walter-greenleafWalter Greenleaf has been researching medical applications of virtual reality since 1984, and he believes that healthcare is going to be transformed by consumer VR & AR technologies. Walter says that VR is fitting into a number of different healthcare trends including the digitization of tools, moving from subjective assessments to objective measurements, moving towards patient-centered medical care, and moving away from a fee-for-service to a result-driven business model. These are all pointing towards the desire to collect more and more objective measurements, and VR technology has the capability to capture and present a lot of this data in entirely new ways.

I had a chance to catch up with Walter at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality conference where he give me an overview of the medical applications of VR, and why he believes that VR is going to transform healthcare. There’s many different industry verticals within healthcare, and he believes that we are just at the very beginning of seeing how consumer VR could help improve many different dimensions of our health and potentially even help save lives.

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Here are the slides from one of Walter’s recent presentation on “How VR & AR Technologies will Transform Healthcare.”

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

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Kent Bye
  • Goldviz

    We created this awesome VR Experience for Philips Healthcare: https://youtu.be/Kj_7Y6I7lBs?list=PLp1_9P3cU35JaJHIRvzA2kRRIID3wGplh for other projects check out the website http://www.goldviz.nl.

  • Scott Nebeker

    In the coming week, I’ll be bringing VR (by way of HTC Vive, Gear VR and MAYBE a Rift) to one or more Rehabilitation Facilities here in Salt Lake City. People heal better when they’re happy. If I have the capability to do that, I MUST. I can’t wait to see the results. For me, it’s that point where a person breaks out of their box and becomes ‘immersed’ that makes demonstrating this stuff worth it.

  • Gijs Molsbergen

    Great stuff!
    I’ve had an interview with a coah for mentally disabled people who try to live independently. We brinstormed about the possibilities VR could bring to them, after I showed him the GearVR experiences.

    We came up with very low-cost, yet very effective solutions, such as: Having to deal with social situations, finding the route on streets and how to handle an ATM, cash registry and hospital visit.

    Telling him there already is Google Street view in VR, already got his eyes sparkling and talking about what VR could do to make the lives of these people easier, less fearful and more fun.

    Healthcare institutions will go through a big change the incoming years, especially when Machine Learning, Augmented/Virtual Reality and robotics are merged into smart Health solutions. Can’t wait for more examples and insights to be brought to light.

    Thanks Road to VR for this information!

    Gijs Molsbergen
    Co Founder of LAB4242

  • Josh

    Great interview, thanks!