Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon and Craniofacial Surgeon
Head of Clinical Services - Neurosurgery
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Co-Founder
Klay Biotech
Honorary Associate Professor
UCL
Founder
Gemini Untwined
Director
London Craniofacial Unit Ltd.
Principal Investigator
Facevalue, GOSH ICH UCL
Owase Jeelani, is a world-renowned paediatric neurosurgeon, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Mr Jeelani, whose surgical career spans over 20 years, was ranked in Time Magazine’s top 100 surgeons in the UK in 2011 and the top 100 paediatric specialists in the UK in 2012.
He is currently Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and undertakes 200-300 paediatric neurosurgical and craniofacial procedures every year. He is the Founder and CEO of Gemini Untwined, a global charity dedicated to the treatment of craniopagus twins and other complex craniofacial and neurosurgical conditions as well as an Honorary Associate Professorship at the Institute of Child Health at University College London (UCL).
Mr Jeelani was Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at GOSH from 2012 until 2018, establishing it as one of the largest paediatric neurosurgery services in the world. During his tenure, 4 new consultant neurosurgeons were appointed and the annual caseload increased to some 1100 operations.
Mr Owase Jeelani is a Principal Investigator of FaceValue, a UCL-based research team of doctors, scientists and biomedical engineers that design surgical devices and machine-learning algorithms to predict and improve surgical outcomes. He is the inventor of CranioXpand, a cranial distractor system to make surgery safer and more cost-effective.
In 2013, Owase Jeelani co-founded the London Craniofacial Unit, an international healthcare facility. Mr Jeelani’s vision was to replicate the standard of multidisciplinary integrated care available at GOSH in the private sector, benefiting patients from across the globe.
Mr Owase Jeelani also provides strategic counsel alongside his work as a neurosurgeon, having founded a consulting company, Interface Health Solutions, in 2003. Just four years later, it provided strategic oversight and direction in launching the Moorfield’s Eye Hospital in Dubai in 2007, undertook an appraisal of all Neurosurgical services for the government of Kuwait in 2010, and in 2018 it played a key role in establishing the Neurosurgery and Craniofacial Service at Sidra Hospital in Qatar, a tertiary referral centre in the Middle East.
An exceptional media and events speaker, Mr Jeelani’s unique global profile and experience, in the operating room, the boardroom and the research laboratory, position him well to engage with national and international stakeholders from a diverse background and provide unique insights to guide and develop national and international healthcare systems utilising Tech platforms.
Chief Customer Success Officer
EY
Edwina is Client Technology’s Chief Customer Success Officer. In this role, Edwina leads Product Management and Customer Success at EY which develops cutting edge technology products and platforms to support EY’s $45BN client services in audit, tax, strategy, transactions, and consulting. In addition to leading product teams with 6500 technologists and engineers, Edwina heads up 10 Customer Success Regional Technology Hubs across the US, EMEIA, China and Japan focused on delivering successful outcomes and experiences from technology for EY’s clients globally.
Edwina is leading the metaverse community for Client Technology, working across EY globally, joining the dots and making connections across this new paradigm for 3Dworlds, avatars, NFTs, DeFi, Web3.0, DAOs, gaming, headsets, ethics, sustainability, legal, tax, regulatory, cybersecurity and more.
Over the course of her career, Edwina has been a CIO, COO and CEO in financial services businesses and holds board positions on industry innovation organizations. She was formerly the GCSP for Xerox, a G360 account and the Global Consulting Markets and Business Development Leader.
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Chief Executive Officer
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Kevin B. Mahoney is Chief Executive Officer for the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS). He assumed this role in July 2019.
Since joining Penn Medicine in 1996, Mr. Mahoney has led several transformative construction projects which have expanded and enhanced Penn Medicine’s clinical care, teaching and research missions, including the Smilow Center for Translational Research and the Henry A. Jordan M'62 Medical Education Center. He oversaw the implementation of a common electronic health record platform, the only comprehensive system of its kind in the Philadelphia region.
Mr. Mahoney directed the development and construction of Penn Medicine’s new $1.6 billion hospital, The Pavilion, which houses inpatient care for the Abramson Cancer Center, heart and vascular medicine and surgery, neurology and neurosurgery and a new emergency department on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania campus. The largest capital project in Penn’s history, The Pavilion opened in the fall of 2021.
He is a graduate of Millersville State College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics, and he holds an MBA and a doctorate from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.
Innerworld
Jewel is a singer-songwriter, actress, and 2x New York Times best-selling author. As a lived experience mental health expert, she is passionate about democratizing wellness - she has over 21 years of clinical experience delivering peer-to-peer mental health tools for high-performance athletes, artists, executives, and at-risk youth.
Jewel has recently joined Innerworld as co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer to bring her peer-based model into the metaverse. Innerworld's novel solution uses the metaverse to democratize access to the scientifically validated mental health resources and tools of Cognitive Behavioral Immersion™ (CBI).
Throughout her career, Jewel has earned 26 Music Award nominations, including The Grammy's, American Music Awards, MTV Awards, VH1 Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Country Music Awards, winning 8 times.
Jewel has discovered a variety of mental health tools as a child living in adverse circumstances, helping her to go from homelessness to happiness. She has built her career sharing her wisdom through music, poetry, books and a wellness curriculum that inspires physical, emotional and mental health. For over thirty years Jewel worked with the top psychologists, experts and practitioners to create her “Whole Human System,” which has 10 Pillars of Healing and Growth, 30 tools and over 100 activations to inspire physical, emotional and mental health. Jewel’s “Whole Human System” has been used to create curriculum and products for non-profits, school districts, corporations and consumers.
For two decades, Jewel’s System and Inspiring Children Foundation (ICF) have been helping to revolutionize education with a cutting-edge model that completely transforms the lives of at-risk youth. By empowering children struggling with financial hardship, anxiety, depression and mental health challenges the program provides youth with the ultimate environment to survive, then thrive at the highest levels. The Foundation’s best in class student led mental health programming is informed by mindfulness, meditation, entrepreneurship, mentoring, project driven learning, athletics (tennis) and a special peer led Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT), trauma treatment, and group counseling.
Jewel has authentically become one the most notable spokespersons and advocates for the modern-day wellness, mental health and mindfulness movement. Jewel has used her platform to advocate for mental health and to encourage organizations to “invest in human capital” at some of the most prestigious conferences in the world, including SALT Hedge Fund conference, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, Wisdom 2.0 and The Wellness Experience
Jewel’s new album and book are coming out next year. Both are inspired by her own mental health journey and passion for human development.
Oxford University
Professor of Clinical Psychology
Oxford University
NIHR Senior Investigator
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Daniel Freeman is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and NIHR Senior Investigator at the University of Oxford and a consultant clinical psychologist in Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. He is a Fellow of University College Oxford, the British Academy, and the British Psychological Society. Daniel's research has focussed on using psychological theory to develop more powerful psychological treatments. He has been using virtual reality in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of mental health problems for over two decades. In 2016 Daniel was the scientific founder of Oxford VR, a University of Oxford spin-out company. He is the recipient of the 2020 British Psychological Society Presidents' Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Knowledge, and presented the BBC Radio 4 series ‘A History of Delusions’.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Susan R. Kirsh, MD, MPH is currently serving as the Deputy Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks (DEAN).
Dr. Kirsh served in numerous roles during her 24-year career with the Veterans Health Administration. She practiced as an internist for many years at the Cleveland VAMC and has led initiatives in VA Central Office in the Primary Care Program Office with Patient Centered Medical Home and Shared Medical Appointments and in Specialty Care nationally implementing eConsults, SCAN-ECHO, Specialty Care Neighborhoods, and MiniResidencies. Since March 2015, Dr. Kirsh led access to care efforts such as implementation of the practice management program for outpatient care across VA, same day services, and direct scheduling for specialty care. In 2018, Dr. Kirsh became the Acting Executive Director for Access and led enterprise-wide efforts to improve access to care through telehealth and Clinical Contact Centers Modernization.
Dr. Kirsh received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, Ohio. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio and Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Kirsh is certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine and received a Master of Public Health from Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Society of General Internal Medicine, Medical Group Management Association, and the American College of Physicians. Dr. Kirsh was a Faculty Scholar in the VA Quality Scholar Program in 2008 and holds a Professor of Medicine appointment at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and an Assistant Professor position at the Georgetown University School of Nursing.
TNT Health Enterprises
ICU Physician
Principal
TNT Health Enterprises
Dr. Tina Shah is a practicing pulmonary and critical care physician and national expert in workforce wellbeing, and digital transformation and health policy. Early during the COVID pandemic, Dr. Shah stood up telemedicine for a large health system in GA and led emergency response across tribal hospitals. As a public servant, she has served in two White House Administrations and in the US Dept. of Veterans Affairs where she was the VA’s National Director of Clinician Wellbeing. In 2022, she was Senior Advisor to the current US Surgeon General where she created nation’s strategy to address the great resignation and burnout in healthcare.
As Principal of TNT Health Enterprises, she works with health systems and the tech industry to leverage tech in the workplace so that both clinicians and their patients win. She is also a partner at Clarity and Company, a boutique healthcare strategy firm, and continues to work on the frontlines in the ICU. As a recognized healthcare expert, Dr. Shah has been featured at the National Academy of Medicine, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and as a commentator on CBS and NBC news. She received her MD from Jefferson and her MPH from Harvard.
Meta
Enterprise XR Program Manager
Meta
Laura Kusumoto is a California-based technology innovator, driving the integration of XR technology into the way Meta team members work every day.
Throughout her career, Laura has excelled at busting through the hype to harness the true value of emerging technologies. Prior to her time at Meta, her work with major brands including Deloitte, Disney, Kaiser Permanente, LEGO, and Intuit, leveraged her deep experience as a leader, analyst, and innovator. Her work paved the way for first-mover products such as digital assistants in health care, immersive avatar-based training, automated project planning, and much more. While Laura is fueled by inspiration, she is also grounded in practicality, having learned through many projects that the path between ideas and business value is best traveled with rigor.
Princeton Perinatal Institute
Founder and Executive Director
Princeton Perinatal Institute
Dr. Mondestin completed her OB/GYN residency in 1999 at St. Luke's Roosevelt in NYC, which at the time was affiliated with Columbia Presbyterian. Dr. Mondestin completed her Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship training in 2002 at UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She worked for UMDNJ, now Rutgers, for 11 years and for PENN Medicine for 4 years, until making the choice to go into private practice in 2017. Because of her passion for academic medicine and her love of teaching, she continues to maintain voluntary faculty appointment at Sidney Kimmel Medical College-Thomas Jefferson University and at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Dr. Mondestin is triple board certified in OB/GYN, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Obesity Medicine. She holds a Certificate of Leadership from the Wharton School of Business and is an alternate delegate at the AMA.
She has traveled around the world and is fluent in French, Spanish and Creole. Because of her journey, she has not only acquired skills and expertise in her field but also an independent perspective that allows her to care for a broad range of patient demographic with an empathy that is rare to find.
China President
Global VP of Corporate Development
HTC
Mr. Graylin （汪丛青） is the China President at HTC leading all aspects of HTC's business in the region (Vive/VR, phone, Viveport content platform, partnerships and investments) and the company’s XR Suite Business globally. He is also responsible for fostering strategic partnerships on a global basis at HTC. Additionally Graylin is currently Vice-Chairman of the Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance (IVRA.com) with 300+ company members, President of the $18B Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA.com) and oversees the Vive X VR Accelerators (VIVEX.co) in Beijing, Shenzhen and Tel Aviv. Mr. Graylin is a sought after speaker and thought leader in the areas of VR/AR, AI, Entrepreneurship, and doing business in China by events and media globally.
Mr. Graylin has over 29 years of business management experience in the tech industry, including 20 years in Greater China. Prior to HTC, he was a serial entrepreneur, having founded four venture-backed startups in the mobile and internet spaces, covering mobile social, adtech, search, AI, big data and digital media. Additionally, he has held $100+ million P&L roles at a number of public companies.
Mr. Graylin was born in China and educated in the US. He received his MS in computer science from MIT, MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and BS in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, where he did research in VR and AI over two decades ago. Mr. Graylin is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Boston Children's Hospital
Clinical Director of Innovation for the Inpatient Medical Programs
Boston Children’s Hospital
Kate Donovan, PhD, MBA, MS, is the Clinical Director of Innovation for the Inpatient Medical Programs at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also a member of the Immersive Design Systems XR development team at Boston Children’s Hospital, founder of the CAITLYNN Program, and co-founder of Hacking Pediatrics, an annual pediatric focused healthcare hackathon with international reach and recognition. Dr. Donovan is a serial idea generator and has a deep interest in exploring pain points to help deliver enchanting solutions to improve the patient and family experience as well as operational efficiency for clinicians. She has been instrumental in bringing immersive technologies to Boston Children’s Hospital and has been creating and designing solutions as well as researching its use with the pediatric patient population for the past 10 years. Dr. Donovan is a sought after influencer, sharing her expertise with prominent organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s National Health System, Apple, and NASA. She is passionate about sharing knowledge and encouraging children living in underserved communities to pursue careers in STEM related fields. She is a mentor and STEM educator for multiple organizations in the Greater Boston area including YouthCITIES, Boston Children’s Hospital Teen Advisory Committee, Boston Public Schools, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America, Technovation and Generation Citizen that all provide opportunities, education and leadership skills for inner city children. Dr. Donovan received her PhD from MIT and focused her research on the complexities of integrating data from consumer healthcare applications into clinical care management.
