In the News
Press & Media Coverage
Explore how leading healthcare and technology publications are covering the Virtual Medicine Conference and the future of digital health innovation.
Featured Coverage
Browse our press mentions from newest to oldest. Click any article to read the full story.
March 30, 2025
Virtual Reality study shows promise in cancer pain management
A study reveals that virtual reality reduces cancer-related pain significantly and enables researchers to measure pain objectively by analyzing brain activity patterns.
Read article →September 5, 2024
Becker’s Behavioral Health: Cedars-Sinai’s Virtual Therapist Is ‘Shockingly Good’
Becker’s Behavioral Health recently interviewed Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai, about eXtended-Reality Artificially Intelligent Ally (Xaia), an app for the Apple VisionPro headset that provides virtual conversational therapy and emotional support for patients.
Read article →July 22, 2024
Cedars-Sinai's virtual therapist is 'shockingly good'
Cedars-Sinai clinicians have developed Xaia, an AI-powered virtual therapist available on the Apple VisionPro headset. Launched in February, Xaia immerses users in therapeutic environments like beaches or forests. Users appreciate Xaia's non-judgmental support and empathic interactions. Brennan Spiegel, MD, highlighted the robot's advanced AI capabilities and positive feedback from users, noting Xaia's effective, unbiased emotional support. Currently used in research and hospital settings, Xaia is expected to become more widespread as VR technology advances.
Read article →June 7, 2024
How Virtual Reality Therapy is Shaping Mental Health
Automated approaches to VR-based treatments of mental health could also benefit from incorporating artificial intelligence (AI). That is just what psychiatrist Omer Liran, co-director of the virtual medicine program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and his colleagues did with XAIA (extended reality artificially intelligent ally) — a digital therapist. “The idea was not to replace mental health professionals,” explains Liran, “but to augment their work and give access to people who otherwise don’t have access.”
Read article →June 3, 2024
Digital Health Apps Have Underperformed, But VR Is ‘Very Different’ – Cedars-Sinai Virtual Medicine
Cedars-Sinai’s Virtual Medicine director Brennan Spiegel discusses the shortage of mental health professional resources and how Medical Extended Reality – e.g., immersing patients in a virtual world with an AI therapy avatar – is helping to address depression, pain, and a growing host of health and wellness needs in hospital and consumer settings.
Read article →June 3, 2024
Ensuring AI Safety and Reliability in Healthcare with Dr. Brennan Spiegel of Cedars-Sinai
The integration of AI into healthcare is not only transforming the way we diagnose, treat and manage patient care but is also redefining the roles of doctors.
Watch video →May 9, 2024
Fast Company: Apple Wants Vision Pro to Be a Medical Hub. Here’s How Some Health Organizations Are Already Using It
Learn about how XAIA's ability to transport patients away from their immediate circumstances fits within Apple's goal to further the Apple Vision Pro as an advanced medical hub.
Read article →April 30, 2024
This Tech Will Change Your Practice Sooner Than You Think
Read about how novel technology like Virtual Reality is breaking into the medical sphere in places such as Cedars Sinai
Read article →April 16, 2024
An AI Ally for Mental Health
Xaia—eXtended-reality Artificially Intelligent Ally—is the avatar at the heart of the experience, appearing as a 5-foot-tall robot with wide brown eyes and a soothing voice. Xaia guides users through immersive therapy sessions using scores of evidence-based techniques after a year of development. Spiegel’s team has tested Xaia extensively and launched an app for Apple Vision Pro in February. The platform is planned for use with Cedars-Sinai inpatients, supplementing the care of mental health professionals, and is available to the general public.
Read article →April 4, 2024
Spatial Computing: What Do Healthcare IT Leaders Need to Know?
One innovation is the therapist-trained AI platform that Spiegel co-founded: the eXtended-Reality Artificially Intelligent Ally, or Xaia, which runs on the Apple Vision Pro. Patients speak to a digital robot that also generates contextually relevant virtual environments. For instance, Xaia may create a rock garden or play soothing music for a patient who describes feeling anxious.
Read article →March 21, 2024
Apple wants Vision Pro to be a medical hub. Here’s how some health organizations are already using it
Apple is pushing the Vision Pro’s potential to be a medical hub with multiple use cases that leverages its infinite field of vision and ultra-high resolution. Within the multifaceted array of medical apps, XAIA is a powerful resource for mental health.
