Meet the Minds of vMed26
Explore the clinicians, researchers, founders, and digital health leaders presenting across the vMed stage. Tap any speaker to learn more about their work and session highlights.
The roster continues to grow — check back for newly confirmed voices. Use “See more” on any card to expand the full bio.
This is a partial roster while we finalize the full agenda. Additional speakers will be announced soon.
David Dolby Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry; Founder & Executive Director | Neuroscape | UCSF
Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D. is the David Dolby Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at UC San Francisco and the Founder & Executive Director of Neuroscape, a translational neuroscience center engaged in technology creation and scientific research of novel brain assessment and optimization…
Founder and CEO | Aequilibrium
Dr. Adrian Moise is the Founder and CEO of Aequilibrium, bringing over 25 years of experience in digital strategy, product innovation, engineering leadership, and enterprise transformation. He holds a PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Computer Science and a background in Healthcare with experience as a Technical…
Mayo Clinic - Arizona
Aimen Vanood obtained her bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Arizona State University. She then completed medical school at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in Royal Oak, Michigan. She returned to Arizona for her neurology residency, which she completed at Mayo Clinic - Arizona. She…
Director for Medical Virtual Reality and Associate Director for Medical VR | University of Southern California
Albert “Skip” Rizzo, PhD, is Director for Medical Virtual Reality and Associate Director for Medical VR at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, as well as a research professor in the USC Davis School of Gerontology and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.…
Executive Director | Invincikids
Andre’ has 25+ years experience in non profit program development and organizational growth in Healthcare Technology, Early Childhood Development, Affordable Housing, Resource Conservation, and Historic Preservation. His career has focused on bringing equity to under served and resourced groups. constituents,…
Director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology; Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Hematology/Oncology) | Yale School of Medicine
Asher Marks, MD, is a Yale Medicine hematologist and oncologist and director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology. He is also the director of the adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer program for Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. “Adolescence is tough to begin with in terms of development, finding yourself, and fitting in…
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NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Brendan Keating is an Associate Professor in the Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, and The Institute of Systems Genetics, New York University (NYU) Langone Health, USA, with adjunct positions in University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He received his D.Phil.…
Cedars-Sinai
Brennan Spiegel, MD MSHS, is Director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai, where he holds the George and Dorothy Gourrich Chair in Digital Health Ethics. He also leads the Master’s Degree Program in Health Systems Science and oversees the Center for Virtual Medicine and Health System Innovation, a…
Harris-Stowe State University
Cammie Connor, PhD, LPC is Director of Counseling and Prevention Services in the Department of Student Affairs at Harris-Stowe State University, where she is the therapist and Founder of the Meditation space at the institution. Her work centers on helping college students heal from the complex layers of…
Machine Learning Engineer | Cardiovascular Research Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine
Mr. Chad Evans is a Machine Learning Engineer at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), where he builds mHealth interventions and AI/ML tools that advance digital epidemiology. He is co-founder and CTO of Health eLink, an AI-enabled telehealth company designed and optimized to bring…
Associate Professor, Health Services Research Scientist, and Co-Director of Master of Science in Health Systems (MSHS) Program | Cedars-Sinai
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Daniel Kraft, MD is a Stanford and Harvard-trained physician-scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and innovator and is serving as the Chair of the XPRIZE Pandemic & Health Alliance. With over 25 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research and healthcare innovation, Kraft has served as faculty chair for…
Founder and Chief Medical Officer | AliveCor
David E. Albert, MD, an Oklahoma native, is a physician, inventor and serial entrepreneur who has developed life-saving technologies and products over the last 30 years, turning a number of those innovations into tech startups. Today, he is a founder of three technology companies, InnovAlarm, Lifetone Technology, and…
