Dr. Akshar Abbott is a physician-innovator who works with the Technology-based Eye Care Service to bring critical retina subspecialty services to Veterans across the rural Midwest. In addition to his primary clinical role, he is a graduate student in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a National Academy of Medicine Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence, and an MIT Catalyst Fellowship faculty member. He works across the disciplines of telehealth, digital health innovation, and rural health to design and deploy high-quality ophthalmic subspecialty care programs in areas of critical need. For Dr. Abbott, this work centers the core aspiration of our democracy the uncoupling of demographics and destiny, empowering all Americans to live their fullest lives independent of who they are or where they live. Dr. Abbott is passionate about public-sector health technology innovation, especially in service of building the future of health care for all Veterans and all Americans. For his VHA Innovation Fellowship year, he is analyzing areas of overlap between VA's mission-critical health innovation priorities and those of our federal health care innovation partners. From this research, he will build a comprehensive strategy for co-innovation across the federal health care ecosystem, as well as constructing public-private partnerships with our partners in academia and the private sector.