Luxsonic
Co-Founder and CEO
Luxsonic
Mike is the co-founder and CEO of Luxsonic Technologies where he leads a growing team of healthcare industry leaders, medical professionals, and expert software developers. Luxsonic’s mission is to improve global access to healthcare through immersive technology. They empower the healthcare industry by providing affordable, easily distributed, and immersive software tools that improve medical education, hands-on training, and virtual healthcare delivery. In 2020, Luxsonic was named one of the Top 20 most innovative early-stage companies in Canada by the Canadian Innovation Exchange.
In addition to leading Luxsonic, he is also a multidisciplinary scientist and enthusiastic mentor. Mike received his PhD in Physics from the University of Waterloo and holds an Adjunct Professorship in Medical Imaging at the University of Saskatchewan. He has co-authored over 35 academic publications in fields ranging from astrophysics to radiology. His current research group focuses on the development, evaluation, and integration of innovative technologies in medical imaging.
Mike firmly believes that technology, applied with the intent of bettering humanity, can be a dramatic force of positive change in our society. This belief has guided him throughout his career and ultimately led to the creation of Luxsonic.
Vital Start Health
Founder and CEO
Vital Start Health
Kirthika is the Founder & CEO of Vital Start Health, a University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Center for Innovation early-stage startup developing the first clinically guided, personalized, equitable reproductive & maternity mental health platform using Virtual Reality. She has extensive experience across business and technology in healthcare, telecommunications, and cybersecurity. She has won numerous awards and honors, including Outstanding Leadership in Healthcare award, is a DARPA award recipient and a strategic thought leader with an R&D background. Kirthika has a Master’s in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis and an Executive Master’s in Technology Management from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Wharton School of Business. She loves to read, sing, play with her dog and volunteer for wellness initiatives in the community.
Penumbra
Vice President, Health and Market Outcomes Research
Penumbra Inc.
Brendon Hale, Ph.D. is the Vice President, Health and Market Outcomes Research for Penumbra Inc. In his current role he is responsible for ensuring that clinical and market research support strategic immersive healthcare product development. He does this by partnering with academic and industry leaders to ensure the evidence generated with digital technologies and therapies support full spectrum healthcare. Previously he led the Digital Therapeutics (DTx) research team at OptumLabs where he was responsible for developing research and product roadmaps which supported optimizing use of DTx technologies and devices in healthcare. His academic background is in Human Performance and Neuroscience. He has applied this expertise to lead the development of national health and wellness programs, to design science-based behavior change approaches for use in DTx, and to develop patented personalization algorithms for use in immersive healthcare. All of his efforts are directed to ensuring that DTx technologies are adopted in healthcare and that these technologies provide value to patients, caregivers, providers, hospital systems, and learning organizations.
AthenaDAO
Obstetrician/Gynecologist
Dr. Melissa Walsh is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist from NYC where she completed residency training and practiced for over 10 years in public health institutions as a frontline provider and assistant clinical professor at Montefiore Medical Center and New York University – NYC H+H Bellevue and Gouverneur Health. During her time at the nation’s largest municipal healthcare system, she led several women’s health patient education initiatives and was awarded one of 25 NYC Health + Hospital’s Doctor of the Year honors in 2018.
Dr. Walsh entered the Web3 space in 2021 while supporting her husband, Spottie WiFi, a notable Web3 musician. As part of Web3’s decentralized science (DeSci) community, she has become an advocate for the use of blockchain technology to transform the healthcare system and refocus medical care on the patient-clinician team and the trust needed for that relationship. Most recently, she has spoken on DeSci panels at NFT London and Miami’s NFT Basel conferences, Metaverse Miami and Web3Summits.
Dr. Walsh is a member of the Humanitarian Physicians Empowerment Community (HPEC), a decentralized network leveraging blockchain technology to authenticate licensing, credentials, and referrals for medical professionals. She is a physician contributor with AthenaDAO, a DeSci community of researchers, funders, & advocates working to advance women’s health research, education, and funding. Additionally, she is a founding member of the American Medical Extended Reality Association (AMXRA).
Penn Medicine
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
Chief, Division of Neuropsychology
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology, Chief of the Division of Neuropsychology, and Director of Cognitive Fitness Programs at the Penn Memory Center. Dr. Mechanic-Hamilton Co-Leads the Clinical Core of the Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Center and the Alzheimer’s Disease/Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) Pilot Core of the Penn Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Healthy Aging (PennAITech). She earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology from Drexel University. She completed her internship at Brown University and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Mechanic-Hamilton’s research and clinical work focuses on integrating technology into neuropsychological assessment and cognitive and behavioral intervention in patients with cognitive impairment, with an emphasis on early detection and intervention in individuals living with AD/ADRD.
NYC Health + Hospitals
Director of HCPPA
NYC Health + Hospitals
Ms. Kandis McLean has been a maternal child nurse for over a decade and is a Family Nurse practitioner. Her background focuses on high risk Intrapartum, antepartum, and postpartum care. She has Masters in Nursing education and is concurrently certified in electronic fetal monitoring and obstetrical inpatient OB. Ms. McLean is currently, a nurse educator on the Maternal Mortality Reduction Program with the NYCHHC Simulation center to educate obstetrical teams on promoting safe care management and early intervention for obstetrical patients.
Gift of Life Donor Program
Clinical Staff Educator
Clinical Staff Development
Gift of Life Donor Program
Andrea Reynolds is a Clinical Staff Educator with the Gift of Life Donor Program, the federally designated OPO that serves the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has more than 15 years of experience in the field of organ and tissue donation. Andrea is part of the team responsible for the development and implementation of the training curriculum for Gift of Life’s clinical staff. She has presented at national forums on educating the donation professional. Andrea is responsible for discovering, developing, and testing new educational technologies and software that improve learner interaction and address the complex challenges of the 21st-century educational landscape. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Impact Venture Capital
Venture Partner
Impact Venture Capital
Jonathan is a Venture Partner at Impact Venture Capital a California based Seed and Series A investor, with a variety of early stage investments in the immersive space. At Impact, Jonathan focuses on HealthTech and XR. He has had a distinguished career in finance working such notable firms as JPMorgan, AngeloGordon and Arbiter Partners as well as his own firm, Carmel Asset Management. He has also spent time as a technology executive for the advanced AI firm Collective[i].
SinDyXR
Founder
SinDyXR
Charles is a Producer of everything from film, theatre, games and now, XR. His current venture is to Seamlessly Integrate the Dynamics of Xtended Reality (SInDyXR, inc) to address his struggle with sustainable weight loss and heart health. Utilizing popular gaming platforms, his new apps engage patients and connect them to their medical support team in the best space when they want them. Optimizing Virtual, Augmented as well as Fysical Reality tech, physicians, nutritionists and coaches are meeting their patients where they are...at home with SInDy thru XR. https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlescarneykirby2/
National Minority Health Association
Executive Director
Board Member
National Minority Health Association
Burgess Harrison is a leading voice in the field of health equity. As the Executive Director and board member of the National Minority Health Association (NMHA), he brings a wealth of industry experience in homecare technology, electronic visit verification (EVV), telehealth, and telecommunications. He is a co-founder of companies such as StatChek, Inc. and Ankota LLC, and a former executive at American TeleCare. Burgess has also served as an adjunct professor of marketing at New York City College of Technology, bringing deep marketing and public relations experience to the organization. He has worked with PR guru Terrie Williams at her New York firm and has served in leadership roles in major corporations. He is a writer, panelist, and speaker on health equity and health tech on the national level, and has been recognized by Twin Cities Business Magazine as a notable Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion executive. Burgess holds an MBA from University of New Haven and a Diversity and Equity and Inclusion certificate from University of Southern Florida and is a Chronic Care Professional (CCP) and serves on the Board of Directors for Tradehome Shoes. He has also successfully secured funding from AWS and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for the NMHA.
BehaVR
Risa Weisberg, Ph.D. is the Chief Clinical Officer at BehaVR, inc. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and renowned expert in cognitive-behavioral therapy. She is a Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at Brown University. Dr. Weisberg is a Fellow and former member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy. She sits on the Scientific Council of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, where she recently served two terms on the Board of Directors. Prior to joining BehaVR, she was the Assistant Chief of Psychology at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
Dr. Weisberg is an active and prolific research career, having been continually funded through 18 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Veteran's Administration, and other research foundations for the last two decades. She is a frequent grant reviewer for NIH and international scientific funding agencies. She has authored or co-authored approximately 90 journal articles, book chapters, and books. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating brief, more accessible, interventions for common mental and behavioral health problems, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, substance use disorders, and living with other chronic medical problems.
Spatial
Head of Health and Wellness
Spatial
My prime passion is to create digital experiences that help people be healthier, more productive, and happier.
At Spatial, I take the lead in Health and Wellness, working with health systems and digital experience designers to create immersive sound experiences that improve the patient experience and humanize healthcare spaces. Spatial is a real-time software platform makes high quality 3D audio work easily in any sized space - to reduce the stress of cancer care, enhance physical or cognitive therapy, or assist with wayfinding in an entire hospital complex.
Prior to joining Spatial, founded Firsthand Technology, a VR health company that pioneered treatments to reduce pain, treat chronic conditions, improve mental health, and promote better health habits. Firsthand’s applications demonstrate that by engaging the mind and body, VR experiences have the power to inspire us to become drivers of our own health.
At IVRHA I look forward to sharing the clinical applications of immersive audio at major health systems, including data from recent studies.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Chief of Gynecology
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Adjunct Assistant Professor
VCU Health
Dr. Siff is a board-certified urogynecologist, who provides comprehensive medical and advanced surgical treatments to women suffering from pelvic floor disorders.
She is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine who completed training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tufts Medical Center followed by subspecialty fellowship training in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. She is an Assistant Professor and serves as Chief of Surgical Gynecology for the Central Virginia VA Health Care System as well as faculty for the VCU School of Medicine and VCU Institute of Engineering and Medicine in Richmond, VA. Siff is a fellow of ACOG and ACS.
Dr. Siff has a long history of leadership, holding positions within her institutions as well as in national organizations. She built and codirected the VCU multidisciplinary pelvic health program and is now the Central Virginia Site Lead for the National VA Women’s Health Research Network. In addition, she has a strong commitment to education completing a certificate of Distinguished Educator at the Cleveland Clinic and precepts a variety of trainees including medical students, continence nurses, gastroenterology fellows, Internal Medicine, Urology and OBGYN residents.
She has authored many peer-reviewed publications and award-winning oral presentations and is honored to have received several awards for peer-review, clinical excellence, bedside manner, teaching, teamwork and compassion.
She is passionate about Providing and improving quality of life to marginalized populations, particularly women veterans. Advocating for the underrepresented undercompensated surgeons who do this good work in the world. Revolutionizing Surgical Education using Virtual Reality to teach “blind” surgery and democratize training. Interests in Innovation and the multidisciplinary care for pelvic floor disorders. And Loves making a celebration out of everything with her family.
UBC Department of Orthopedics
Clinical Professor
UBC Department of Orthopedics
CEO and Co-Founder
Precision OS Technology
As a surgeon and educator, Dr. Goel practices in the Vancouver, B.C. area as Clinical Professor within the UBC Department of Orthopedic Surgery. He received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba, pursued his residency at the University of Calgary, and completed fellowship training at Western and Harvard University. Dr. Goel has co-authored more than 50 publications and is widely sought as a presenter on surgical techniques and virtual reality based education. This has led to his role as CEO and Founder of PrecisionOS, a simulation software platform leveraging XR to enhance the experience of healthcare providers in order to reduce medical complications and improve patient care globally.
University of California Berkeley
Professor
Director XR Lab
University of California, Berkeley
Luisa Caldas is Professor at UC Berkeley in the College of Environmental Design, Department of Architecture, and director of the XR Lab - Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Laboratory. She received her PhD from MIT and MSc from University College London. Caldas is a Fulbright Scholar and held visiting or teaching appointments at Tokyo Institute of Technology, MIT and University of Lisbon, among others. A licensed architect, in addition to her built work she practiced extensively as a consultant for sustainable building, mainly for large commercial buildings. At UC Berkeley she is a member of the HTC Vive Center for Enhanced Reality, the Berkeley Center for New Media, and is Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Current XR Lab research includes immersive virtual environments for healthcare design, building performance simulation with VR, collaborative social VR platforms, AR-driven participatory design, and 3D analysis, synthesis, and genesis with deep learning.
Cedars-Sinai Health System
Director of Health Services Research
Director, Master's Degree Program in Health Delivery Science
Cedars-Sinai
Professor of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Professor of Public Health
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Dr. Brennan Spiegel is the Director of Health Services Research for Cedars-Sinai Health System and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA, where he teaches digital health science, health analytics and health economics.
Dr. Spiegel directs the Cedars-Sinai Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CS-CORE), a multidisciplinary team that investigates how digital health technologies, including wearable biosensors, smartphone applications, virtual reality, and social media, can strengthen the patient-doctor bond, improve outcomes, and save money. CS-CORE unites clinicians, computer scientists, engineers, statisticians and health services researchers to invent, test, and implement digital innovations for the clinical trenches, always focusing on the value of technology to patient and their providers. His team developed the largest and most widely-documented medical virtual reality program in the world at Cedars-Sinai. He founded Virtual Medicine, the first international symposium dedicated to medical virtual reality (www.virtualmedicine.health), and is currently writing Virtual Healing, a book about therapeutic VR that will publish in 2020 through Basic Books, a leading science publisher.
