Show Summary

Hunter Cherwek, MD, Vice President of Clinical Services & Technologies at Orbis International, joins John and Scott to discuss how Orbis has evolved from a single Flying Eye Hospital into a global force spanning AI-powered diagnostics, distance learning, drug distribution, and children's eye care.

Frank Brodie, MD, MBA, co-inventor of LensOne™, then joins to explain what the prosthetic capsular bag solves, how it works, and where it's headed — including the upcoming GOLDEN GATE pivotal trial launching this fall.

Hosts: John Kitchens, MD, Scott Krzywonos

Topics Covered

Hunter Cherwek, MD, on Orbis International

Orbis founded 1982; the Flying Eye Hospital — a US-accredited hospital aboard an MD-10 aircraft — now represents ~15% of Orbis activity.

CyberSight: the world's largest freely available ophthalmic distance learning platform; recently hosted a live lecture watched by 127 countries simultaneously; originated as a pediatric mentorship program by Eugene Helveston, MD.

Trachoma eradication: Orbis distributes 200–250 million doses of azithromycin annually in Ethiopia; Hunter projects eradication within 10 years.

AI and diabetic retinopathy: RAIDERS trial in Rwanda (conducted entirely during COVID, fully remote) showed a 40% improvement in referral rates to medical retina; B-PRODUCTIVE study in Bangladesh improved retina clinic procedural volume by 248%.

Oculomics: Orbis is now using retinal AI biomarkers to detect systemic disease, positioning the eye as a window into neurovascular health.

450+ volunteers from 40+ countries; the associate program allows residents to observe (not operate) and build global health foundations early in training.

How to get involved: orbis.org — volunteer tab at the top of the site; particular need for ROP, inherited retinal disease, and pediatric retina specialists.

Frank Brodie, MD, MBA, on LensOne™

The problem: secondary IOL fixation (Yamane, four-point fixation, glued IOL) has a 14% re-operation rate per a large IRIS Registry study; no FDA-approved solution currently exists beyond ACIOL, which fewer than 10% of surgeons use.

LensOne™: a three-point fixated prosthetic capsular bag made by Long Bridge Medical; accommodates virtually any IOL type including toric and multifocal; injected through standard cannula incisions in roughly three minutes.

First-in-human trial: 15 patients in Sydney, Australia; 100% successful implantation; no conjunctival erosion or IOL dislocation; published in Ophthalmology (AAO journal) with surgical videos available online.

GOLDEN GATE trial: US pivotal study; ~12 sites; 110–130 patients; launching fall 2026; market entry targeted for late 2028–early 2029.

Training: bench-top only (model eyes and ex vivo porcine); no live animal training required; most steps are intuitive for retina surgeons already familiar with pars plana approaches.

More information and surgical animations: longbridgemedical.com.

Key Takeaways

Orbis has evolved far beyond the Flying Eye Hospital — it is now a global AI, telemedicine, and drug distribution organization reaching the world's most underserved patients, and retina specialists can plug in at any career stage.

LensOne™ addresses a real and underappreciated problem: secondary IOL surgery is technically demanding, legally risky, financially penalized, and currently without an FDA-approved solution beyond ACIOL.

The GOLDEN GATE trial launches this fall; surgeons interested in participating should visit longbridgemedical.com.

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Credits
Production & Marketing: Laura Brown | Head of Production: Liz Hogan

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