MEDIA ADVISORY: When virtual reality intersects with health
Virtual reality technology now is being used to manage pain, to assist people who have disabilities and to provide mental health support for veterans. Media are invited to attend USC research conferences and demos about these topics next week.
**RSVP to Emily Gersema at (213) 740-0252 or gersema@usc.edu
WHAT: The USC Institute for Creative Technologies, the USC Center for Body Computing and thought leaders are hosting a series of conferences and events starting Monday, Sept. 19, and closing on Friday, Sept. 23, that are focused on the intersection of VR technology with health.
The conferences will cover several VR health topics:
- Relief for pain and discomfort
- Assessment and rehabilitation for persons with disability
- Detection and treatment for the invisible wounds of war, such as PTSD
- Advanced VR and Sensing technologies for medicine
- Developing virtual humans to address a range of issues, from training clinicians to helping people with autism develop social skills
The conferences are listed below. Media members who wish to attend are asked to RSVP.
VR Pain
Monday, Sept. 19: This all-day workshop focuses on virtual reality’s role in reducing pain and suffering for acute and chronic pain management, burn patients, phantom limb pain. Presentations and discussion topics also include the psychological pain of stress-related disorders such as PTSD, minimizing discomfort during cancer treatment, and the general advancement of virtual reality into clinical healthcare. This conference is chaired by Albert “Skip” Rizzo, director of Medical Virtual Reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies; as well as by Walter Greenleaf of Stanford University and Jeremy Bailenson, also of Stanford University.
Complete schedule here.
Accepted papers list.
Keynote speakers: Introductions by Christina Spellman of the MayDay Fund (a lead sponsor) and Dave Thomas of the National Institute on Drug Abuse via Skype. Sean Mackey from Stanford University Medical Center will present the lunchtime keynote, and an international group of Clinical VR experts will present their latest work. Among them are:
Location: Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, 506 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071
VR for disability, mental health
Tuesday, Sept. 20 through Thursday, Sept. 22: Papers and demos will be presented across a wide spectrum of VR rehabilitation approaches that address both the physical and psychological difficulties of persons with disabilities and mental health disorders such as stroke, traumatic brain injuries, anxiety disorders, cerebral palsy, and low vision. This is also chaired by Rizzo.
Complete schedule here.
Accepted papers list.
Keynote speakers: Simon Richir, Arts et Metiers ParisTech (ENSAM), the French School of Engineering on Tuesday morning and Roy Taylor of AMD Radeon for the Wedsnesday lunchtime keynote.
Location: Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, 506 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071
The Hidden Wounds of War
Thursday, Sept. 22, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.: This workshop is focused on VR and related technologies that aim to address the healthcare needs of those who have experienced combat-related trauma and other war-related health conditions.
Complete schedule here.
Speakers: Seth Norrholm, Emory University; Michael J. Roy, Uniformed Services University and Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine; Matthew Trimmer, USC ICT; and Albert “Skip Rizzo, USC ICT.
Location: Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, 506 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Making interactive VR ‘people’
Wednesday, Sept. 20 through Friday, Sept. 23: The 16th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2016) is focused on discussions about creating “virtual agents” – VR people. Topics include making VR agents that have natural human movements such as facial expressions, speech, and gestures. They will also discuss how to make VR agents capable of real-time perception, cognition, and emotion, as well as engagement with virtual agents (conversation style, social and emotional companionship), and the use of virtual agents and robots in the classroom in various settings such as counseling, entertainment, medicine, the military, and education.
Keynote speakers: James Blascovich of the University of California at Santa Barbara; Mark Walsh of Pixar Animation Studios & Motional Entertainment
Complete schedule here.
Demos schedule.
Location: The USC Institute for Creative Technologies, 12015 East Waterfront Dr., Playa Vista, CA. 90094
Body Computing Conference
Friday, Sept. 23: The 10th Annual Global Body Computing Conference features Virtual Doctor for Atrial Fibrillation. At last year’s conference, the USC Center for Body Computing in collaboration with USC ICT and six other marquee-founding partners revealed the USC Virtual Care Clinic. To demo the concept, presenters showed an AI-powered virtual USC doctor interpreting a patient’s medical history and providing guidance on care choices all through an app. The CBC has continued to develop the virtual doctor technology, which they will display at this year’s conference. In addition, the winners of this year’s Medical Empathy Hackathon will be announced.
*RSVP to Sherri Snelling at sherri.snelling@med.usc.edu or (949) 887-1903
Keynote speakers: Leslie Saxon, executive director of the USC Center for Body Computing at the Keck School of Medicine of USC; Alex Grunewald of Janssen; Don Oakley of VSP Optics Group; Ed Saxon of Ed Saxon Productions; and Tom Haberstroh of ESPN. More speakers are listed on this site.
Complete schedule here.
Location: Town & Gown at USC main campus, 665 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90089
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