Dr. Spiegel has published numerous best-selling medical textbooks, editorials, and more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is listed in the Onalytica “Top 100 Influencer” lists for health technology, and is currently the highest ranked academic on this list at #13 in the world. His digital health research has been featured by major media outlets including Bloomberg, the Boston Herald, Forbes, CBS Evening News, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Mashable, NBC News, NPR, PBS, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, among many others. His virtual reality research won the 2017 People’s Voice Webby Award for best technology on the internet. See www.virtualmedicine.health/press for full media coverage.
Beyond his focus on digital health innovations, Dr. Spiegel conducts research across a wide range of healthcare topics. As a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Field Advisory Committee, Dr. Spiegel advises on how to conduct high quality clinical trials. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Hearst Foundation, Veterans Administration and the California Initiative for the Advancement of Precision Medicine. Dr. Spiegel is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology – a leading peer-reviewed medical journal. A prolific speaker, Dr. Spiegel is frequently invited to present on his areas of expertise at national and international events, most recently as a keynote speaker at the Consumer Electronics Show, Connected Health Conference, Health 2.0, Health Informatics Medical Society, Exponential Medicine, and the American Psychiatric Association. He practices clinical medicine and maintains an academic teaching practice at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.
CABHI
VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH, BAYCREST HEALTH SCIENCES
SANDRA A. ROTMAN CHAIR IN COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND SENIOR SCIENTIST, ROTMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
MANAGING DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR AGING & BRAIN HEALTH INNOVATION
PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOUR, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY
Override
The Honorable David J. Shulkin, MD
The Honorable Dr. David J. Shulkin was the ninth Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in the Trump Administration and VA’s Under Secretary of Health in the Obama Administration. As such, Secretary Shulkin was the only member of the Cabinet to have served both Presidents and to have been confirmed by the US Senate by a vote of 100-0.
Secretary Shulkin is a widely respected healthcare executive having served as chief executive of leading hospitals and health systems including Beth Israel in New York City, Morristown Medical Center in Northern NJ and currently he serves as Executive Vice President at Sanford Health one of the country’s largest rural healthcare systems.
Secretary Shulkin is a board-certified internist. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, his internship at Yale University School of Medicine, and a residency and Fellowship in General Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Medical Center. He received advanced training in outcomes research and economics as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
Over his career Secretary Shulkin has been named “One Hundred Most Influential People in American Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare. He continues to advocate on behalf of the country’s veterans by serving on the board of numerous nonprofits that serve veterans, is the host of the popular Policy Vets Podcast, and is the author of the recent book, “It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Serve Your Country: Our Broken Government and the Plight of Veterans”.
Follow @DavidShulkin
University of Miami
Resident Physician
University of Miami
Dr. Sneha Kolla, MD is a 3rd-year categorical general surgery resident at the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics – Holy Cross Program. She became involved with Virtual Reality (VR) during medical school after realizing her keen interest in anatomy and surgery. Along with her mentor and anatomy professor, Dr. Evan Goldman, she conducted research on teaching anatomical
structures to medical students using cadaveric prosections and a 3-dimensional drawing tool in
a virtual environment. At present, she continues to work on publishing her work regarding the
benefits of VR for learning anatomy in medical school and hopes to incorporate this technology
in surgical training as well. She eventually plans on pursuing a vascular surgery fellowship after
completing her residency.
Penn State College of Medicine
Director of Education in Human Structure
Research - Virtual Reality Anatomy
Penn State College of Medicine
XR Cadaveric Model Content Developer
Medicalholodeck
Chair: Clinical Anatomical Terminology Standing Committee
American Association of Clinical Anatomists
University of Southern California
Chief Science Officer
Cognitive Leap Solutions
Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer
Virtual Psychedelics
Director of Medical Virtual Reality, Institute for Creative Technologies
Research Professor and Scientist
University of Southern California
Albert “Skip” Rizzo is a clinical psychologist and Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. He is also a Research Professor with the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and at the USC Davis School of Gerontology. Over the last 20 years, Rizzo has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on PTSD, TBI, Autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other clinical conditions. In spite of the diversity of these clinical R&D areas, the common thread that drives all of his work with digital technologies involves the study of how interactive and immersive Virtual Reality simulations can be usefully applied to address human healthcare needs beyond what is possible with traditional 20th Century tools and methods. In his spare time, he plays rugby, listens to music, rides his motorcycle and thinks about new ways that VR can have a positive impact on clinical care by dragging the field of psychology, kickin’ and screamin’ into the 21st Century.
TRIPP
CEO and Founder
TRIPP
Nanea brings over 15 years experience in digital distribution, video game technologies and mobile application development. Nanea Reeves is the CEO & Co-Founder of TRIPP, a new start-up focused on creating mood altering experiences in VR.
Prior to founding TRIPP, Nanea was President & COO of TextPlus, one of the top mobile communications applications on iOS and Android platforms.
Before joining TextPlus, Nanea was the COO of Machinima, an online video network focused on video games. Nanea has also served as Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Gaikai, a cloud gaming company acquired by Sony Playstation. Previous to Gaikai, Nanea was SVP/COO, Global Online for Electronic Arts, and SVP of Enabling Technologies of JAMDAT Mobile, a mobile games company that EA acquired in 2006.
Nanea is very committed to supporting the evolution of the technology sector in Los Angeles and has worked as an Advisor and Angel Investor with many exciting So-Cal start-ups including Oculus, All Day, Haku, and Saucey.
Microsoft
Global Chief Medical Officer & VP of Healthcare, Worldwide Commercial Business (WCB)
Microsoft
Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health
Stanford University
Governing Committee Member
National Evaluation System for Health Technology Coordinating Center (NESTcc)
Executive Leadership Board, Center for Digital Health
AdvaMed
Executive Board Member
Healthwise
Since August 2019, I have served as Chief Medical Officer & VP Healthcare for Microsoft's Worldwide Commercial Business (WCB).
+ Our goal is to demonstrate how a large-scale data-driven approach will lead to smarter decision-making, more proactive care, and improved health outcomes and lower costs for patients and populations.
+ Our focus is on healthcare data interoperability, involving traditional data sets (EHR, claims) along with newer ones (biosensors, patient-reported outcomes, social determinants of care, “-omics”), and the maturation of a healthcare cloud-based platform that is secure, scalable, & intelligent.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Clinical Education and Technology Development Consultant
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Faculty
New School
Doctoral Student
Thomas Jefferson University
Christina Blackburn is a second-year population health science doctoral student at Thomas Jefferson University. She received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University Bloomington in Public Health and her Master of Science in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University. Christina is originally from Philadelphia but has been a New York City resident since the summer of 2022.
Christina won three major healthcare innovation awards from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2020 and 2021 for her research and early-stage work on intervening in violence against women and children through emergency medicine. She has now extended her work to address first responders and all medical teams' unique needs when caring for this vulnerable population. Her research centers around developing precision educational experiences and innovative support for those working daily on the frontline of this chronic public health crisis.
Neo Auvra
Founder and CEO
Neo Auvra
Tarcan Kiper is the co-founder and CEO of Neo Auvra Corp., a high-tech firm developing products and solutions for Neuroscience based Health and Performance Optimization. Inspired by Tarcan’s more than 30 years of experience in 3D simulation and VR applications for military, defense and aerospace markets, Neo Auvra offers an advanced VR, AR, XR and biometrics platform enabling precise actionable guidance for optimized brain function and overall health converging cognitive, emotional, physical and metabolic factors.
Tarcan has been an active lecturer, speaker and author regarding Digital Health, Digital Twin, Virtual Engineering and Virtual Prototyping technologies. He has MSc in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) and BSc in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey). He is a science fiction, cyberpunk and space flights enthusiast, and an Ironman triathlete.
Umass Chan Medical School
Assistant Professor
Umass Chan Medical School
Co-founder of InovaXR lab
Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
IRC Enterprise Scholar, UCD
sponsored by Microsoft
Dr Julie LeMoine has a PhD in Applied XR in Health and Wellbeing from the University College Dublin, where she was an Irish Research Council Enterprise Scholar. She has worked in applied XR and 3D gaming for the past two decades creating and delivering more than 30 XR/3D gaming strategies, pilots, and services across a diverse set of industries, focused on improved outcomes in health and wellbeing; distributed teaming; distance, hybrid and self-guided learning; improved quality of life and other specific use cases such as onboarding and vocational training. Dr LeMoine is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurobehavioral Technology at UMass Chan Medical School at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, in the Dept. of Psychiatry. She is the co-founder and director of their InovaXR Lab and is the XR-Ed Faculty lead for the medical school’s simulation center, iCELS. Dr LeMoine moved into academia after co-founding 5 software startup, to promote rigorous scientific proof that applied XR can improved outcomes. Her PhD field research established new knowledge in the use of AR to reduce the impact of everyday life challenges for Autistic teens and young adults and was grounded in Inclusive Design Theory. Dr LeMoine continues to consult and create solutions outside of academia as the Chief Innovation Officer at HorizonIRs and My Diji Helper, Inc. She helped found Women in VR and medVR, and in 2018 was voted one of the top women in VR. Prior to her XR work, Dr LeMoine spent 15 years in software innovations, global architectures, and computer security working on projects such as the NASA Space Shuttle payload systems and Internet security protocols. She has an undergraduate degree in computer science with mathematics. Dr LeMoine is wildly passionate about the impact applied XR and 3D gaming can deliver to the health and wellbeing of all.
Michigan State University
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Michigan State University
Dr James Clarkson MD (MBBS, MSc, FRCS (Plast), FRCSC) is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Michigan State University and our Chief Medical officer. He was trained as a Plastic Surgeon in the United Kingdom, followed by a Hand Fellowship at the Christine Kleinert Institute Louisville Kentucky. He has been faculty at the Department of Surgery at MSU since 2010. Since 2016 he has been using VR to enable his office hand surgeries under local anesthesia and conducted a successful trial of this process using commercially available material. Driven by the need for a streamlined medical VR system that could deliver more tailor-made experiences for his patients he looked outside of medicine and approached industry for a solution.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Professor, Director of Virtual Reality Lab and Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress
Weill Cornell Medical College
Dr. JoAnn Difede is currently serving as Principal Investigator of a Department of Defense clinical trial contract entitled, “Enhancing Exposure Therapy for PTSD: Virtual Reality and Imaginal Exposure with a Cognitive Enhancer,” which is investigating how the use of virtual reality may help accelerate recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder among our nation’s service members. She has served as Principal Investigator of several NIH-funded treatment studies concerning the development of innovative treatments for PTSD following various traumas including burns, terrorism, and natural disasters. Dr. Difede has been a consultant on several grants in which her role was to develop a manualized treatment protocol and to train and supervise the clinicians who deliver this treatment, including two Office of Naval Research grants: “Use of Virtual Reality War Fighter scenarios with Returning Gulf War and Afghanistan Combatants experiencing symptoms of Acute Stress Response and PTSD” and “The ViRTICo-BP Trial: Virtual Reality Therapy and Imaging in Combat Veterans with Blast Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” headed by Colonel Michael Roy, M.D. She currently serves as a consultant on an Army Research Office grant: “SimCoach: Promoting Healthcare Outreach and Advocacy with Virtual Humans” led by Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D., and for a USAMRMC grant: “Comparing Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy to Prolonged Exposure in the treatment of soldiers with PTSD” headed by Colonels Gregory Gahm, Ph.D., and Gregory Reger, Ph.D., which tests virtual reality enhanced exposure therapy for the treatment of PTSD in U.S. military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Additionally, Dr. Difede and the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress have been awarded a Welcome Back Veterans grant from the McCormick Foundation that allows the Program to offer a range of free mental health services to service members and military families. Dr. Difede previously established a program at Weill Cornell to screen and treat thousands of civilians and disaster workers following the WTC attacks; a program that continues to serve the community today.
Dr. Difede has served as a scientific peer reviewer for the NIH and the Department of Defense, among others. She is currently serving terms as a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Traumatic Stress and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Anxiety Disorders Association.
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Dean
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Mark S. Cohen, MD, FSSO, FACS, is Dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine - the world’s first engineering based medical school - at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Carle Health. He is also Professor of Surgery and Biomedical and Translational Sciences in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Professor of Bioengineering in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a member of the Cancer Center of Illinois and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at UIUC. Dean Cohen holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering and M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is a Fellow of the Society of Surgical Oncology. He has held several national leadership positions in surgical societies and is a founding member and program co-lead of the international Holomedicine Association and currently is Chair of the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Emerging Surgical Technology and Education. Dean Cohen is a practicing Surgical Oncologist treating patients with advanced endocrine malignancies as well as melanomas. He has run an NIH R01-funded translational oncology laboratory for the last 15 years working on developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics for the treatment and staging of advanced cancers as well as new programs in tissue engineering, AI and machine learning in health care decision-making, and use of extended reality technologies in teaching, skills development, and health-care delivery. He developed several educational programs in Innovation and entrepreneurship for medical students, residents, and faculty as well as co-founding five start-up companies to improve the care of surgical patients. He has mentored over 200 faculty, residents, and students on surgical innovation projects, advised numerous startups and delivered over 100 invited national and international talks, published over 120 original scientific articles, 13 book chapters, as well as a textbook on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in academic medicine.
