Welcome to the NOVA Lab at the University of British Columbia's Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences in Vancouver. We are located on the 4th floor of the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, home of ICORD, at Vancouver General Hospital.

Our interdisciplinary research program combines computational techniques, data science, psychophysics, imaging, and artificial intelligence (AI) to advance various aspects of visual health. Our goals include democratizing and increasing accessibility of data-scientific techniques for building AI-based systems that can analyze health data at both the individual and population level, as well as advancing our understanding of the brain mechanisms and processes involved in visual recognition. Our group has developed several innovative data-scientific methods for extracting information from medical, neuroimaging, and behavioral data. Our long-term objectives include creating a low-cost AI-based model for automated diagnosis using non-invasive retinal imaging, and developing rehabilitation strategies and aids to improve visual function in eye and brain disorders. Ultimately, these tools can be integrated into clinical care as part of virtual health, increasing equity and access to healthcare resources for rural, remote, and Indigenous communities in Canada.