Virtual and augmented reality, along with other types of immersive technologies, are rapidly becoming recognised as a new medium for storytelling and game-play - a development that we support every year through the Global Health Film Festival VR Exhibition, curated by our partners Crossover Labs.
At the same time, scientists and clinicians are finding that these technologies have incredibly powerful applications when used with patients experiencing a range of conditions.
With generous support from The Lancet, this session brings together an international panel of pioneers using immersive technologies to connect with patients, teach surgery, treat PTSD, diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease, enable people on the autism spectrum to successfully deal with challenging situations, distract patients from pain and help them use prosthetics.
Panel members include Professor Skip Rizzo, Director for Medical Virtual Reality, Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California; Dr Shafi Ahmed, Consultant laparoscopic colorectal surgeon, Royal London Hospital, Dr Eva Zita Patai, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London, and Dr Ivan Phelan, Research Fellow in Games Development at Sheffield Hallam's Research Institute C3RI.
This session - which we believe is the first of its kind - takes place on Saturday 08 December at 12:00 and is open to Saturday or weekend festival pass-holders as part of this year's Global Health Film Festival programme. It will be moderated by Naomi Lee, Executive Editor, Digital, The Lancet.