Read article →March 11, 2024
Apple Vision Pro unlocks new opportunities for health app developers
Cedars-Sinai’s Xaia app takes full advantage of the unique capabilities of Apple Vision Pro to support patients’ mental health needs. Through its trained digital avatar, Xaia offers patients AI-enabled, conversational mental health support in relaxing spatial environments where they can also do deep breathing exercises and meditation. The immersive therapy sessions take place in environments that are most comfortable to users — whether they choose to remain in their own space, or transform their environment into a relaxing location like a beach. Privacy remains core to the app; it requires no personal information or health information.
Read article →February 5, 2024
The VR doctor is in: Cedars-Sinai adds AI-powered therapy app to Apple Vision Pro headset
An app developed by Cedars-Sinai for use with Apple’s new spatial computing headset is putting a new spin on the concept of virtual care.
Read article →February 5, 2024
Cedars-Sinai creates app for Apple's Vision Pro headset
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai has created a new behavioral health app for Apple Vision Pro, the tech company's first 3D camera headset.
Read article →February 5, 2024
Cedars-Sinai utilizes Apple Vision Pro and AI to create mental health companion
Cedars-Sinai announced the launch of Xaia, a spatial-computing, AI-enabled virtual psychotherapy companion accessible on the Apple Vision Pro headset that aims to help people with anxiety, addiction, depression and pain management.
Read article →September 9, 2023
Meta’s VR technology is helping to train surgeons and treat patients, though costs remain a hurdle
Surgeons are using Meta’s Quest 2 to simulate procedures, allowing doctors to practice from home. Virtual reality technologies have gained adoption in the area of pain management. Medical schools are starting to insert VR into the curriculum.
Read article →April 5, 2023
Virtual Reality and the Brain-Body Connection
In today’s rapidly evolving technological environment, a group of Cedars-Sinai investigators is exploring how virtual reality (VR) can play a role in treatment and help heal the body. Research into how this relatively new technology can be used in the healthcare space begins by asking the right questions, such as: How does VR affect the brain? How does the brain create measurable physiological changes in the body?
Read article →March 31, 2023
Experts 'cautiously optimistic' about extended reality for mental healthcare
During a series of talks at vMed 2023, speakers discussed the promise of XR use in mental healthcare and their cautious optimism around care delivery in the metaverse.
Read article →February 28, 2023
Voice of America - Doctors Using Virtual Reality to Train Brain, Body
A new branch of medicine uses the immersive technology of virtual reality to help patients cope with chronic pain, relieve anxiety and even give birth. As Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, the approach brings together the latest technology and the age-old techniques of meditation.
Read article →November 28, 2022
Realidad virtual, un revolucionario tratamiento para el dolor que parece sacado de la ciencia ficción
Julia Monterroso sufrió severos dolores durante años hasta que en noviembre de 2021 supo de un médico en Los Ángeles que utilizaba la realidad virtual como tratamiento. En principio estuvo escéptica; sin embargo, se sometió al procedimiento y cuenta qué ha pasado con sus dolencias.
Read article →November 3, 2022
The Promise of Virtual Reality in Surgery
The use of virtual reality to combat anxiety, chronic pain, and cognitive decline is well established. Now, two recent pilot studies are extending the possible use cases of VR into the surgical theater, both intraoperatively and in post-operative recovery.
Read article →June 19, 2022
What Happens When Medicine Meets The Metaverse?
Doctors can now treat chronic pain with the technology of virtual reality. Patient Tom Norris joins us to share his experience using a VR headset in place of sedatives when doctors removed three tumors from his bladder. Dr. Brennan Spiegel at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center reveals how VR treatment works and how virtual therapeutics will revolutionize medicine.
Read article →June 1, 2022
European Health-Tech Innovation Week 2022 - Fireside chat
The emerging role of immersive therapeutics in a post pandemic world.
Watch video →April 26, 2022
Can Virtual Reality Help Ease Chronic Pain?
V.R. treatments may provide relief similar to intravenous opioids — a tantalizing prospect for the millions of Americans living with chronic pain.
Read article →April 12, 2022
The doctor will see you now... in the metaverse?
About 200 hospitals in the United States are using virtual reality tools to not only help train doctors, but also help manage patients’ pain from surgery, irritable bowel syndrome or cancer, said Brennan Spiegel, the director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. And recently, the technology’s applications have grown to include diagnosing conditions like glaucoma.
