Oku Digital Health has announced its global launch, aiming to connect eye health insights with overall patient well-being through AI-driven oculomics. The company, built on the infrastructure of Topcon Healthcare, Inc., will operate across more than 10,000 care locations.
The initiative seeks to integrate AI-supported diagnostics, electronic health record (EHR) integration, and referral workflows. This will enable collaboration between various healthcare providers, including primary care physicians, optometrists, ophthalmologists, and specialists. The goal is to facilitate early intervention and disease management. Pharmaceutical partners are expected to benefit from access to patient data and real-world evidence for drug development and precision medicine.
“We are at a unique inflection point,” stated Ali Tafreshi, CEO of Oku Digital Health. “Robotic diagnostics can now capture clinical-grade ocular data outside traditional specialty settings, while AI allows us to deliver those insights at enterprise scale.” Tafreshi added that healthcare systems require earlier and more accessible methods for risk identification. He believes Oku provides the necessary infrastructure and brings established leadership and presence across over 10,000 provider locations, setting a new standard for connected eyecare.
Lance Patton, president of Topcon Healthcare, Inc., noted Topcon Healthcare’s long-standing role in providing diagnostic solutions for eye care professionals. He mentioned Topcon’s strategic investments in software, clinical decision support, and AI over the past five years to realize the vision of “Healthcare from the Eye.” Patton explained that consolidating these capabilities under Oku transforms possibilities and represents a natural progression of that vision.
Oku is described as a digital health company that links routine eye exam care with broader patient health data to enable earlier detection of chronic diseases. It also aims to foster more coordinated clinical care and generate real-world insights for commercial drug development. The company leverages Topcon’s global installed base of over 50,000 diagnostic devices and has previously screened more than 2.2 million patients outside of traditional eyecare settings.
The platform is built on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure and optimized for AI workloads using NVIDIA CUDA libraries. This infrastructure supports the concept of “Healthcare from the Eye,” which Topcon Healthcare developed. This concept uses routine eye exams as a gateway for detecting, managing, and researching systemic diseases. Oku extends this by creating a connected care and life sciences ecosystem.
“Oku turns routine eye exams into a front door for early disease detection and accelerated clinical development by unlocking eye data, connecting clinicians, and accelerating pharmaceutical programs,” the announcement stated.
The founding leadership team for Oku includes individuals with prior experience at Topcon Healthcare, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and leading research institutions. Ali Tafreshi serves as CEO of Oku Digital Health and also holds positions as chief strategy officer for Topcon Corp.’s eyecare business division and CEO of Topcon Healthcare Inc. Trent Norris is the COO, previously leading business development for digital health at NVIDIA and holding roles at Microsoft.
Matthew Lungren, MD, MPH, is the chief data AI officer. Dr. Lungren is also an adjunct professor in biomedical data science at Stanford University School of Medicine and formerly served as chief scientific officer at Microsoft Health and Life Sciences. Daniela Ferrara, MD, Ph.D., FASRS, FARVO, is the chief medical officer. Dr. Ferrara is an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and previously spent nearly 11 years at Genentech.
Jacques Gilbert is the chief strategy and business development officer, with a background in exiting three startups and holding vice president roles in healthcare strategy at Microsoft.
“The eye is becoming the front door to medicine, but a front door only matters if it leads somewhere,” Tafreshi commented. “Oku puts what the eye reveals in the hands of those who can act on it; clinicians and researchers across eyecare, primary care, and drug development.”
Oku is scheduled to make its debut at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, from October 9-12, 2026.
