Danli Shi

Danli Shi

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

🚀 Vision AI Lab @ PolyU

We are an interdisciplinary research group developing foundational AI systems for vision science and medicine, with a particular focus on ophthalmology as a testbed for multimodal, embodied, and agentic AI.

Our lab sits at the intersection of Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Robotics, and Clinical Science, offering a unique environment where algorithms are not only published—but deployed, validated, and stress-tested in real clinical workflows.

I am a Research Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). I obtained my PhD from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, under the supervision of Prof. Mingguang He. I previously received my BS and MS from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

What We Work On (Beyond Traditional Medical AI): Unlike single-task medical AI systems, our research targets generalizable, interactive, and autonomous AI for vision-driven decision making.

I am looking for self-motivated PhD/RA/Interns with a background in CS/BME/Robotics/Medicine. Feel free to drop me an email with your CV. More information about the scholarship for your postgraduate study in PolyU: fellowship-scholarship-schemes

🔥 News

đź“ť Publications

🎖 Honors and Awards

🏢 Professional Activities

  • Conference Co-organizer
    • Asia-Pacific Tele-Ophthalmology Society
  • Guest Editor
    • BMJ open ophthalmology
  • Community Service
    • Awards Officer, Women in MICCAI (WiM)
  • Journal/Conference Reviews
    • npj Digital Medicine
    • Nature Computational Science
    • Nature Communications
    • Progress in Retinal and Eye Research
    • British Journal of Ophthalmology
    • Ophthalmology Science
    • JMIR
    • Pattern Recognition Letters
    • Expert Systems with Applications
    • Biomedical Signal Processing and Control
    • MICCAI

