Over the last two years, I have had the fortunate opportunity to establish a productive and collaborative relationship with Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. Nemours has partnered with Aimee Hildenbrand, Ph.D. Pediatric Psychologist, Fred Freedman Creative Director/VR Designer, David Rosario Game designer, and myself to work on developing a VR-based education tool entitled “CyberCell” for young patients with SCD (an inheritable blood disorder) and their caregivers. Professional activities include working closely with SCD clinicians and researchers, patient education specialists, patients, and families while also researching educational Technology surrounding VR Modeling & Environments, UI Wayfinding & VR Game Mechanics, and Medical VR Research in the evolving field of Digital Therapeutics.
The goal of CyberCell is an XRtool to provide evidence-based, immersive, and interactive education about sickle cell disease and treatment options to stimulate deeper learning and increase motivation for healthy behaviors in teens and young adults with sickle cell disease.
The Team
| Aimee Hildenbrand, PhD Pediatric Psychologist & Research Lead Nemours Children’s Health Fredric Freeman, MS Sherman Finch, MFA Corinna Schultz, MD | Melanie Pitone, MD Danielle Morley, BSN Benjamin Bear, MSW David Rosario, MA |
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the Nemours Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders for supporting this project. We also thank all the patients, families, healthcare providers, and design students and faculty who have contributed to this project.