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Winter Quarter 2010 Course Announcement
David L. Jaffe, MS and
Professor Drew Nelson |
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| Tuesday, February 16th
Abstract: This presentation will provide an overview of current virtual reality systems and their utility to the field of assistive technology and rehabilitation. Virtual environments have been used for more than a decade in research laboratories and university clinics to facilitate recovery from muscular-skeletal injury, traumatic brain injury, and stroke and to complement cognitive behavioral therapy. Until recently, the cost of virtual environment systems has been a barrier for acceptance outside of the university environment. Recent technical advances in the graphical power of personal computers have provided dramatically increased levels of immersion and “presence”, and this has increased therapeutic effectiveness. For example, simulated environments have been used to treat fear of driving, panic, agoraphobia, and posttraumatic stress disorder. When used by trained clinicians, these readily available tools are very effective in increasing treatment efficacy and reducing treatment time. By leveraging the fact that treatment is facilitated by a computer-generated environment, the new paradigms for therapy open the potential for telemedicine, thus expanding the reach of the clinician, reaching underserved populations, enhancing compliance, and significantly reducing costs. Virtual environments can act as a powerful user interface for assistive and adaptive technology, allowing models of the environment to be scaled and mapped to the users physical and cognitive abilities. Furthermore, virtual environment information mixed or overlayed with real environments (augmented reality) can provide extra information to facilitate interaction and control. In addition, virtual environments can be used to provide qualitative and quantitative information about the utility of assistive technology and adaptive environments, allowing the designer the ability to simulate various disabilities and dynamicly evaluate the disability / environment / design interaction. Behavioral medicine has benefited form the evolution of networked multiuser simulated environments. Using shared virtual spaces and multi-user Internet worlds, clinicians can accompany the patient, observing social interactions, and act as an advisor. Virtual environments can also provide crucial information in the service of impairment assessment and to evaluate a range of interventions. Biosketch: Walter Greenleaf, PhD is a research scientist, trained in Neuro and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and Hampshire College. His current research, writing, and presentations focus on the use of Virtual Reality technology to improve physical medicine as well as neurological and cognitive rehabilitation. Dr. Greenleaf is known internationally as a pioneer in medical applications for virtual environments in medicine, and he has designed and developed innovative clinical products over the course of the last twenty years. He is currently President of Virtually Better, a company that provides virtual reality systems for behavioral medicine, and Greenleaf Medical, a company developing systems for stroke and brain injury rehabilitation. Greenleaf has expertise in medical applications of virtual reality, telemedicine technology, clinical informatics, point-of-care data collection via handheld devices, and ergonomic evaluation technology, as well as rehabilitation technologies. A scientific adviser and grant reviewer for the US Public Health Service, the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the US Department of Education. Dr. Greenleaf was a founding board member of the California State University Center for Disabilities. When virtual reality was first emerging in the early 90’s, Greenleaf was an early proponent, and founded the first of a series of conferences titled Virtual Reality Technology for Disability Solutions. Dr. Greenleaf has been an invited keynote speaker at the American Psychological Association (APA), the IEEE International Biomedical Conference, the annual RESNA conference, and the Annual Occupational Therapy Research Symposium. Greenleaf has presented his research as an invited speaker to more than 45 academic meetings, and serves as a founding and current organizer for the yearly Medicine and Virtual Reality Conference. Greenleaf volunteers as a board member to several nonprofit organizations, as a judge for the Annual Medical Device Design Excellence Awards, and as a contributing editor of the Journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior. Greenleaf also volunteers as a board member for the Interactive Media Institute (IMI), and for the annual CyberTherapy Conference. He is a founder of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR). Dr. Greenleaf has received commendations from the IEEE Society and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and appeared on NextStep, the Phil Donahue Show, Beyond 2000, and CNN as an expert on next generation technologies in rehabilitation and disabilities solutions.
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