Ulster University
PhD Researcher
Ulster University
Siobhan Murtagh is a P.h.D Researcher at the School of Education at Ulster University. Her research area of interest is the use of virtual reality with children with Autism. Her work recently has focused on designing, co-producing, and small-scale testing a Virtual Reality tool to assist learners with Autism during their transition from primary school to post-primary school and exploring the barriers and opportunities of this tool in reducing transition-associated anxiety through the virtual familiarity of new places.
Prior to this, Siobhan was Head of Humanities and Geography teacher in a High School in England. She holds a bachelor's degree in Geography with International Development from Ulster University and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (Geography) from Ulster University.
Siobhan is passionate about the future of virtual technologies and believes that they will play a vital future role in reducing anxiety for integration into mainstream settings for children with Autism.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Assistant Professor Radiation Oncology
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Gary Lewis, M.D., is a graduate of Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and completed his internship at the Crozer Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pennsylvania. He served as chief resident at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, where his residency included rotations at both MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Medical Hospital, both in Houston. In 2019, he joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) where he serves in the Department of Radiation Oncology as the Chief of the Head & Neck Cancer Service, Gynecologic Cancer Service, and Hematologic Cancer Service. His research focuses on using advanced technologies/techniques to improve patient outcomes, experience, and quality of life.
Stanford University School of Medicine
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford University School of Medicine
Margot Paul graduated from the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium in 2022, where she won the award for Outstanding Overall Student (2021). She completed her clinical psychology doctoral internship at the Sepulveda VA in Los Angeles. She is currently a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine, where she is continuing her research on using VR as a method of engaging in behavioral activation for individuals with depression. Dr. Paul began her VR work in 2017 after joining Dr. Kim Bullock’s Virtual Reality-Immersive Technology Clinic & Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. For her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Paul designed a feasibility study and three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial to examine the feasibility of using a VR headset as a way to administer behavioral activation therapy for participants with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. She presented her research findings as a speaker at Shift Medical 2021: Virtual Medical XR Congress and Expo (2021) and at Stanford Psychiatry Grand Rounds (2022). Dr. Paul also won the Cheryl Koopman Dissertation of the Year Award. Dr. Paul has worked and consulted with VR companies and local Bay Area startups in the technology and mental health space. She has published on her virtual reality work.
Penn Medicine
Vice-Chair for Quality and Safety, Department of Neurology
Director of Neuro ICU
Penn Medicine
Waya Health
President
Waya Health
Dr. Morgan is a board-certified anesthesiologist, and the founder and President at Waya® Health. Dr. Morgan’s interest in extended reality started shortly after completing his residency in 2015. Seeing the vast potential for extended reality in healthcare, he and his team began building systems that pioneer extended reality technologies for patient-centered applications. Waya® is a healthcare technology company composed of practicing physicians and software developers focused on creating assessments, diagnostics and therapeutic solutions to help patients. Dr. Morgan conceived and contributed to the development of the Waya® Health platform – an immersive system designed for the safe and effective implementation of patient-centric virtual and augmented reality applications. Waya® Health has become a company with national reach, used by healthcare institutions across the United States.
Dr. Morgan completed medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY and completed his residency in anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. While at the Cleveland Clinic, he designed, developed, and patented a system for the collection and the environmentally friendly destruction of controlled substance waste. He is currently the perioperative medical director at Watauga Medical Center in Boone North Carolina. He has created educational programs to guide healthcare providers through the process of starting their own immersive care programs and has also advanced educational efforts for residents focused on the use of extended reality.
Santa Clara University
Director of the Brain and Memory Care Lab
Santa Clara University
Dr. Julia A. Scott is director of the Brain and Memory Care Lab at Santa Clara University. The research program partners with external stakeholders--companies, clinicians, community organizations--to co-design healthcare innovation projects for numerous disciplines, from public health to engineering. The primary technologies engaged are in non-invasive brain sensing and stimulation in application to cognitive decline or impairment and neurobehavioral conditions. Successful integration of EEG derived signals into virtual reality (VR) experiences has seeded ongoing development of VR biofeedback applications that enhance the sense of presence and train self-regulatory skills.
Julia Scott, PhD received her training in neuroscience at University of California campuses (Davis, San Diego, and San Francisco). She has published widely on normal and abnormal neurodevelopment as well as brain aging in the characterization of longitudinal change models and neuroimaging markers. She has taught a range of courses in Biology and Bioengineering, including physiology, neural engineering and medical imaging.
Tipping Point Media
Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer
Tipping Point Media
William Garner is an award-winning creative strategist, technical innovator, motivating tactician, and collaborator. He is the founder, President, and Chief Creative Officer of Tipping Point Media (19 years) and Acuity Games, and leads a team of modern Renaissance digital innovators, Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality engineers, medical writers/animators, simulation developers, serious game designers, brand experience strategist, and revolutionary educators.
Tipping Point Media (TPM) specializes in the development of inspirational education, instructional strategy, and cutting-edge interactive designs for multi-million dollar Fortune 500 accounts in the pharmaceutical, medical, and science industries, as well as academic/STEMM institutions.
TPM’s goals:
• Revolutionize Education and Brand Experiences
• Invent solutions that address all learning styles to maximize global learning reach
• Drive technology beyond its limits to transport learners into a “real world” virtual experience
• Design metacognitive concepts and learn-by-doing tools that garner excitement, engagement, and retention
• Deliver solutions that track and define ROEI (Return On Educational Investments)
• Exceed our client’s expectation at every stage of a project’s development
• Develop passion and inspire learners to achieve their goals
• Be the leading provider in the virtual education, training, and marketing industries
Reach
Member Board of Directors
Preeclampsia Foundation
Member Board of Directors
AHIMA Foundation
Chief Executive Officer
RTL Innovation
President
REACH
With over 20 years of dedication, Fran Ayalasomayajula, executive healthcare strategist and technologist, serves the interests of populations around the world to improve the quality of healthcare, increase access to healthcare, and obtain higher rates of health literacy and patient engagement.
As the President of Reach Healthcare, Fran leads with vision strategies and innovations designed to advance and deliver improved clinical outcomes and better population health. Prior to Reach, Fran was the Head of Digital Health Strategy, Worldwide at HP and has worked for PAHO - WHO, CDC, BMS, and UHG among others.
Fran is the recipient of national awards for motivational and collaborative leadership including the National Campaign for Tolerance. She is a member of the Wall of Tolerance, the United Nations Association, and multiple global organizations on population health.
She is a renowned international public speaker and writer. The author of several publications on technology-enabled population health management solutions, including best practices for the successful adoption of virtual reality in the clinical setting. An acclaimed thought leader, Fran engages and inspires audiences through storytelling from the front lines of public health and "How To" presentations sharing approaches to applied innovation and technology-enabled methodologies.
World Economic Forum
Lead, Health & Healthcare
World Economic Forum
Antonio Spina is an Initiative Lead for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Health and Healthcare Platform. His portfolio includes Frontier Technologies and Healthcare Digital Transformation, with a particular focus on immersive technology / extended reality (XR) in addition to artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI/ML) and related technologies including digital twins and Internet of Things (IoT) / smart systems.
The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. Our Healthcare platform aims to increase access and improve outcomes leveraging convening / collective action, strategic initiatives, agenda-setting and awareness raising. The Forum's work on extended reality technology in healthcare is in the scoping process, exploring a wide variety of key use cases and settings as well as barriers and enablers which can be addressed via multi-sectoral collaboration.
Prior to joining the Forum, Antonio was an experienced Project Leader with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and led consulting teams & supported strategic projects for a wide variety of private, public, and civil sector clients across the North America, Africa, and Asia, in addition to global cross-cutting initiatives. Antonio also previously worked in strategy and partnerships at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and completed studies in Biomedical Engineering as well as academic and translational research at The Johns Hopkins University including Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID).
Penn Medicine
Director, Helene Fuld Pavilion for Innovative Learning and Simulation
Penn Medicine
Program Leadership and Initiatives Ms. Brennan relocated to Philadelphia, and after several years of clinical work as well as teaching, she received certification in simulation from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). In 2012, she became a simulation specialist at Penn Nursing and has been working with both faculty and students ever since. In her current role as simulation education specialist, she works on simulation curriculum development as well as integrating simulation into undergraduate course content. In addition to simulation curricular development and oversight, she is responsible for the recruitment, hiring, and training of over fifty simulation faculty per year. The simulation program continues to grow with Ms. Brennan’s innovative approach. Among other initiatives, she has introduced experienced practicing professional (content experts) to the simulation environment which serves to increase realism and create partnerships with practicing nursing professionals in the community. And most recently, Ms. Brennan has collaborated with faculty from both Penn GSE and Sp2 on an accepted grant application for the Penn Futures Project. Their goal is to collaboratively offer an interdisciplinary simulated experience to educate students in the schools of Graduate Education, Nursing, and Social Work on the mental and medical health needs of LGBTQ youth.
Desert Regional Medical Center
Clinical Ultrasound Fellowship Director
Emergency Ultrasound Director
Desert Regional Medical Center
Grant Nelson is a board-certified emergency physician, fellowship trained in emergency and critical care ultrasound. He currently serves as Emergency Ultrasound Director, Clinical Ultrasound Fellowship Director, and core faculty for the emergency medicine residency at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, CA. During his time at DRMC Dr. Nelson has received multiple awards and recognition for his creative and engaging teaching methods. An experienced game and web developer, he has channeled his passion to teach into the creation of novel projects including a science-fiction first-person exploration game based on learning bedside echocardiography and a grant-funded virtual reality emergency room treasure hunt orientation. Over the past four years Dr. Nelson has been exploring various approaches to simulate and improve ultrasound education including creation of an integrated web+VR ultrasound curriculum platform. Currently he is working closely with University of Minnesota’s Division of Cardiac Anesthesiology and The Visible Heart Lab to develop transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography simulators using anatomically-accurate heart models capable of teaching advanced techniques and principles. Emphasizing performance for standalone headsets, gamified feedback loops, assistive techniques, eye-tracking, and real-time multiplayer with voice chat, Dr. Nelson envisions a comprehensive longitudinal ultrasound education available for anyone, no matter where they are.
HouseCall VR
Co-Founder
HouseCall VR
Podiatrist
Brandywine Podiatry
Dr. Ciavarelli is a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), ABMSP board certified in Primary Podiatric Care. She specializes in the field of primary podiatry, with a focus on preventative, orthopedic, and dermatologic care. Her clinical experiences ranges from community care in private practice to facility-based care.
Dr. Ciavarelli is the co-founder of HouseCall VR, an early-stage startup creating immersive patient educational content with the aim to create a universal language between patients and doctors.
Dr. Ciavarelli is committed to the medical profession, her patients, and the greater community. She currently has the honor to serve her professional and local community through various director and leadership positions in the government and non-profit sectors.
Veterans Health Administration
Director, Clinical Tech Innovation
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Group Fitness Instructor
Gold's Gym
Dr. Anne Lord Bailey is Director for Clinical Tech Innovation for VHA Innovation Ecosystem and Immersive Technology Lead for VHA’s Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning (OHIL). Dr. Bailey started her healthcare journey as a pharmacy resident and then pharmacy practitioner for Western North Carolina VA Healthcare System in Asheville, NC. In 2020, she joined the VHAIE team to lead implementation of emerging technology and in 2021 became OHIL’s lead for Immersive Technology, establishing VA Immersive as a collaborative program across the office. She has worked with experts and thought leaders in government, academia, and industry, while co-leading the expansion of the VHA XR Network from the founding five facilities to over 160, engaging more than 1,350 VA employees. Recently, Dr. Bailey was awarded 2022 G2Xchange Change Agent Award and, along with other OHIL Immersive Tech team members, the 2022 Service to the Citizen Award. In October 2022, she received the International Virtual Reality in Healthcare Association’s 2022 Hero Award for dedication to the growth of immersive technology in healthcare.
University of Central Florida
Agere Chair at the Department of Computer Science
University of Central Florida
Executive Council Member
South Big Data Innovation Hub
Member
National Academy of Engineering
Executive Director
Emerging Analytics Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, is a pioneer in the areas of virtual reality and interactive visualization, having created and deployed a variety of technologies that have become standard tools in industry, government, and academia. She is known world-wide for being the creator of the CAVE virtual reality system. She has dedicated a part of her career to transfer research results into daily use by spearheading several Open-Source initiatives, such as VRJuggler, to disseminate and grow VR technologies and by leading entrepreneurial initiatives to commercialize research results. She has over 100 publications as scientific articles, book chapters, magazine editorials and others. She has been awarded over $75 million in grants, contracts, and donations. She is also recognized for having founded and led very successful virtual reality research centers: the Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, and the Emerging Analytics Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She serves in many international technology boards, government technology advisory committees, and outside the lab, she enjoys extrapolating her technology research with the arts and the humanities through forward-looking public performances and installations. She has been named one of the top innovators in virtual reality and one of the top three greatest women visionaries in virtual reality. BusinessWeek magazine identified her as a “rising research star” in the next generation of computer science pioneers; she has been inducted as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a member of the IEEE Virtual Reality Academy, an IEEE Fellow, and an ACM Computer Pioneer; She has received the IEEE Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award and the Distinguished Career Award from the International Digital Media & Arts Society among other national and international recognitions. She had given numerous keynote addresses and has been the guest of several governments to advise on how virtual reality technology can help to give industries a competitive edge leading to regional economic growth. She has appeared in numerous national and international TV shows and podcasts as an expert on her discipline and several documentaries have been produced about her life and career. Currently, Dr. Cruz is the Agere Chair in Computer Science at the University of Central Florida.
