Bill Fera, MD, (l) and Jim Rowan.

  
NEW YORK—Two experts from the business consulting firm Deloitte LLP are joining the growing speaker roster of the 2024 Vision Monday Leadership Summit for the upcoming live event in NYC on March 13, which asks, "What's Your AI Acuity? Sharpening a Vision for the Future." Sharing their insights focusing on AI's impact in the health care sector on both physicians and patients as well as on how business leaders can build the best AI teams, will be Bill Fera, MD, a principal at Deloitte LLP and Jim Rowan, a principal and leader of Deloitte's strategy and analytics practice and Deloitte AI institute.

"Artificial Intelligence is fast opening up new dimensions and providing previously unimagined insights for customers, patients, employees and senior executives," noted Marge Axelrad, SVP and editorial director of Vision Monday/VMail. "AI is already creating a new series of questions for decision makers," added Andrew Karp, group editor, lenses and technology. "Among these are: Will AI demand a rethink of products, services and processes? Will leaders and managers come to depend on AI to make decisions about people, productivity and automation? Is AI the great equalizer for independents and entrepreneurs? Will patients trust advice from an algorithm? What are the implications for health care?"

Dr. Fera will address how AI is transforming health care, from how new patient-facing tools can improve patient experience, costs and outcomes along with how AI can offer providers new tools for disease detection and diagnosis, identify and create new treatment plans and play an enormous role in how data will be able to track both outcomes and efficiencies.

Dr. Fera is experienced in working at the convergence of payers and providers, implementing technologies to drive efficiency and creating practical analytic strategies that allow speed to value. Prior to joining Deloitte, Dr. Fera served as vice president of clinical technologies at UPMC where he worked as the clinical lead in creating a commercial interoperability solution and an enterprise telehealth strategy. With over 20 years as a practicing family physician, physician executive and health care consultant, Dr. Fera brings a multi-faceted view to health care issues and potential solutions.

Dr. Fera will also answer questions about the way providers can best make their voices heard in the development of AI tools and processes to enhance patient care.

Deloitte AI Institute's Jim Rowan will share insights about how organizations large and small can connect the various dimensions of the highly dynamic and rapidly evolving AI ecosystem. How can AI promote human-machine interaction? And, he'll talk about the ways CEOs and leaders of established businesses are viewing the best ways of creating effective AI teams, the future of work and jobs, how to assemble productive teams to leverage AI and define the way hiring, re-skilling and expertise can deliver a successful AI talent group within companies today.

Over the course of Rowan's career, he has served clients across the life sciences, health care and telecommunications industries to help them use AI tools and data to improve their businesses.

 
 
Dr. Fera and Rowan join other speakers in the dynamic "What's Your AI Acuity" VM Leadership Summit program, which will examine the big picture of what AI portends across retail, health care and culture. Summit speakers will consider the practical dimensions of this powerful new technology, even as leaders are asked to navigate its complexities.

Previously announced VM Summit speakers are two leading AI/ophthalmology and optometry initiatives, with professionals sharing fast-expanding programs and experiences with clinical applications and diagnostic advantages of AI. They include James Tsai, MD and Pearse Keane, MD, who will discuss the increasingly important role that AI is playing in the diagnosis and treatment of ocular disease. Each will share an exclusive look at how their teams in the U.S. and the U.K. respectively, are using AI now and what they're building for the future.

Dr. Tsai heads the Center for Ophthalmic Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the first of its kind in New York and one of the first in the U.S. The Center is dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence in the field of ophthalmology.

Dr. Pearse Keane leads a pioneering research program at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London that is investigating whether AI can help meet a growing clinical need to better analyze eye scans. Now in its seventh year, the program grew out of a partnership with AI developer DeepMind and now involves Google Health.

Moderating a conversation with Drs. Tsai and Keane will be Paul Karpecki, OD, FAAO. Dr. Karpecki will also share perspectives with leading ODs about the role that diagnostic AI will be playing in optometric practices.

Dr. Karpecki currently serves as director of cornea and external disease for the Kentucky Eye Institute in Lexington Ky., running the largest, advanced, referral only, ocular surface disease clinic in the U.S. He is also the chief medical editor for Review of Optometry, chairs their New Technology and Treatment Conferences and serves on the board of the charitable organization Optometry Giving Sight.

At presstime, Platinum Sponsors of the 2024 VM Leadership Summit include Advancing Eyecare, EssilorLuxottica and VSP Vision. The Gold Sponsors are Alcon and Ocuco.

The 2024 VM Leadership Summit program will open with a networking breakfast from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and the program and lunch will run from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration includes the full program, networking breakfast and lunch. Details for registration are posted at www.visionmonday.com/summit. Early bird tickets and registration have a deadline of 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 31.