Marion R Munk, Danson Vasanthan Muttuvelu, Rodrigue Mwami, Annick Mwilambwe, Deogratias Mzurikwao, Onnisa Nanegrungsunk, Vinay Nangia, Ritesh Narula, Nnamdi Nd-Ezuma, Thanh Triet Nguyen, Truong X Nguyen, Jason Pithuwa Nirwoth, Jean Claude Niyonzima, Josiane Mare Njoya, Henry Ebong Nkumbe, Piet Noe, Ogugua Okonkwo, Adaora Chinwendu Okudo, Maximiliano Olivera, Mehdi Ounissi, Songhomitra Panda-Jonas, Ki Ho Park, Direk Patikulsila, Andreas Pollreisz, Kunliang Qiu, Giuseppe Querques, Rajiv Raman, Sandhya Ramrakha, Chetan Rao, Caio Regatieri, Jose Roca, Francisco J Rodriguez, Paisan Ruamviboonsuk, Charumathi Sabanayagam, Rui Santos, Mario J Saravia, Mariko Sasaki, Muhammad Bayu Sasongko, Seang-Mei Saw, Friederike Schaub, Philipp Schwember, Ruyue Shen, Danli Shi, Rufino Silva, Sobha Sivaprasad, Gabor Mark Somfai, Su Jeong Song, Eric Souied, Ingeborg Stalmans, Niall Strang, Jens Julian Storp, Yousif Subhi, Manju L Subramanian, Xiaodong Sun, Simon K H Szeto, Hitoshi Tabushi, Toru Takebayashi, Leona Takeuchi, Gavin Tan, Marcus Chun Jin Tan, Francis Victorie Tanga Doumbe, Alice Cecilia Elsie Taylor, Clement C Tham, Rebecca L Thomas, Reremoana Theodore, Arun Thirunavakurasu, Alon Tiosano, Mattia Tomasoni, Paris Tranos, Theophile Tuyisabe, Jan Van Eijgen, Raul Velez-Montoya, Oksana Vitovska, Stela Vujosevic, Siegfried K Wagner, Ningli Wang, Sophia Y Wang, Xiaofei Wang, Ya Xing Wang, Felicia Widyaputri, Gwyn S Williams, Graham Wilson, Tien Yin Wong, Wei-Chi Wu, Zhichao Wu, Bowen Xu, Guihua Xu, Jie Xu, Peifang Xu, Jason C Yam, Yasuo Yanagi, Juan Ye, Samantha Min Er Yew, Fabian Yii, Honghua Yu, Ling Yuan, Linda Zangwill, Javier Zarranz-Ventura, Meixia Zhang, Mingzhi Zhang, Xiayin Zhang, Yalin Zheng, Hua Zhong, Zhuoting Zhu, Xiangjia Zhu, Dinah Zur

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
² Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
³ Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
⁴ Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (Eye ACP), Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore. thamyc@nus.edu.sg.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁶ Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, Singapore.
⁸ NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
⁹ Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Hawkes Institute, University College London, London, UK.
¹¹ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹² Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. carolcheung@cuhk.edu.hk.
¹³ NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. p.keane@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁴ Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK. p.keane@ucl.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40921805
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5

No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: C.Y.C. is a cofounder and shareholder of a company (i-Cognitio Sciences) that commercializes retinal imaging based algorithms for brain health assessment. P.A.K. is a cofounder of Cascader, has acted as a consultant for Retina Consultants of America, Roche, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Bitfount and is an equity owner in Big Picture Medical. He has received speaker fees from Zeiss, Thea, Apllis and Roche and travel support from Bayer and Roche. He has attended advisory boards for Topcon, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Roche.

References

1. Moor, M. et al. Nature 616, 259–265 (2023). - PubMed - DOI
1. Howell, M. D., Corrado, G. S. & DeSalvo, K. B. JAMA 331, 242–244 (2024). - PubMed - DOI
1. Wang, X. et al. Nature 634, 970–978 (2024). - PubMed - PMC - DOI
1. Bluethgen, C. et al. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 9, 494–506 (2025). - PubMed - DOI
1. Zhou, Y. et al. Nature 622, 156–163 (2023). - PubMed - PMC - DOI

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Building the world's first truly global medical foundation model

Collaborators

Affiliations

Building the world's first truly global medical foundation model

Authors

Collaborators

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources