Post by Yih Chung Tham 覃宇宗

From a “crazy idea” to a global initiative. In 2024, the three of us set out with an ambitious goal - to build a globally diverse medical foundation model. What started as a bold idea has led into something far bigger than we imagined - Global RETFound Consortium. 🌍 Today, the Global RETFound Consortium brings together 200+ partners across 70 countries, working collectively to advance truly inclusive AI in ophthalmology and beyond. 📄 In September 2025, we published our position statement in Nature Medicine, marking an important milestone for this global effort. 🤝 Following our first two in-person meetings at ARVO 2025 and APOIS 2025, we are now gearing up for our third gathering at Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2026 on May 4th, 7:30am (Denver time) - a timely moment to reconnect, share progress, and take the next leap forward together. This journey has only been possible because of the incredible commitment and collaboration from partners around the world. 🙏 Thank you all for your continued support. Very excited to see all our partners very soon! Thank you to all who have RSVPed! Carol Cheung Pearse Keane The Chinese University of Hong Kong, INSIGHT Eye Hub, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London UCL, Singapore National Eye Centre Singapore Eye Research Institute, NUS Ophthalmology NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine #GlobalRETFound #ARVO2026 #Ophthalmology #AIinHealthcare #FoundationModels #GlobalHealth #Collaboration #DigitalHealth #Consortium