Building the world’s first truly global medical foundation model

Yih Chung Tham; Jocelyn Hui Lin Goh; The Global RETFound Consortium; Paul Nderitu; Yukun Zhou; Sahana Srinivasan; Gabriel Dawei Yang; Gatera Fiston Kitema; Polly Rawlinson; Ke Zou; Carol Y. Cheung; Pearse A. Keane

doi:10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5

Building the world’s first truly global medical foundation model

Yih Chung Tham^*
, Jocelyn Hui Lin Goh
, The Global RETFound Consortium
, Paul Nderitu
, Yukun Zhou
, Sahana Srinivasan
, Gabriel Dawei Yang
, Gatera Fiston Kitema
, Polly Rawlinson
, Ke Zou
, Carol Y. Cheung^*
, Pearse A. Keane^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

National University of Singapore
Singapore National Eye Center
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
University College London
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
Fudan University
Centre for Eye Research Australia
University of Melbourne
Kunming Medical College
University of Liverpool
Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital
Shantou University
Guangdong Provincial Precision Diagnosis and Treatment Engineering Technology Research Center for Ocular Diseases
Sichuan University
University of Lausanne
August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute
University of California at San Diego
The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University
University of Edinburgh
Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Institute on Eye Diseases
Yokohama City University
Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University
Eye Center of Huizhou Central People’s Hospital
Chang Gung University College of Medicine
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Tsinghua University
University of Otago
Swansea Bay University Health Board
Gadjah Mada University
Beihang University
Stanford University School of Medicine
Henan Academy of Innovations in Medical Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/Letter to the editor › Academic › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3580-3585
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Medicine
Volume	31
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5
Publication status	Published - Nov 2025

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10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5

Building the world’s first truly global medical foundation modelFinal published version, 889 KBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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title = "Building the world{\textquoteright}s first truly global medical foundation model",

author = "Tham, \{Yih Chung\} and Goh, \{Jocelyn Hui Lin\} and \{The Global RETFound Consortium\} and Paul Nderitu and Yukun Zhou and Ran, \{An Ran\} and Sahana Srinivasan and Yang, \{Gabriel Dawei\} and Kitema, \{Gatera Fiston\} and Polly Rawlinson and Hongyang Jiang and Ke Zou and Cheung, \{Carol Y.\} and Keane, \{Pearse A.\} and Dinah Zur and Xiangjia Zhu and Zhuoting Zhu and Hua Zhong and Yalin Zheng and Xiayin Zhang and Mingzhi Zhang and Meixia Zhang and Javier Zarranz-Ventura and Linda Zangwill and Ling Yuan and Honghua Yu and Fabian Yii and Yew, \{Samantha Min Er\} and Juan Ye and Yasuo Yanagi and Yam, \{Jason C.\} and Peifang Xu and Jie Xu and Guihua Xu and Bowen Xu and Zhichao Wu and Wu, \{Wei Chi\} and Wong, \{Tien Yin\} and Graham Wilson and Williams, \{Gwyn S.\} and Felicia Widyaputri and Wang, \{Ya Xing\} and Xiaofei Wang and Wang, \{Sophia Y.\} and Ningli Wang and Wagner, \{Siegfried K.\} and Piet Noe and Vinay Nangia and Klaver, \{Caroline C.W.\} and Hina Khan and Xi Chen",

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AU - The Global RETFound Consortium

AU - Nderitu, Paul

AU - Zhou, Yukun

AU - Ran, An Ran

AU - Srinivasan, Sahana

AU - Yang, Gabriel Dawei

AU - Kitema, Gatera Fiston

AU - Rawlinson, Polly

AU - Jiang, Hongyang

AU - Zou, Ke

AU - Cheung, Carol Y.

AU - Keane, Pearse A.

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AU - Zhu, Xiangjia

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AU - Zheng, Yalin

AU - Zhang, Xiayin

AU - Zhang, Mingzhi

AU - Zhang, Meixia

AU - Zarranz-Ventura, Javier

AU - Zangwill, Linda

AU - Yuan, Ling

AU - Yu, Honghua

AU - Yii, Fabian

AU - Yew, Samantha Min Er

AU - Ye, Juan

AU - Yanagi, Yasuo

AU - Yam, Jason C.

AU - Xu, Peifang

AU - Xu, Jie

AU - Xu, Guihua

AU - Xu, Bowen

AU - Wu, Zhichao

AU - Wu, Wei Chi

AU - Wong, Tien Yin

AU - Wilson, Graham

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AU - Widyaputri, Felicia

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AU - Wang, Xiaofei

AU - Wang, Sophia Y.

AU - Wang, Ningli

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UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105016800976

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DO - 10.1038/s41591-025-03859-5

M3 - Comment/Letter to the editor

C2 - 40921805

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SP - 3580

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JO - Nature Medicine

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Building the world’s first truly global medical foundation model

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