Neuro Rehab VR
Chief Executive Officer
Neuro Rehab VR
Advisor
Future Sight AR
Veena Somareddy is the CEO of Neuro Rehab VR, a VR healthcare start-up aimed at building virtual reality therapy exercises for physical therapy. Her accolades include being recognized as a Top Innovator in North Texas, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas honoree, and featured in Forbes and Cosmopolitan. She is also the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant and one of the 10 start-ups chosen to participate in the first Amazon Healthcare Accelerator. Using her many years of research and development experience in VR and AR she is helping to connect technology and healthcare to enhance patient care and rehabilitation outcomes greatly.
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Clinical Professor
Graduate Coordinator
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Following several years working as a lead clinician for the Department of Veteran Affairs, Dr. Hallbourg joined the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Department of Physical Therapy and Kinesiology in 2004 to serve as its
Director of Clinical Education. In 2018 Dr. Hallbourg became the College of Heath Sciences first full clinical professor. His current teaching responsibilities span all three cohorts of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, from early foundational clinical skills to professional capstone. He also serves as the DPT program’s graduate admissions coordinator. His primary research agenda focuses on simulation in physical therapy education with recent investigations examining the impact of the use of standardized
patients and virtual reality.
University Health Network
Collaborating Scientist
University Health Network
Adjunct Researcher
Michael Garron Hospital
Dr. Lora Appel is an Assistant Professor of Health Informatics at the Faculty of Health at York University, Toronto, Canada. She is Adjunct Researcher at Michael Garron Hospital and a Collaborating Scientist at University Health Network, the largest medical research organization in Canada. Lora heads the Prescribing Virtual Reality (VRx) lab which designs and conducts studies that introduce and evaluate AR/VR/MR therapeutic interventions for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers in different settings, ranging from acute-care hospitals, long-term care homes, to community centres and private residences. She received several grants from the Centre for Aging in Brain Health innovation to pursue this work in aging and dementia care. More recently her research has expanded into novel uses of VR for other patient populations and clinical conditions, such as those living with epilepsy, specialized dentistry with stroke patients and low-vision therapy for pediatric oncology patients and seniors with AMD. Dr. Appel has published in premier journals like the American Journal of Medicine, the International Journal of Medical Informatics, and Frontiers in Medicine, she has given talks at Harvard medical school and the Royal College of Physicians in London, and her work with VR has resulted in several national media appearances. Lora is very enthusiastic about creating technological interventions that are preventative, holistic, and tailored to the individual, with a special focus on sensory-health.
Boston Children's Hospital
Simulation Engineering Project Manager
Boston Children's Hospital
Jeffrey Jacobson, Ph.D., brings 30 years of experience in research, engineering, and applications of VR, AR, and XR technology. As the XR Lead at Immersive Design Systems at Boston Children’s Hospital, he develops new training solutions and is building our new XR service line. With a doctorate in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh, Jeff is a cognitive engineer, expert on how people process information. He was one of the first researchers to use game technology for VR, conduct empirical studies of learning in VR, and use AR in museums and educational theater. He consulted for years in museums, architecture, transportation, and health care. His writings are cited over 1500 times in the scientific literature.
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Assistant Dean of Scholarly Innovation
School of Population Health
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Dr. Jennifer C. Reneker is a neurologic/ vestibular physical therapist, epidemiologist, and innovator, serving as an Assistant Dean of Scholarly Innovation and Associate Professor in the School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). Over the past 11 years, Dr. Reneker has received numerous grants supporting her research directed towards the advancement of evidence-based prevention, detection, and management strategies for neurological impairments. When she moved to Mississippi in 2016, she developed an ardent appreciation for inequities in access to specialist care and began developing innovative ideas to bridge this gap. Through the Center of Excellence in Telehealth at UMMC, she is the principal investigator for a Health Services Resource Administration (HRSA) funded project utilizing an innovative sensorimotor testing strategy in headset virtual reality to provide decision support for the diagnosis and treatment of concussion in collegiate athletes. The goal is to develop a telemedicine compatible medical device to extend access to specialist care for concussion in the rural poor, underserved areas of the United States, and in military environments. Dr. Reneker is the sole-owner of a spin-off company, Alter VIST, LLC., for commercialization of the technology related to her work.
Stanford University
Conference Co-Chair
Behavioral Neuroscientist
Stanford University
Walter Greenleaf is a neuroscientist and a medical technology developer working at Stanford University. With over three decades of research and development experience, Walter is considered a leading authority in the field of digital medicine and medical virtual reality technology.
Research Focus:
Walter’s current research focus is on developing computer supported clinical products, with a specific emphasis on applying virtual reality and digital health technology to address difficult problems in behavioral and physical medicine such as Post-traumatic Stress, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke, Addictions, and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
His early research was on age-related changes in the neuroendocrine system and the effects on human behavior.
Academic Positions:
Walter is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s MediaX Program, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and the Director of Technology Strategy at the University of Colorado National Mental Health Innovation Center. He previously served as the Director of the Mind Division, Stanford Center on Longevity, where his focus was on age-related changes in cognition.
Medical Product Development:
Walter has designed and developed numerous clinical systems over the last thirty-five years, including products in the fields of: surgical simulation, 3D medical visualization, telerehabilitation, clinical informatics, clinical decision support, point-of-care clinical data collection, ergonomic evaluation technology, automatic sleep-staging systems, psychophysiological assessment, and simulation-assisted rehabilitation technologies, as well as digital eHealth products for behavioral medicine.
Academic Leadership:
Walter is the Co-founder and Board Chair for the International Virtual Reality Health Association (IVRHA).
He helped establish the California State University Center for Disability Solutions and the International Society of Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR). Walter is a scientific advisor and grant reviewer for the U.S. Public Health Service, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), NASA, and the U.S. Department of Education (DoED). He has served as the Principal Investigator for research projects funded by the NIH and by NASA.
Corporate Management:
Walter founded and served as CEO for Greenleaf Medical Systems, a medical product development company; InWorld Solutions, a company specializing in the therapeutic use of virtual worlds for behavioral health care; and Virtually Better, a company that develops virtual environments for the treatment of phobias, anxiety disorders, and PTSD. Walter was the founding Chief Science Officer for Pear Therapeutics.
Academic Journals:
Walter is an Associate Editor for three academic journals: JMIR Mental Health, the Journal of Virtual Reality in Medicine, and Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
Current Board Positions:
Walter serves on the Board of Directors for Brainstorm: The Stanford Laboratory for Brain Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship; for Cognitive Leap, a company that develops mental health solutions for children; and for Sine Wave, the developer of Sine Space, a multi-user online Unity 3D-based virtual world platform. He is currently the technology and neuroscience advisor to several early-stage medical product companies.
Walter earned a Doctorate in Neuro and Bio-Behavioral Sciences from the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he was awarded a NIMH Graduate Fellowship.
Novant Health
Executive Director
Novant Health Innovation Lab
Novant Health
Paula Kranz is Executive Director of the Novant Health Innovation Lab. She previously served as an "executive in residence" at Novant as CEO and founder of Medi-XR, a healthcare consulting firm specializing in innovation and digital transformation, including metaverse immersive technologies (AR/VR/XR), IoT, AI, Virtual Care Expansion, and Digital Health Solutions.
Paula is a 22-year former U.S. intelligence officer with leadership experience in over 70 countries around including the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe. She has worked in electronic warfare, all-source intelligence data analytics, NATO intelligence units, interagency FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces and U.S. Special Operations Command.
While pursuing graduate studies, Paula became a New York Times best-selling author and served as a research associate at Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership. She also served as Deputy Director of The Fletcher School’s Counter-Terrorism Center. She was a national finalist in the White House Fellowship program, a member of the U.S. Academy of Achievement, and term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was selected by the French America Foundation and American Council on Germany as a Young Leader / Ambassador.
Paula is deeply committed to public service and volunteerism. She is a member of the Charlotte City Council's Bicycle Advisory Committee. She served for two years as an Executive Vice President for Women Executives, as Co-Chair of the Carolinas 2020 Women on Boards initiative, and Co-Chair of the Charlotte American Heart Association’s GO RED campaign and co-chair of the Charlotte American Heart Association's STEM program for girls. She served on the boards of the Institute for Defense and Business, Women in International Security, Carolina Freedom Foundation, Association of the U.S. Army (European), and two NC anti-human trafficking nonprofit orgs.
Paula received a Master’s Diploma in Global Business from Oxford University (Healthtech Innovation). She holds an MPA (Behavior Economics) from Harvard University and MA (International Security and Conflict Resolution) from the University of Denver. She earned a BS degree (Systems Engineering) from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Additionally, she was a National Security Education Program Boren Fellow, studying Arabic in Jordan and Israel. She completed Army Command and General Staff College. She is certified as an International Ombudsman.
Paula is a USA Triathlon National Championship qualifier and enjoys skiing, traveling, and adrenaline adventures.
Bongiovi Medical and Health Technologies
Penn Medicine
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Penn Medicine
Dr. Kassutto’s primary interests are in the development of innovative simulation-based education initiatives, the application of novel technologies such as virtual and augmented reality in medical education, and communication and interprofessional training for all levels of learners. In addition to curriculum development, she is also actively engaged in assessment of these new initiatives through a variety of medical education research studies.
HonorHealth
Associate Investigator
HonorHealth
Partner
Arizona Center for Cancer Care
Dr. Frank Tsai, MD is an Associate Investigator at the HonorHealth Research Institute. He was trained as a medical oncologist at Boston University with subsequent faculty position Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Tsai has been an investigator HonorHealth Research Institute in Arizona which, in partnership with Tgen, is a leading clinical research site for phase 1 investigations of new anticancer agents. In addition to the care and management of cancer patients seeking phase I and II clinical trials, Dr. Tsai is actively engaged in technology that transform patient’s lives. He is a co-founder of Caremission, a data platform that improves research team efficiency and clinical trial enrollment. He is also the recipient of Flinn Foundation Seed Grant to promote translational research.
National Institutes of Health
Head, Health Communication and Behavior Unit
Director, Immersive Simulation Program
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Associate Investigator and Director of Virtual Reality Lab
National Institutes of Health / National Human Genome Research Institute
Dr. Susan Persky is an associate investigator and unit head within the Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she directs the Immersive Simulation Program (ISP). She earned her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she studied at the Research Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior. In 2006 she founded the ISP, an immersive technology-based experimental research facility at the NIH Clinical Center. Dr. Persky splits her effort between providing leadership for the ISP and conducting programmatic research on clinical and public health translation of emerging genomics technologies. She has written and presented extensively on methodology, applications, and evaluation of immersive technology in healthcare and behavioral science contexts. Dr. Persky has presented this work in venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Nixon Gwilt Law
Partner
Nixon Gwilt Law
Kaitlyn O’Connor, Esq. is Senior Counsel at Nixon Gwilt Law. An energetic and relationship-focused healthcare innovation attorney, Kaitlyn provides practical and strategic legal advice with a focus on business implications and what is best for the client's business. She excels at creative problem-solving and balancing risk in "grey" areas for her clients.
Kaitlyn’s experience and areas of practice include digital health, telehealth, veterinary telemedicine (aka, TelePet), direct-to-consumer digital health business models, remote care management, virtual first delivery models, global privacy and security, teledentistry, fraud and abuse, and HIPAA privacy/security. She provides legal, regulatory, and business guidance to healthcare providers across the spectrum of care, as well as early-stage companies and vendors serving the healthcare industry. Kaitlyn specializes in remote patient monitoring (RPM) and leads NGL’s RPM practice alongside Managing Partner Carrie Nixon. Kaitlyn particularly enjoys working with innovative RPM vendors to implement practical business solutions and accelerate growth in this rapidly expanding industry.
After graduating magna cum laude from Syracuse University, Kaitlyn attended William & Mary Law School, where she served as a member of the Business Law Review. She is a member of the Connected Health Initiative (CHI), Co-chair of the Health & Life Sciences Affinity Group for the National Association of Women Lawyers ("NAWL"), member of the Reproductive Justice Working Group with the Law Firm Anti-racism Alliance ("LFAA"), member of the American Telemedicine Association, and serves as a Mentor for Jumpstart Foundry, an investment group focused on healthcare technology. Kaitlyn also provides mentorship for startups participating in the MassChallenge HealthTech, KidsX, and Leap Venture Studio accelerators.
Kaitlyn is based in Nixon Gwilt Law’s Richmond office and lives in Richmond with her dog Milly.
HaptX
Director of Marketing
HaptX
Recognized as an XR pioneer for helping to establish the commercial VR industry and co-founding Wired magazine, Linda Jacobson currently serves as marketing director for HaptX, Inc.
Previously Linda managed VR healthcare research projects and business development strategy for Penumbra, focused on applications in aging services and long-term care. She first got involved in VR for medical applications in the 1990s, while at Silicon Graphics, where she established VR developer partnerships and introduced thousands of corporate, academic, and government leaders to advanced computer-human experiences.