Clinical Research Coordinator | Cedars-Sinai Center for Virtual Medicine and Health System Transformation & Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
Ella Tetrault is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Cedars-Sinai Cedars-Sinai Center for Virtual Medicine and Health System Transformation & Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Her work focuses on AI, VR, and LLMs in various sectors including cancer studies, menopause education and symptom relief,…
CCO & Co-Founder | AVRwell
Emily Daviss, PT, DPT, is Chief Clinical Officer and Co-Founder of AVRwell, an immersive rehabilitation company developing clinically driven extended reality (XR) applications that make therapy more engaging, effective, and accessible for patients and clinicians. Her team’s flagship product, AquaVision, supports…
University of Alberta
Dr. Ewen Lavoie is pursuing Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency training at the University of Alberta, having completed undergraduate medical training at the University of Calgary. He holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Kinesiology with research interests in limb embodiment, eye-hand coordination, prosthetics,…
Vice Chair for Research and Education in the Department of Computational Biomedicine | Cedars-Sinai
Dr. Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez, PhD is Vice Chair for Research and Education in the Department of Computational Biomedicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she leads the Health Language Processing Lab. Her work centers on natural language processing and machine learning to extract meaningful insights from…
Professor | Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, University Medical Center Groningen
Prof. Dr. Harry van Goor, is a renowned expert in gastrointestinal surgery, surgical education and healthcare innovation, with a career spanning several decades. After earning his MD and PhD from the University of Groningen and specialising in abdominal surgery, he has made significant contributions to clinical…
Research Scientist / Principal Investigator | University of Washington
Hunter Hoffman, Ph.D. is the Director of the Virtual Reality Research Center at the Human Photonics Lab at the UW, and he is affiliate faculty in Psychology at the UW, and he is collaborating with the Univ. of Washington, Seattle, Dept of Anesthesiology and Pain Management. He is Faculty of a Harvard Medical School…
VR/AI Product Owner | Aequilibrium
Isabela Moise is the product owner at Aequilibrium (AEQ)specializing in immersive learning, AI-driven experiences, and digital transformation. She leads product strategy and execution for AEQ's VR Training Academy designing and delivering VR and AI-powered training solutions across industries including healthcare,…
Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology, Co-Director, Extended Reality Anesthesiology Immersion Laboratory (XRAIL) | NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine
John E. Rubin, MD is an international leader in the use of extended reality (XR) in medicine and is a founding member of the American Medical Extended Reality Association (AMXRA). He is the Co-Director of the Extended Reality Anesthesiology Immersion Laboratory (XRAIL) and also serves as Director of Simulation…
Director of Interventional Radiology | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Joseph Miller is Director of Interventional Radiology for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, as well as Chair of the Society of Interventional Radiology’s Coding Application and Guidance Workgroup. He has been incorporating virtual reality into his routine clinical practice as an alternative to anesthesia since 2024.
Associate Professor of Medicine and Computational Biomedicine | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Joshua Pevnick, MD, MSHS, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine. He has a secondary Associate Professor appointment and serves as the Co-Director of the Division of Clinical Informatics in the Department of Computational Biomedicine. Dr. Pevnick is also the Director of the…
Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology | Mayo Clinic
Kathryn Handlogten is a dual-fellowship (RAAPM and pediatrics) trained anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She is passionate about pediatric regional anesthesia, ultrasound use, clinical immersive technologies, implementation science, and practice integration. She has developed a keen interest in…
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Co-director/Co-founder of XRPediatrics, Co-director/Co-founder of Yale Center for Immersive Technologies in Pediatrics | Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Kimberly Hieftje is an Associate Professor in Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, Co-Director of XRPediatrics at Yale, and Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Yale Center for Immersive Technologies in Pediatrics, which focuses on integrating XR and game-based technologies into pediatric care, conducting…
Ochsner Neuroscience Institute
Dr. Korak Sarkar completed his undergraduate studies at The Johns Hopkins University. He attended medical school at University of California San Diego and went on to complete his Neurology training at University of California Davis. He is a board-certified neurologist who completed sub-specialty training at…
