Virtual reality for health

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In our next Mobile Health Meetup, we'll explore the potential, challenges and ethics of virtual reality (VR) in healthcare. We’ll be joined by Isabel Van De Keere from Immersive Rehab (https://immersiverehab.com/) and Skip Rizzo (http://ict.usc.edu/profile/albert-skip-rizzo/), VR pioneer, beaming in on Google Hangouts.

Over the past decade VR has been applied to a range of medical contexts. As the technology has become more sophisticated and accessible, its promise to disrupt the field has been hailed as revolutionary. It can transform medical training (https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2016/oct/19/virtual-reality-game-healthcare-hospitals-simulation) through direct demonstrations of surgery and empathy, alleviate pain (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12297569) for burn victims and accelerate physical rehabilitation (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-30/reimagining-rehabilitation-with-help-of-virtual-reality/8397276) for multiple types of injury.

The evening's speakers are each pushing the boundaries for new uses of VR in healthcare, each in different ways. The conversation will trace their vision for the future, the mechanisms that they harness, and the broader risks that they raise.

More about our speakers:

Isabel Van De Keere (https://twitter.com/scienceroadie?lang=en) is Founder / CEO of Immersive Rehab (https://immersiverehab.com/), creating interactive physiotherapy programmes in VR that improve the effectiveness of physical & neuro-rehabilitation. Immersive Rehab was part of the Autumn 2016 cohort of the Bethnal Green Ventures Tech For Good accelerator programme (https://bethnalgreenventures.com/).

A pioneer in the field, Skip Rizzo (http://ict.usc.edu/profile/albert-skip-rizzo/) is the Director for Medical Virtual Reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. His award winning work uses virtual reality-based exposure therapy to treat PTSD. Rizzo is currently examining the use of VR for training emotional coping skills to prepare service members for the stresses of combat.

As always we'll invite attendees to share their views too, and look forward to a good lively discussion.

Agenda:

6:30pm - Doors open for networking. Food and drink provided.

7pm - Panel conversation and open discussion.

8pm - Drinks at the studio.

Live stream:

For those tuning in from out of town, follow the discussion live here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0c3r3vpmQE) from 7pm GMT.

Image credit: MIT startup lets seniors enter the world of virtual reality, The Boston Globe (https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/05/12/mit-startup-lets-seniors-enter-world-virtual-reality/XbaWge6EseufMYu2tZ87TN/story.html)