Earlier in her career, Linda was a tech writer who authored the books *Garage Virtual Reality* and *CyberArts: Exploring Art & Technology*, wrote dozens of user-interface and cloud-computing patent applications for Xerox PARC and VR startups, and performed with the nationally touring world-music ensemble D’Cuckoo, voicing a 3D motion-captured virtual puppet.
Since 2015, she has specialized in immersive experiences for older adults and caregivers, providing business development services for XR-Health, Embodied Labs, and Rendever. Linda is an invited member of Sigma Phi Omega, the international honor society in gerontology. She attends UMass Boston as a candidate for an MS in gerontology and management of aging services. She is Director Emeritus on the board of Virtual World Society.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Director of Research, Las Madrinas Simulation Center
Divisional Director of Research & Scholarship
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA)
Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics (Educational Scholar)
University of Southern California
PediaLink Editorial Board Member
American Academy of Pediatrics
Dr Todd P Chang, MD MAcM is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Education in the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southeast California, and works clinically in the Division of Emergency Medicine & Transport at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Most recently, he and his research / development team is piloting a multi-center / multi-national expansion of VR simulation for low-frequency, high-stakes resuscitation training throughout the US, Austria, and Switzerland. He is a leading expert in physician training and assessment using educational technologies including distance learning, simulation, serious games, and virtual reality, having completed multiple multi-national grant-funded studies and over 50 scientific publications. Dr Chang aims for scientific evidence and proof of concept for all technological innovation in healthcare. He is the academic scholarship side of the current efforts with Dr Josh Sherman to implement VR at CHLA and with the healthcare provider community.
Moffitt Cancer Center
Dr. Sarah Hoffe is the Section Head of GI Radiation Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center and joined the faculty in 2006. She is a Senior Member at Moffitt and Professor in the University Of South Florida Morsani College Of Medicine’s Department of Oncologic Sciences. Dr. Hoffe’s research and clinical interests include cancers of the esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, bile duct, rectum, colon, anus, as well as neuroendocrine cancers. She has experience with advanced radiation therapy techniques such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), three dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT), stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), radioembolization, and image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) using endoscopically implanted fiducial markers. At Moffitt, she works closely with her multidisciplinary colleagues including GI surgeons, medical oncologists, gastroenterologists, radiologists and pathologists to develop new treatments for patients with GI cancers. She is very interested in 4D PET/CT imaging and works with the PET/CT committee at Moffitt In addition to GI cancers and radiation oncology, Dr. Hoffe is also interested in the integration of novel patient engagement technologies that will improve the patient experience, such as piloting novel virtual reality tools. After completing her undergraduate studies at Brown University, Dr. Hoffe received her MD degree from the University of Vermont. She then completed a transitional year internship at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville followed by residency in radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Hoffe devotes a significant portion of her time to the promotion of medical education. Nationally, she is the Director of eContouring at ASTRO, is on the advisory board for the Contemporary Radiation Oncology Journal, and is a contributor to the Up to Date Online educational site, having co-authored the section on bone metastases. She serves on the ASTRO Education Committee and the HIMSS connected patient committee. Locally, she is on the Editorial Board of Cancer Control Journal and is active at the USF Morsani College of Medicine where she is a coach for the SELECT program and the leadership competency co-director. In 2009, Dr. Hoffe was the first radiation oncologist at Moffitt to be selected as the Physician of the Year.
Emory Healthcare
Research Director of the Healthcare Human Factors Lab
Emory Healthcare
Dr. Mumma received his PhD in Engineering Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019. He is the Research Director of the Healthcare Human Factors Lab, an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, and has an adjunct faculty appointment in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. prevention and control of infectious diseases and the factors shaping those behaviors using high-fidelity simulations of clinical activities and viral surrogates. Understanding these factors informs interventions (e.g., training or workflow redesign) to improve the safety and efficiency of patient care. Currently, he has work sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
University of Pennsylvania
Software Engineer
Department of Surgery
University of Pennsylvania
Daniel Weber BE is a software engineer working with the Department of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from Valparaiso University with a degree in computer engineering, he worked with the Department of Defense for a number of years before joining the University of Pennsylvania to develop immersive virtual reality software for medical education.
Gift of Life Institute
Senior Director
Gift of Life Institute
Theresa A. Daly is Sr. Director of Gift of Life Institute, an international training center for organ and tissue donation professionals, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has more than 25 years of experience in the field of organ and tissue donation. Theresa oversees the day-to-day operations of the Institute and the Transplant Pregnancy Registry International. Previously, she served as Associate Director Medical School Curriculum Office at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Theresa has presented at both national and international forums on educating the donation professional. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business/Management and a Master of Science in Instructional Technology.
XdooR
Co-Founder and CEO of XdooR
“Pre-med gone bad” is the story of this former aspiring neurosurgeon turned artist and entrepreneur of VR for health. A sailing journey around the world in 1993 led to the discovery of his life’s aspiration to create VR content that would allow “the mind to heal the body of disease”. So in 2001 Jeff founded BioLucid, a visual health simulation company and VR development studio. They built the YOU VR platform, an immersive virtual reality atlas of the human body, built to the highest standards of immersion, aesthetics and medical accuracy. Dr. Oz, Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN, and a variety of medical schools employed the YOU VR platform on their TV shows, as well as in the classroom to train students. BioLucid was acquired by Sharecare in 2016 and Jeff went on from there to produce relaxation and patient experience VR applications for Moffitt Cancer Center and more. Upon returning from a 5 year journey (sailing again, of course) Jeff co-founded the XR development studio XdooR, to leverage all the newly advanced technology in the XR field to again serve healthcare institutions and other clients. Jeff will be discussing a VR patient experience that was created during his collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center and Ringling College of Art and Design, where he once served as an adjunct professor, and helped inspire the college to launch the nations first 4 year VR undergraduate art school major in 2018. Jeff continues to push the bounds of XR for the benefit of human health.
Boston Children's Hospital
Director of Engineering, Simulator Program
Boston Children's Hospital
Stephen Wilson is the Immersive Design Systems Director of Engineering at Boston Children’s Hospital. He leads an applied engineering team responsible for the development of physical and digital solutions to improve pediatric care, these include novel tools for clinician training & education; virtual reality solutions for training, therapy, and care delivery; anatomic modeling & 3D printing of devices for patient care; and device development for patient care and care delivery. He previously held roles responsible for medical device product development in multiple global producers of medical devices.
Penn Medicine
Vice Chair of Education, Dept. of Emergency Medicine
Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
Penn Medicine
Attending Physician
Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center
Dr. Tsao is Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and works clinically at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Her primary interests are in utilizing technology to create innovative methods for teaching and coaching medical students. Most recently she and her co-director Dr. Kassutto have been involved in creating a longitudinal virtual reality experience for medical students.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Simulation Educator
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
I help integrate simulation curriculum into the education of physicians, nurses, RTs, and other healthcare professionals. I also hep utilize simulation for system and process testing as well as usability testing.
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Medicine
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Gloria Bachmann is a national and internationally recognized physician who has moved health care to the next level in many areas. At Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, she is a Professor of Ob/Gyn & Medicine, the Associate Dean for Women’s Health and the Co-director of the Women’s Health Institute. She is a respected clinician, a valued mentor, a prolific researcher, and a sought after educator. She has a long history of being the principal and co-principal investigator
on several clinical trials, including federally funded NIH protocols. Data derived from her participation in multiple research trials has added extensively to the literature and to many advances in health care. She was one of the leaders who was instrumental in Maternal Health Awareness Day being first commenced in NJ. In
addition, she serves as the Medical Director for NJ Reentry Services for those women who have been incarcerated. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Perlman School of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Simon Fraser University
Distinguished Professor
Simon Fraser University
Founding Director
Pain Studies Lab
Chronic Pain Research Institute
Dr. Diane Gromala, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor at Simon Fraser University, where she is the Founding Director of the Pain Studies Lab and the Chronic Pain Research Institute. Her pioneering VR work builds on her expertise in computer science and patient-centered interaction design, and focuses on clinic-to-home health technologies for managing chronic pain and chronic conditions. Since the 1990s, her innovative VR systems have been clinically tested in hospitals and clinics across the U.S. and Canada.
Dr. Gromala authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers and an MITPress book Windows and Mirrors with Jay Bolter. Her award-winning work began at Apple Computer in the 1980s and top VR labs in the 1990s. It is supported by the NIH/CHIR, the NSF/NSERC, SSHRC; the Paul G. Allen and MacArthur Foundations, and Canada-wide networks of excellence. The technical innovation of Dr. Gromala’s work has recognized by the ACM, IEEE, SIGGRAPH, AIGA, Fulbright, Canada Research Chairs and Google; and featured in numerous media outlets such as the BBC, CBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Discovery Channel, TEDx and Cannes' Health Lions, to name a few.
Dr. Gromala’s multidisciplinary expertise led to new graduate and undergraduate degree programs at Georgia Tech, the University of Washington, the University of Texas, and she reviews such programs worldwide. Dr. Gromala's degrees are from Yale University, the University of Michigan and the University of Plymouth in England.
University of Central Florida
Pegasus Professor and AdventHealth Endowed Chair in Simulation
University of Central Florida
Gregory Welch is a Pegasus Professor, the AdventHealth Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation, and co-director of the Synthetic Reality Lab at the UCF Institute for Simulation & Training. A computer scientist and engineer, he also has appointments in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and in the Institute for Simulation & Training and is a member of UCF’s Learning Sciences Faculty Research Cluster. Welch’s research interests include human-computer interaction, human motion tracking, virtual and augmented reality, computer graphics and vision, and training-related applications. He has co-authored more than 140 publications in these areas, and his work has resulted in 18 patents to-date, including 10 at UCF. The simulation and modeling expert has received several awards for his contributions to the field, and has shared his expertise in numerous workshops and seminars and on numerous international program committees. Prior to joining UCF, Welch was a research professor at the University of North Carolina. He also worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Northrop-Grumman’s Defense Systems Division.
Hoag Memorial Hospital
Empower360 Endowed Chair in Skull Base and Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery
Hoag Hospital
Department Chair
Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute
Robert G Louis, MD, FAANS, Dr Louis is Empower360 Endowed Chair for Skull Base and Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery and Director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag Memorial Hospital. His expertise includes endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors, sellar and parasellar tumors and skull base tumors. Through the use of cutting-edge neuroimaging and neuro-navigational equipment, he utilizes the concept of keyhole neurosurgery, minimizing the damage to surrounding brain, vascular and soft tissue structures. This approach has been demonstrated to decrease post-operative pain, minimize neurologic complications and shorten the length of hospitalization, resulting in better outcomes for his patients.
Since 2015, Dr Louis has been involved with the development and implementation of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies for pre-operative simulation and rehearsal and intraoperative navigation. The 3-D VR/AR platform is provided by Surgical Theater and was developed based on flight simulator technology from F-16 fighter jets. This technology allows the surgeons to literally rehearse complicated operations in virtual reality; affording them the opportunity to visualize critical anatomy and navigate potential pitfalls. The results are making the operations safer and more effective for patients. Under his guidance, the Pickup Family Neuroscience Institute has become the highest volume center for Augmented Reality in Neurosurgery in the United States and is now nationally ranked in the top 1% of all hospitals for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences
Researcher
Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences
Healthcare Track Co-Coordinator for Google Impact Challenge Program
Riga TechGirls
Baltic American Freedom Fundation Research Scholar Alumni
Baltic-American Freedom Foundation
Co-Founder, Rehabilitation, Research & Development
Digital Health Cluster Latvia
Linda Lancere obtained Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics in 2017 in Riga Technical University. Linda continued to complement her interests in modern technologies and physical movements by working in virtual reality project management and obtaining B.Sc. in Physical Therapy in 2021 in Latvian Academy of Sport Education. The previous experience accumulated and led to the interdisciplinary post-doctoral research in Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, beginning January, 2019 with a title “Design research for user-friendly guidance of complex whole-body rehabilitation for lower extremity amputees by means of extended reality and advanced wearables data processing”. Part of the project was performed at the University of Iowa (2020) with support of the Baltic American Freedom Foundation and the Council on International Educational Exchange. At the present moment Linda is continuing research at VUAS and European University Alliance (E³UDRES²) in the area of wireless sensor/mixed reality/physical therapy field.
Harvard Medical School
Founder and Director, Human Factors & Cognitive Engineering Lab
Director of Research & Innovation, STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation
Co-Chair, Center of Expertise in Medical Education
Program Director, EM Simulation Fellowship
Mass General Brigham
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Co-Founder
Xtory, Inc.
I am a physician-scientist and my research focuses on the application of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning. werable sensors, digital biomarkers and extended reality (XR) to assess and enhance clinicians' performance and improve patient safety in a variety of fields, including emergency medicine, critical care, surgery and space medicine. My research is funded by the NIH, AHRQ, NASA e DoD.
I was trained in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School, in Brazil and earned a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences and an M.B.A in Hospital and Health System Administration. I completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School, developing research in simulation, human factors, non-technical skills, wearable sensors and machine learning.
Currently, I am an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Research and Innovation at the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation | Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, MA, where I lead the Human Factors and Cognitive Engineering Lab.
Penn Medicine
Clinical Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
Medical Director, Global Network Operations Department of Radiation Oncology
Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Treating lung cancer and sarcoma. Developing Virtual Reality/digital technologies for healthcare.
