Using Eye Movements to Diagnose Brain Health

Article by Zac Unger

Inside the Lab of Dr. Jorge Otero-Millan

Dr. Jorge Otero-Millan’s lab feels like a cross between a video arcade and an underground goth night club. Everything from the walls to the door handles is painted pitch black, there’s not a window to be found, and screens of various sizes are placed in front of mysterious contraptions.

The centerpiece of it all is a race car simulator, complete with captain’s chair, steering wheel, and three flat screen televisions, all atop a base that can move a seatbelted “driver” in any direction. “I have this here just for the ‘oh, wow factor,’” Otero-Millan jokes. And while it’s undoubtedly true that not every professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science gets their own personal carnival ride, Otero-Millan’s devices are actually critical tools that have great promise for the study and treatment of multiple maladies, from post-concussion syndrome to Parkinson’s disease.