COO & Co-Founder | AVRwell
Mai Nguyen is the COO and Co-Founder of AVRwell, where she leads product development operations and helps turn ambitious ideas into reliable, scalable XR rehabilitation tools. She brings deep experience in building efficient development pipelines, aligning cross-functional teams, and supporting products from concept…
Cognitive Scientist and Founder, Mental Gravity | Federation University Australia
Dr. Lachlan Kent is an Australian researcher, communicator, and social innovator exploring how gravity shapes the body, the mind, and society itself. He is the creator of Mental Gravity and co-developer of Biogravitational Medicine with Professor Brennan Spiegel at Cedars-Sinai — a new framework linking physics,…
Co-Founder, President | HouseCall VR
Dr. Linda Ciavarelli is a Co-Founder and President of HouseCall VR. As its visionary Co-Founder, Linda created HouseCall as a platform to further her dedication to the intersection of healthcare and technology. During her career as a healthcare practitioner, Linda has seen firsthand the ill effects of the lack of…
Adjunct Professor and Deputy Director of Innovation | Master of Science in Health Systems (MSHS), Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University
Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScM is course director for AI in Medicine in the Masters in Health Systems Science (MSHS) at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, where she also co-directs the capstone courses, facilitates the MSHS Digital Innovation and Technology Club, and is Deputy Director of Innovation for the MSHS…
President | American Medical Extended Reality Association
Haipeng (Mark) Zhang DO, MMSc, FAMIA, is the President of the American Medical Extended Reality Association. He was previously the Associate Chief Medical Information Officer of Digital Innovation and the Medical Director of the Digital Innovation Hub at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Associate Program Director of the…
HAN University of Applied Sciences
Maurice Magnée is Professor of Applied Sciences and head of the Technology for Health research group at HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Trained as a cognitive neuroscientist, he earned his PhD on sensory processing in autism at the University Medical Center Utrecht. His work focuses on…
Health Tech Exec (Former Chief Health Officer) | Oracle
Nasim Afsar, MD, MBA is a global health executive dedicated to advancing health and care for individuals and society. As the former Chief Health Officer at Oracle, she led transformative initiatives to advance health and care through AI and technology across the entire ecosystem of health and care. She has…
Neil S. Wenger is Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the University of California, Los Angeles and a practicing general internist with an interest in patients with complex illness. He also leads the Advance Care Planning and Services initiative. At RAND, he is a…
Staff Intensivist | Nemours Children’s Health Delaware Valley
Dr Nicholas Kalbach completed his undergraduate education at Ramapo College of New Jersey, and subsequently obtained his Medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine. This was followed by a pediatric residency at Saint Peters University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, followed by a pediatric critical care…
Medical Director of Pediatric Critical Care Technology and Innovation | Nemours Children's Hospital Wilmington
Dr. Slamon completed medical school in 2001 at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia PA. He then completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the Nemours/duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington Delaware. In addition, he serves as a Full Professor of…
Co-Director, Virtual Medicine Lab | Cedars-Sinai
Omer Liran, MD, MSHS, is a physician-innovator and Assistant Professor at Cedars-Sinai, where he co-directs Virtual Medicine and provides expert care through the psychiatry consult and liaison service. With a deep background in programming and a passion for healthcare transformation, Dr. Liran explores how emerging…
Pediatric Surgeon and Children's Director of Digital Innovation | Children's Nebraska
Patrick Thomas is a Pediatric Surgeon at Children’s. He graduated from the School of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where he also completed his General Surgery training. HE completed my Pediatric Surgery fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital at the Baylor College of Medicine in…
Medical Director | Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation Program, University Health Network, Toronto
Dr. Paul Oh is Medical Director and GoodLife Fitness Chair in the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation Program at the University Health Network – Toronto Rehab and Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is also a Senior Scientist in The KITE…
Surgeon, Educator, Speaker, Patient Advocate, Healthcare Futurist
Rafael is a Surgeon, Educator, Speaker, Patient Advocate, Healthcare Futurist, and Immigrant- originally from Caracas, Venezuela. After doing his surgery residency in Ann Arbor, MI, USA, he developed as a General, Trauma, Advanced Laparoscopic and Robotic surgeon and now practices in the USA. His passion focuses on…