Veterans Health Administration
Deputy Director, Clinical Tech Innovation
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Registered Nurse
Veterans Health Administration
Caitlin Rawlins has been as a nurse for over 10 years, with the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2017, and initiated the first positive distraction-focused VR program for pain and anxiety management in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in her first year of VA practice. She now aids in leading VHA Innovation as Deputy Director of Clinical Tech Innovation for VHA Innovation Ecosystem and co-lead of the VHA Extended Reality (XR) Network. She has helped support the expansion of XR technology use from just a few facilities to over 160 and network engagement to more than 1,350 VA employees. Ms. Rawlins has been awarded the 2019 ANCC Pathway Award, 2022 G2Xchange Disruptive Tech Program Award, and, along with other OHIL Immersive Tech team members, was a recipient of the 2022 Service to the Citizen Award for her work with XR. Most recently, in October 2022, she received the International Virtual Reality in Healthcare Association’s 2022 Hero Award for dedication to the growth of immersive technology in healthcare.
West Virgina University
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery / Director of Surgical Neuro-oncology - Eastern Campus
West Virginia University School of Medicine
Jonathan H. Sherman, MD, FAANS, FACS is a board-certified neurosurgeon specializing in Surgical Neuro-oncology. He obtained his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia and completed his neurosurgery residency at the University of Virginia. Following completion of residency, he completed a fellowship in Surgical Neuro-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Sherman joins the faculty at West Virginia University as Associate Professor of Neurosurgery as well as the Director of Neuro-surgical Oncology – Eastern Division. In this effort, he leads a multi-disciplinary team and robust translational research program as well as a clinical trials program. He has several clinical research interests in neuro-oncology and has published greater than 100 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. He also co-authored the textbook Cold Plasma Cancer Therapy as well as 15 book chapters. He is a pioneer in the use of new healthcare innovations such as virtual reality to improve the outcomes of his patients. In addition, Dr. Sherman serves as mentor and educator to both medical students and residents at West Virginia University. He was also recognized by his peers as a Washingtonian Top Doctor for the past 5 years.
Dr. Sherman has established himself as a national and international expert in the treatment of patients with brain and spinal tumors. He is a member of both the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and has served on the AANS/CNS Joint Tumor Section Executive Committee for the past 6 ½ years. Dr. Sherman also serves on the International Scientific Committee for the International Workshop on Plasma for Cancer Treatment. He has served as a reviewer for numerous medical journals and currently serves as Academic Editor for the journal PLoS-One. He was recently appointed as Associate Editor for Operative Neurosurgery as well as Editor for the newly established Journal of the International Virtual Reality Healthcare Association. He serves as both a Fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons as well as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Sherman is a true clinician-scientist working from the bench to the bedside as he performs translational research in an effort to provide a direct impact on advancing treatments for his patients.
FundamentalVR
CEO and Co-founder
FundamentalVR
25+ years’ experience of building international businesses and has throughout his career sought opportunities for positive market disruption through technological application. It was this desire that led him to co-found FundamentalVR to help address an age-old problem for the medical market; how to create safe, realistic, measurable spaces to learn and develop skills. In his role as CEO Richard is working at the intersection of immersive and haptic technologies and is responsible for building a world class team of medical, learning, data insights and technologist who together can realise the company’s ambition of creating the world’s first global, haptically enabled, low cost ‘flight simulator for surgeons’.
Research Scientist
Scientific Researcher (post-doc)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Braini
CEO
Nataliya is passionate about an idea of creating a partnership between AI and human intelligence, fusion of a machine and a human brain. She obtained her Ph.D in 2015 in the domain of non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) as a part of EHCI team of Université Grenoble-Alpes, France. Most of her projects are focused around EEG-based BCIs in the context of consumer grade applications. Before joining MIT Media Lab - Fluid Interfaces group in 2017, she was a post-doc at Hybrid team (VR/AR), Inria Rennes, France. Nataliya has published and served as a program committee member in conferences and journals such as Nature Scientific Reports, CHI, ACM IDC,Ubicomp, INTERACT, TOCHI, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Plos ONE, IEEE EMBC and ACM AutomotiveUI. She gave 2 TEDx talks. Nataliya worked for the past 10 years on designing solutions to control drones, rolling robots, home appliances using brain activity. These projects were presented to general public and were tested by more than 4000 people in 2015-2019. Nataliya won multiple awards for her work, among which is L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science award she received in 2016. Nataliya was also named as one of 10 Top French Talent 2017 from MIT Innovators Under 35.
Since 2016 Nataliya is also interested in closed-loop systems using real-time biofeedback to enhance and augment human performance, particularly attention and focus. In 2016 Nataliya also created her first start-up called Braini, for consulting in the domains of Artificial Intelligence for Cognitive Enhancement as well as Neuroscience.
At Fluid Interfaces group @MIT Media Lab, Nataliya works on designing and testing novel hardware solutions and paradigms for different applications (such as learning, driving) and user groups (adults, ADD/ADHD kids). Her work was covered in more than 100 TV appearances, radio and other news outlets all around the world including but not limited to: ARTE 28 Minutes, France Culture,France Inter, E=M6, iTELE, Futuremag ARTE, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, Le Point, Paris Match, Sciences et Avenir, Nouvel Observateur, 20 Minutes,Capital, Dauphiné Libéré, Boston Globe.
Mass General Brigham
Associate Chief Medical Information - Digital Innovation
Medical Director - Digital Innovation Hub
Associate Program Director - Clinical Informatics and Innovation Fellowship
Medical Director - Digital Health Implementation
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Palliative Care Consultant
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Co-Founder
Cake
Physician
Care Dimensions (formerly Hospice of the North Shore & Greater Boston)
Instructor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Haipeng (Mark) Zhang D.O. is the Medical Director of the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub, as well as of Digital Health Implementation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Zhang also holds the position of Associate Program Director of the Clinical Informatics and Innovation Fellowship at Partners Healthcare and a Palliative Care consultant at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Zhang completed an Internal Medicine residency and a chief year at Allegheny General Hospital. He is a graduate of the Harvard Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship, the first graduate of the Clinical Informatics and Innovation fellowship at Partners Healthcare, and completed a Masters Medical Science in Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School.
Throughout his career, Mark has held an interest in leveraging technology to improve clinical medicine. He is the founder and co-creator of Palliative Care Fast Facts for iOS and Android mobile applications. This application is one of the most widely used mobile reference applications in palliative care in the world. He is the co-founder of Cake, a venture backed company focused on advance care planning.
He also founded and was the first president of AMIA Clinical Informatics Fellows (ACIF), the national organization for clinical informatics fellows.
Innerworld
Founder and CEO
Innerworld
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate
Vanderbilt University
Noah Robinson is founder and CEO of Innerworld, Inc, a social virtual world and clinical research platform that delivers Cognitive Behavioral Immersion™. This novel transdiagnostic peer support intervention is accessible through both immersive VR and flat screens (Mac, PC, iOS). Innerworld’s clinical approach was translated out of Noah’s doctoral research at Vanderbilt University under the mentorship of world-renowned CBT expert Dr. Steven Hollon.
To date, Innerworld has provided evidence-based intervention for over 30,000 people. After launching on the Meta Quest store in November, Innerworld became the #1 rated free/subscription application that month.
In addition to being CEO of Innerworld and a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University, Noah is also a member of Meta’s Reality Labs Advisory Council where he provides perspective, expertise and insights that inform Reality Labs’ vision for building the metaverse.
University Health Network
Research Coordinator, OpenLab
University Health Network
Samantha Lewis-Fung is a Research Coordinator at University Health Network’s OpenLab, a design and innovation shop dedicated to finding creative solutions that transform the way healthcare is delivered and experienced. She completed her Master’s of Health Science in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Toronto and holds an additional postgraduate research certification. Samantha is passionate about research that uses co-design methodology to create accessible and person-centered interventions that impact people’s well-being and quality of life. As a speech-language pathologist, she assessed and treated communication and swallowing disorders across the lifespan. Her focus at OpenLab is helping to lead the Prescribing VRx projects, which involve designing innovative VR-based interventions for special populations, across various healthcare settings, and evaluating their usability, safety, and clinical effectiveness.
University of Barcelona
Distinguished Investigator
Universitat de Barcelona
Field Chief Editor Frontiers in Robotics and AI
Specialty Chief Editor Virtual Environments
Frontiers
Co-Director
EVENT Lab (Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology)
Research in the field of immersive virtual reality with applications for various types of rehabilitation. A specific interest is to use virtual reality in the science of how the brain represents the body, and how the type of body influences our implicit biases, attitudes and how we think and act. This is put into practice in our company Virtual Bodyworks, of which I'm one of the three Founders.
Cleanbox Technology
CEO, Co-Founder
Cleanbox Technology
Women's Committee Member
Healthcare Committee Member
Enterprise Committee Member
Safety & Security Committee Member
VR AR Association
Advisory Board Member
International Virtual Reality Healthcare Association
Advisory Board Member
AIXR HR Healthcare Advisory Panel
Co-Founder
Reality Dept
Amy Hedrick is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Cleanbox Technology. Her strategy for building a thriving business by solving a real-world problem, and her vision for creating a global impact brand with reach across multiple industries, has grown the company from an idea to a multi-million-dollar global business in two short years. Hedrick brought investment into Cleanbox, and her execution of the company’s vision has established Cleanbox as a brand trusted by its many Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients.
Hedrick is a thought leader in the applications of immersive technology as industry disruptors and brings innovation ideas and product functionality to Cleanbox’s smart tech hygiene product lines. She has led multiple teams from project inception and funding, to planning and execution, proving herself an effective leader in multiple industries over the past decade.
Immediately prior to funding and incorporating Cleanbox in 2018, Hedrick served as Manager of Content and Digital Media for the think tank division of Li and Fung, a leading global consumer goods sourcing and manufacturing company based in Hong Kong. Her expertise includes conducting bespoke research and C-level reports within technology, retail, and cross-genre applications. Hedrick was one of four writers for the Fung Business Intelligence Center (FBIC). It was this immersion that inspired the business idea that would eventually lead to Cleanbox.
Hedrick spent her early career working with international aid organizations, managing multiple teams of 50-150 healthcare, construction, and emergency intervention professionals, and overseeing direct-aid projects in addition to fundraising in both the profit and non-profit sectors. In addition, she worked in the film industry raising funds, managing budgets for content creation and production.
Hedrick currently serves on various VR and AR Association committees including; Women’s, Healthcare, Enterprise, Safety & Security as well as the Advisory Board for the International Virtual Reality Healthcare Association, and recently contributed to a book “VR and Healthcare”, a compilation of thought leaders in XR, published by Robert Fine.
Hedrick has been named Analytics Insight Magazine’s “The 10 Most Impactful Women in Technology 2020.”
Nostra Data Medical
Co-owner
Nostra Data Medical
Shereese Maynard is a technology expert and healthcare marketing visionary. She is the Co-founder of NostraData Medical and founder of AskShereese.tech, a HIT strategy and marketing firm. Shereese also co-owns HIT Like A Girl pod, a community platform for women in the health technology industry.
A top 30 healthcare technology influencer rated by Health Tech Magazine, and a Top 10 Influencer, rated by Pixel Health, Shereese is considered a key opinion leader in the space. She applies her expertise to help healthcare organizations scale and thrive in a 394 billion dollar health IT market. As a sought-after HIT strategist, she advises healthcare organizations, startups, and nonprofits on physician and patient engagement strategies.
Shereese has worked in various roles, from tech consultant to executive leadership. Her work focuses on improving quality, efficiency, and patient safety in both Medicaid and Medicare programs across multiple states. Shereese is highly sought-after as a keynote speaker and panel moderator at major healthcare conferences. She is also prolific, with articles published in Inside Digital Health and Medium. Her areas of expertise include healthcare regulation, data governance and strategy, health IT strategies, development, and marketing.
In addition to her professional activities, Shereese actively advocates for women’s advancement in the health IT sector and physician wellness. She currently serves as an ambassador for Women in Data Science and is passionate about creating opportunities for women to succeed in male-dominated industries. Shereese sits on the Board of Directors for Direct Trust, The Sharp Index, and Evershine Care, Inc.
Engage VR
Managing Director
Engage VR Pty Ltd
Craig Hewat is the Managing Director of Engage VR, a holistic, innovative rehabilitation facility based in Newcastle, Australia. Craig is a Physiotherapist/Exercise Physiologist with over 25 years clinical experience in the health industry working across a range of clinical and non-clinical settings.
Craig previously founded and managed a multi-disciplinary business focused on creating healthy workplaces providing prevention and rehabilitation programs within construction, mining and manufacturing industries. Craig was state manager of a top 5 rehabilitation organisation in Australia that operated across multiple frameworks and employed more than 100 health professionals.
Craig has a passion for “What’s next?” in health and his work with Engage VR and the use of virtual reality in rehabilitation service delivery models forms part of this passion. He believes that technology will play a significant role in future health care.