RMHAS: Retina-based Microvascular Health Assessment System

Demo website: https://www.retinavessel.com/#/

Publications using this tool

  1. Shi D, Lin Z, Wang W, Tan Z, Shang X, Zhang X, Meng W, Ge Z, He M. A Deep Learning System for Fully Automated Retinal Vessel Measurement in High Throughput Image Analysis. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022;9:823436. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.823436
  2. He S, Bulloch G, Zhang L, Meng W, Shi D, He M. Comparing Common Retinal Vessel Caliber Measurement Software with an Automatic Deep Learning System. Curr Eye Res. 2023;48:843-849. doi: 10.1080/02713683.2023.2212881
  3. Fu Y, Yusufu M, Wang Y, He M, Shi D, Wang R. Association of retinal microvascular density and complexity with incident coronary heart disease. Atherosclerosis. 2023;380:117196. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2023.117196
  4. Huang Y, Li C, Shi D, Wang H, Shang X, Wang W, Zhang X, Zhang X, Hu Y, Tang S, et al. Integrating oculomics with genomics reveals imaging biomarkers for preventive and personalized prediction of arterial aneurysms. EPMA J. 2023;14:73-86. doi: 10.1007/s13167-023-00315-7
  5. Zhang W, Tian Z, Song F, Xu P, Shi D, He M. Enhancing stability in cardiovascular disease risk prediction: A deep learning approach leveraging retinal images. Informatics in Medicine Unlocked. 2023;42:101366. doi: 10.1016/j.imu.2023.101366
  6. Shi D, He S, Yang J, Zheng Y, He M. One-shot Retinal Artery and Vein Segmentation via Cross-modality Pretraining. Ophthalmol Sci. 2024;4:100363. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2023.100363
  7. Yusufu M, Chen Y, Dayimu A, Bulloch G, Jin S, Vingrys AJ, Zhang L, Shang X, Shi D, He M. Retinal Vascular Measurements and Mortality Risk: Evidence From the UK Biobank Study. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2024;13:2-2. doi: 10.1167/tvst.13.1.2
  8. Shi D, Zhou Y, He S, Wagner SK, Huang Y, Keane PA, Ting DSW, Zhang L, Zheng Y, He M. Cross-modality Labeling Enables Noninvasive Capillary Quantification as a Sensitive Biomarker for Assessing Cardiovascular Risk. Ophthalmol Sci. 2024;4:100441. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2023.100441
  9. Jiang Y, Chen Q, Shi D, Miao S, Liu Y, Wang J, Liu L, Chen Y, Wang R. Association of retinal microvascular curve tortuosity and multiple sclerosis: A cross-section analysis from the UK Biobank. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. 2024;88:105753. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msard.2024.105753
  10. Huang Y, Plotnikov D, Wang H, Shi D, Li C, Zhang X, Zhang X, Tang S, Shang X, Hu Y, et al. GWAS-by-subtraction reveals an IOP-independent component of primary open angle glaucoma. Nat Commun. 2024;15:8962. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53331-0
  11. Chen Q, Miao S, Jiang Y, Shi D, You W, Liu L, Yusufu M, Chen Y, Wang R. Associations of Retinal Microvascular Density and Fractal Dimension with Glaucoma: A Prospective Study from UK Biobank. Ophthalmology Science. 2025;5. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2024.100661
  12. Yusufu M, Friedman DS, Kang M, Padhye A, Shang X, Zhang L, Shi D, He M. Retinal vascular fingerprints predict incident stroke: findings from the UK Biobank cohort study. Heart. 2025:heartjnl-2024-324705. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2024-324705
  13. Li C, Huang Y, Chen J, Hua G, Yang F, Cai D, Kuang Y, He X, Wang Y, Jiang J, et al. Retinal oculomics and risk of incident aortic aneurysm and aortic adverse events: a population-based cohort study. Int J Surg. 2025. doi: 10.1097/js9.0000000000002236
  14. Yusufu M, Vingrys AJ, Shang X, Zhang L, Shi D, Congdon N, He M. Population-based Normative Reference for Retinal Microvascular Atlas. Ophthalmology Science. 2025:100723. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xops.2025.100723
  15. Zeng X, Chen R, Zhang X, Su T, Wang Y, Hu Y, Shang X, Shi D, Yu H. Associations between a healthy lifestyle score and retinal neurovascular health. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2025:bjo-2024-326184. doi: 10.1136/bjo-2024-326184
  16. Wu Y, Shen L, Zhao L, Lin X, Xu M, Tu Z, Huang Y, Kong L, Lin Z, Lin D, et al. Noninvasive early prediction of preeclampsia in pregnancy using retinal vascular features. npj Digital Medicine. 2025;8:188. doi: 10.1038/s41746-025-01582-6
  17. Niu Y, Li X, Guo J, Luo S, Shang X, Liu J, Liu S, He M, Shi D, Huang Y, et al. Comprehensive genome-wide analysis of retinal vessel caliber reveals microvascular-blood pressure pathways: advancing predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine. EPMA Journal. 2025. doi: 10.1007/s13167-025-00411-w
  18. Yusufu M, Weinreb RN, Kang M, Vingrys AJ, Shang X, Zhang L, Shi D, He M. Structural and causal links between retinal vascular geometry and neural layer thickness. Microvascular Research. 2025;161:104834. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mvr.2025.104834
  19. Alatrany AS, Lakhani K, Cowley AC, Yeo JL, Dattani A, Ayton SL, Deshpande A, Graham-Brown MPM, Davies MJ, Khunti K, et al. The retina as a window into detecting subclinical cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes. Scientific Reports. 2025;15:27968. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-13468-4
  20. Wang J, Han S, Mou D, Tang X, Shi D, He M, Guo C, Wang N, Zhang Y. Retinal Vascular Fingerprints as Novel Biomarkers for Primary Angle Closure Disease Progression. Ophthalmology Science. 2025;5. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2025.100848
  21. Wang B, Shi D, Zhang Z, Zhang L, Sun Y, Liu J, Yan X, Jing J, Li J, Song J, et al. Effect of Intensive Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment on Retinal Microvasculature. JACC. 2025;86:1377-1388. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2025.05.020