This month, I wanted to highlight a theme that has intersected with my own professional journey, and, more importantly, with the lives of countless patients and their families: optics saving lives through health care and biophotonics.
This field has long fascinated me. My first “aha” moment came from an unexpected place. Early on, I observed that the mathematical models we used to simulate scattering through atmospheric turbulence could potentially be applied to modeling scattering through biological tissue. This insight sparked my long-standing interest in translating foundational work in the field of optics into medical imaging applications and, ultimately, clinical impact. I even toyed with the idea of joining the University of Arizona, USA, to study under the late Professor Harrison H. Barrett, a pioneer in imaging science applied to health care, but various factors led me to remain on the East Coast of the United States and pursue my work at Georgia Tech.
Over the years, the role of optics in health care has expanded vastly, with numerous active research verticals that continue to advance the field. Early in my career, I focused on superresolution imaging systems, recognizing the tremendous potential of applying advanced optical system design to improve medical image quality.
Later, in the mid-2000s, I had the privilege of serving on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposal review committee focused on identifying optical centers poised to transition into health care research. That experience reinforced something I still believe today. Although securing NIH funding is notoriously challenging for newcomers, I was greatly inspired by the breadth of the proposals and the NIH’s sustained commitment to expanding its boundaries to advance health care research. It pays dividends in the number of lives improved and lives saved.
What feels especially energizing is how quickly the field’s “toolkit” is evolving. Optical coherence tomography, for example, continues to push into new biomedical frontiers. Advances in fluorescence-guided surgery are improving surgeons’ ability to distinguish healthy and diseased tissue in real time. And beyond imaging, light itself is becoming a targeted therapy—for example, infrared-activated photoimmunotherapy is being investigated in clinical trials as a way to kill cancer cells with precision. At the same time, optical sensing is becoming faster, more accessible and more deployable, supporting earlier intervention and better outcomes.
These advances and the broader momentum driving them underscore why the research of optics in health care has grown and is supported by journals and meetings such as Optica’s Biomedical Optics Express and the Optica Biophotonics Congress, respectively.
I am genuinely excited about the future of optics in health care, helping clinicians see earlier, act more precisely and treat more effectively. Optics doesn’t just illuminate the world, it helps save lives.
—Gisele Bennett,
Optica President