Healthtech for Medicaid (HT4M)
Executive Director
HealthTech for Medicaid (HT4M)
Adimika Arthur is an experienced clinical epidemiologist and hospital/health system executive who loves to help people better
understand health, wellbeing and healthcare through storytelling, connection and culture. She uniquely brings her population health, focus
on improving health and tech equity and access to quality care for vulnerable populations. She serves as the founding Executive Director for HealthTech for Medicaid (HT4M). HT4M is a mission-based market enabler that facilitates crosssectoral, collaborative partnerships in
health technology nationwide. HT4M is radically changing the pace of innovation in Medicaid through innovative program service delivery,
infrastructure/ecosystem development and issue/policy advocacy to facilitate cutting-edge forums and partnerships for entrepreneurs,
payers, providers, policymakers, advocates, investors and the Medicaid community. HT4M sits at the intersection of where health equity and tech
equity meet.
SentiAR
Chief Executive Officer
SentiAR
Berk Tas serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of SentiAR. Berk has led development of emerging technologies and companies in Fortune 500, private equity, venture capital funded and privately held organizations. Prior to joining SentiAR he led the development of a novel Trans-aortic Valve Replacement technology into CE Mark studies at HLT Medical. In 2016, he played an integral role in the acquisition of Sensium, Oxford UK, a novel wireless monitoring technology. Prior to that he served in various leadership roles at Sunshine Heart developing a first of its kind, heart failure therapy and at Boston Scientific developing several novel therapies and technologies focused in Cardiac Rhythm Management. He holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Physics from the School of Engineering at St Thomas University.
HaptX
Chief Revenue Officer
HaptX
Joe Michaels is Chief Revenue Officer for HaptX, leading business development, marketing and sales for the premium haptics solution that brings lifelike touch to VR and robotics.
With over 15 years of business development experience, Michaels specializes in structuring partnerships for companies on the leading edge of new media including digital publishers and XR technologies.
As Microsoft’s Senior Director of Business Development and Strategy, Michaels negotiated partnerships on behalf of MSN, striking deals with television networks, film studios, television producers, music labels, news publishers, sports leagues and many others. He was instrumental in the development of MSN Video, the first major ad-supported video service on the Internet, as well as MSN Originals, a pioneer of digital video series.
Prior to Microsoft, Michaels co-founded affiliate marketing company Nexchange Corporation which earned 5 U.S. patents. He began his career as a television writer and producer in Washington, DC, and earned his BA from Georgetown University and MBA from The Wharton School.
University of New Castle
Vice President of Clinical Services
Orient Speech Therapy (China)
Associate Professor
Senior Lecturer and International Consultant to China
University of Newcastle
Board of Directors
Trinh Foundation of Australia
Associate Professor Sally is an academic leader at the University of Newcastle, Australia and certified practicing speech-language pathologist. She is currently the Vice President Clinical Services at OST Therapy, a national allied health company, in China. Sally believes in the transformative power of human connection that is enabled through one’s ability to communicate. With a career in the higher education sector spanning 20+ years she is recognised nationally and internationally as an innovative academic leader in transnational education and the preparation of speech pathology students for practice. Sally’s clinical interest and expertise is focused on development of innovative approaches to support people with communication difficulties. Her research has been supported by international and external funding exceeding $3M and has been recognized through numerous university, national and international community awards.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Founder and Director
METACHOP
Children Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. Helen Loeb is an engineer, a researcher and entrepreneur who is passionate about the deployment of emerging technologies in biomedical research. She is the Founder and Director of METACHOP, the Engineering Research Affinity Group of the Children Hospital of Philadelphia which brings together clinicians, data scientists and academics as a way to accelerate medical research and innovation. Dr. Loeb is the CEO of Jitsik LLC where she uses Virtual and Augmented Reality in Driving Simulation. Dr. Loeb has written over 50 scientific publications, she has presented internationally. She holds several patents.
University of Pennsylvania
MD/MBA Candidate
Perelman School of Medicine
Wharton School of Business
University of Pennsylvania
Jonathan Wakim is an MD/MBA candidate at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Economics. He has worked in the Center for Safety, Simulation, and Advanced Learning Technologies developing mixed reality simulators for training physicians and co-led a study employing virtual reality for pain and anxiety relief. He currently conducts research using mixed reality in the interventional suite and using digital health tools for remote patient monitoring at the Penn Image-Guided Interventions Lab and the Penn Center for Cancer Innovation. He is the co-founder of the Penn Med XR student group as well as the co-president of Penn HealthX.
Viva Vita
Carleigh Berryman is an international virtual reality in healthcare expert. She has been a featured speaker at conferences across the U.S. and abroad and is a featured author of the book "Applied Virtual Reality in Healthcare: Case Studies and Perspectives." Carleigh is recognized for her work and history in establishing her company Viva Vita, which has delivered virtual reality to thousands of seniors across the country for better quality of life and mental wellness.
Reimagine Well
Founder / Creative Director
Reimagine Well
Roger Holzberg is founder of Reimagine Well, a company that designs and builds immersive healing programs for hospitals and treatment centers. As a professor at the California Institute of the Arts, Roger created the experience design in healthcare curriculum and teaches the “Healthcare By Design” class. He served as the first (consulting) Creative Director for the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Previously, Roger spent 12 years as an award-winning Creative Director / Vice President at Walt Disney Imagineering where he had the opportunity to lead the creative development for a broad portfolio of projects ranging from multiple Disney World Celebrations and rides to the MMOG Virtual Magic Kingdom. In "classic media," he has written and directed feature films and television, but is genuinely proud of researching and writing the IMAX film "The Living Sea" (Academy Award nomination for documentary).
Personally, Roger is a father; a15+ year cancer survivor; and a competitive triathlete (3 events yearly), using the sport to raise research dollars for causes he supports.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Holzberg
Osso VR
Founder & CEO
Osso VR
Member, Health & Fitness Technology Division Board of Directors
Consumer Technology Association
My passion is medical technology. From an early age I have always been fascinated with ways that software and technology can be applied to help people.
As a Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon I get the incredible privilege to tackle some of the most challenging musculoskeletal issues facing our world's children using the cutting edge in medical technology.
In addition, I run Osso VR, an award winning surgical simulation platform using the latest in VR technology. At Osso, I get to apply my diverse background in technology and medicine to create a fully immersive training experience with an unprecedented focus on hand-based interactivity.
Holy Cross Preparatory Academy
President
Holy Cross Preparatory Academy
Alex Pracher is the President of Holy Cross Preparatory Academy, a title he assumed in April of 2022. Prior to that time he served as Chief Operating Officer of HCPA, during which time he oversaw an expansion of enrollment and programming during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his time as President, Alex has focused on enhancing the technologies that support the academic experience. HCPA now has a Virtual Reality Lab equipped with 14 state-of-the-art mobile VR metastations.
Looking ahead, HCPA is planning to provide academic opportunities that would be difficult to implement without mainstreaming VR technology in the classroom. A major focus of this initiative is launching a medical concentration designed to align the secondary school curriculum with medical programs nationwide and allow high school students to investigate their passion for the field before college.
The future economy will be skill-based. Under Alex’s leadership, HCPA is focused on providing skills to students not just in preparation for college, but for the “real world” that comes after the degree.
Alex is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a Master’s degree from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
GigXR
Founder
GigXR
David King Lassman is an entrepreneur with over 25 years’ experience in the EdTech and Digital Content spaces. As CEO of GigXR, he leads teams across three continents, building and driving innovation in eXtended Reality (XR) learning and training. The GigXR platform is a distribution system for holographic content used in immersive training to drive learning outcomes and for retraining. The platform’s growing catalogue of applications includes HoloHuman and HoloPatient which is deployed in institutions worldwide, including hospitals, medical and nursing schools. GigXR was recently awarded Gold Status in Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Partner Program. David’s first company, Doublestruck Ltd (UK), provided teacher support software products to over 95% of the UK school market. In 1999, he founded Connextra Ltd, a UK-based Internet business providing online marketing and advertising solutions. David has recently been at the forefront of the flourishing Southern California startup ecosystem, founding and supporting startups while growing his fund, Whitehart Ventures.
Curebase
Associate Director, Clinical Project Management
Curebase
Cori Davis is Associate Director, Clinical Project Management at Curebase, an organization devoted to modernizing the conduct of clinical trials. She received her Bachelors in Psychology from Duquesne University. She started her career in clinical research at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh working with some of the top cardiologists and cardiac surgeons in the country, carrying out investigator-imitated and industry-sponsored clinical trials. She went on to work at Krystal Biotech, a start-up gene therapy company, as a clinical trial associate. There, she engaged clinical trial sites, such as Stanford University, as well as the FDA, to conduct their flagship trial for a topical gene therapy product aimed at
helping those with Epidermolysis bullosa, a devastating chronic wound disorder affecting
children and adults alike.
As COVID-19 dramatically changed the clinical research landscape and expedited the adoption of decentralized clinical trials, Cori moved on to be on the forefront of bringing clinical trial assessments into the home and using real-world evidence to support proving the safety and efficacy of drugs and technologies. Today, Cori’s focus is bringing diagnostic and digital therapeutic clinical trials to life in this modern way, having her hand in operationalizing over 15+ clinical trials in the last 2 years alone.
Outside of work, Cori is a strong advocate for school-aged STEM programs, volunteering and mentoring students participating in FIRST Robotics. As an alumni of the program, she
continues to find meaning and purpose in giving back to the organization that was instrumental in the development of the creative and professional skills she uses each and every day.
InceptionXR
VP of Sales and Business Development
InceptionXR
Prior to InceptionXR, while living in Singapore, Ariel led the sales and business development in Asia for Kaltura, a leader in video technology and EdTech, Ariel led successful multi-million deals in Southeast Asia as well as Kaltura's existing customers. Prior to Kaltura, Ariel established an EdTech company that designed, built, and operated creativity and technology laboratories in schools around China. IDEAHUB launched 10 laboratories in leading schools in 5 major cities in China.
Ariel also co-founded and managed Technion - Israel Institute of Technology international school, developing a variety of programs for international students and growing the school from inception to 1000 international students per year. Work at Technion also included developing Technion international activities and branches globally, as well as EdTech and business initiatives globally.
Ariel holds an LLB Cum Laude from the University of Haifa and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Children's Hospital Philadelphia
Simulation Technician
Children's Hospital Philadelphia
Patrick Rodia is a Simulation Technician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), focusing on operations and integrating new technologies to education and research.
Prior to this, he dedicated his career to emergency response as CHOP’s inaugural Bioresponse Trainer and as an Emergency Medical Technician. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership and Management from Peirce College.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Systems Analyst
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Rain Hinkle (they/them) has been working in technology and education for over 9 years. They have a background in instructional design and are currently a systems analyst at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They ensure that technology solutions are implemented efficiently, effectively, and with diversity and inclusion in mind.
Penn Medicine
System Director - Patient Access, Informatics and Rehabilitation
Director of Rehabilitation Services
Penn Medicine
Penn Medicine
Senior Director, Patient Engagement and Strategics Initiatives
Penn Radiation Oncology
Director, Patient Engagement
Penn Medicine
Fern Nibauer-Cohen is the director of patient engagement and business development in the department of Radiation Oncology at Penn Medicine. She created and oversees the Roberts Proton Therapy Patient Alumni Program, which engages patients who have had proton therapy treatment to stay connected with the Center through mentoring other patients, attending weekly Gathering Meetings and providing a forum for connections on multiple levels. She is responsible for the department’s Quality of Life Program which provides integrative oncology services to patients and care givers such as yoga, pet therapy, art therapy and exercise. Fern is deeply committed to working with patients and caregivers to cultivate a community for engagement and providing the highest level of patient centered care at Penn Radiation Oncology. She oversees a number of innovative programs that incorporate video, virtual reality and other modalities that express the patient/caregiver narrative.
Penn Medicine
Administrative Coordinator, Patient Engagement
Dept. of Radiation Oncology
Penn Medicine
Shelley Saunders is an Administrative Coordinator in the department of Radiation Oncology at Penn Medicine. As part of the patient engagement team, she works closely with current patients, alumni (former) patients, and caregivers to build a vibrant and engaging patient community. In her role, she works closely with patients, staff and faculty on the applications of virtual reality for distraction therapy and global education. She has worked as a liaison with multiple VR vendors to train staff and socialize different VR systems to patients and caregivers. Shelley has also been involved in the global proton therapy education program and the production of innovative patient education videos.
IVRHA
Executive Director
IVRHA (International Virtual Reality and Healthcare Association)
Professor
Champlain College
Professor
West Virginia University
Founder
VRVoice, The Social Media Monthly and The Startup Monthly Websites/Magazines
Council Member
AWE (Augmented World Expo) Advisory Council
Founder
Share The Cheer
In 2009, Robert started Cool Blue Media by organizing the first social media conference on the east coast of the United States, leading to the publication of the text book, "The Big Book of Social Media Case Studies, Stories and Perspectives" and shortly thereafter the only printed magazine covering social media, The Social Media Monthly. In May 2016, he launched VRVoice.co, a content vertical exploring virtual reality in the enterprise. In 2017, Robert started the largest annual conference on virtual reality and healthcare with events taking place both in the US and Europe.
Prior to 2009, Robert was the Senior Director of Global Strategy and Development of IT at Conservation International (CI). Robert joined CI in 2000 to take responsibility for connecting all of CI’s forty field offices to the Internet with broadband connectivity. During his 10 year tenure, he built an international staff of 25 IT professionals.
Robert has over ten years of additional work experience as a systems and sales engineer with various companies including CMGI, Hughes Network Systems, ioWave and Raytheon. Robert has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Villanova University, a master’s degree in environmental science and public policy from Johns Hopkins University, and is ABD at George Mason University.
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