University of Manitoba
Dr. Renée El-Gabalawy is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada, cross-appointed in Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, and Clinical Health Psychology. She is the Director of Research in Clinical Health Psychology and leads the Health, Anxiety, and Trauma…
Chief Executive Officer | Sira Medical
Rick Beberman is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Sira Medical, an award-winning company developing augmented reality software that transforms complex medical imaging into intuitive 3D visualizations for surgical planning, patient education, and medical training. A University of California, San Francisco…
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology | Editor-in-Chief, JMedXR | Weill Cornell Medicine
Rohan Jotwani, MD, MBA, is an academic anesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist at Weill Cornell Medicine. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medical Extended Reality, the endowed Laitman Scholar in XR/AI, and Co-Director of the Extended Reality Anesthesiology Immersion Lab. His work explores XR-based…
Faculty | Harvard Medical School
I am a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham. I have a computer science, system engineering, and biomedical engineering background with expertise in human-AI teaming, explainable artificial intelligence, and clinical decision support. My work focuses on developing interpretable multimodal…
Director, Pediatric Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia | Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology | Stanford Medicine Children's Health
Dr. Ceresnak is a Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology. He is the Director of the Pediatric Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital - Stanford. His primary clinical and research interests involve the care of children and adults…
Chief Health Informatics Officer | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Shaun Miller, MD, MBA, completed his medical doctorate and master of business administration degrees in 2006 at the University of California, Irvine, and joined Cedars-Sinai as a medical resident in 2007. He is board-certified in internal medicine and has subspecialty certification in clinical informatics. He has…
Digital Education Content Strategist, Urology | Boston Scientific
Steve Gladish is a Digital Education Content Strategist at Boston Scientific focused on designing innovative learning experiences for urology clinical education. His work centers on developing forward-looking digital strategies for physician education, including immersive learning, video-based education, and virtual…
Vice-Dean and Chief AI Health Research Officer | Cedars-Sinai
Dr. Chugh is a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist and scientist. He serves as Vice-Dean and Chief AI Health Research Officer at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles. He also serves as the Pauline and Harold Price Professor and Associate Director for Predictive Analytics at the Smidt Heart Institute. Dr. Chugh is the…
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
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Head of Health Communication and Behavior Unit Director, Immersive Simulation Program; | National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Dr. Susan Persky is an associate investigator and head of the Health Communication and Behavior Unit. She also directs the Immersive Simulation Program (ISP) within the Social and Behavioral Research Branch (SBRB) at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). She earned…
President and CEO Emeritus | Cedars-Sinai
Mr. Priselac is President and CEO Emeritus, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Health System. An advocate for improving quality and access in healthcare throughout his career, Mr. Priselac developed strategic and operational innovations to foster high-quality, safe and efficient care for patients. Under his…
Cedars-Sinai
Timothy J. Daskivich, MD, MSHPM, is a urologic oncologist in the Cedars-Sinai Urology Academic Program and the director of Health Services Research for the Cedars-Sinai Department of Surgery. His clinical practice includes surgical treatment of cancers of the prostate, kidney, bladder and testis, with a focus on…
HAN University of Applied Sciences
Dr. Tom van de Belt is a senior digital health researcher and advisor with a passion for empowering patients, professionals, and fellow researchers through innovative technology. He has led multiple international projects in eHealth, mHealth, and the use of social media in healthcare. At the Research Group Technology…
Brand Innovation Program Manager | UCHealth
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Assistant Director for the Center for Healthcare Ethics | Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences | Cedars-Sinai
Virginia L Bartlett is a clinical ethics consultant, philosopher, teacher, scholar and writer. She serves as the Assistant Director for the Center for Healthcare Ethics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. She is the author of Elements of…