Read article →April 8, 2022
The companies building a health data economy
An upcoming program at Cedars Sinai could blend the physical and simulated realms by establishing a virtual IBS clinic that patients can walk through using a VR headset; each room will host a different “fantastical” simulated environment, Cedars Sinai’s Brennan Spiegel told STAT.
Read article →March 21, 2022
Pharmacy meets digital health at DigitalHealth.Rx summit
Virtual reality in medicine is another facet of digital health that has taken off. FDA authorized marketing of a virtual reality system to reduce chronic pain in addition to the first prescription-only game-based digital therapeutic to improve attention function in children with ADHD. As Brennan M. Spiegel, MD, MSHS, explained during a presentation, medical extended reality (MXR) is a new branch of medicine and his hospital, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, has begun using it, particularly to try to alleviate pain in certain patients.
Read article →March 18, 2022
HIMSS22: XR Brings a New Reality in Virtual Medicine
Dr. Brennan Spiegel of Cedars-Sinai Health System explains how new advances in extended reality technology can improve patient outcomes.
Read article →March 10, 2022
Could Virtual Reality Replace Your Next Pain Pill?
Several hundred hospitals across the country are assessing the use of VR, including well-known medical centers like Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and Boston’s Children Hospital. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has been on the cutting edge of using VR to treat people with chronic pain. The VR program, led by gastroenterologist Dr. Brennan Spiegel, professor of medicine and public health at Cedars-Sinai, has treated more than 3,000 patients.
Read article →February 2, 2022
“Pioneers in Medicine” podcast by Cedars-Sinai
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of health services research, is interested in the way the brain and gut communicate specifically in cases of IBS, and how virtual reality (VR) can help change a patient's perceptions of pain that are often amplified by fear and anxiety.
Watch video →September 11, 2021
Forget Opioids, Virtual Reality Could Be the Future of Pain Management
It's hard to overstate just how painful a process treating burn victims is – for burn victims, air itself is excruciatingly painful. They have to undergo weeks of undressing wounds, cleaning the tender skin of debris, slathering the area with ointment, and redressing it with new bandages, and it is considered one of the most physically painful treatments in medicine. To combat this, most patients rely on consistent and heavy opioid usage. But in 2008, University of Washington researchers published the first study of its kind using virtual reality (VR) to mitigate the use of the highly-addictive drugs. The researchers replaced the clinical hospital setting with a computer-generated snowtopia where patients could throw snowballs with penguins and snowmen through a VR headset as doctors washed the treatment area. It worked, and the study concluded that VR could replace part of an opioid dose.
Read article →August 13, 2021
The game-changing potential of digital therapeutics with Dr. Brennan Spiegel
No longer just a gaming technology, virtual reality is starting to make inroads in healthcare settings. Abi Millar speaks to author Dr. Brennan Spiegel about how virtual therapeutics may help people manage their conditions more effectively than traditional drug-based approaches.
Read article →July 30, 2021
How This Gaming Tech Can Heal Your Brain
Over the past 30 years, virtual reality in the healthcare space has evolved from a radical research topic to a powerful clinical tool. Proponents contend VR can help doctors and mental health professionals reach under-served populations while providing assessments and interventions that weren't previously possible. VR is already proving invaluable as a therapeutic strategy for people coping with issues ranging from PTSD to chronic pain.
Watch video →June 29, 2021
How Is VR Used In Medicine?
Virtual reality (VR) can reduce pain, treat mental diseases and support the training of medical professionals. But how does it work? In a 12-minute video, you will discover the science behind VR therapies. The interview features Dr. Brennan Spiegel, author of the book “VRx: How virtual therapeutics will revolutionize medicine”, Director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Read article →May 31, 2021
Virtual Reality in Medicine
Therapeutic virtual reality (VR), the use of the immersive, computer-generated technology in medicine, is on the fast track to widespread use. In some hospitals and clinics, your doctor can already prescribe a visit to a VR world to ease your pain or anxiety or to explain a complex medical procedure or condition.
Read article →May 26, 2021
Virtual reality goggles for medical healing
Fox 11 News Feature by Hal Eisner with Dr. Brennan Spiegel and Dr. Omer Liran
Read article →May 14, 2021
It’s no game: Virtual reality could be health care’s next big thing
Tom Norris and Brennan Spiegel join Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe, the hosts of Fortune Brainstorm, a podcast that explores how technology is reshaping our world, to talk about uses of virtual reality in health care.
Read article →May 11, 2021
Prescription gaming
The newest way to administer medication? Through a screen. An emerging class of techceuticals is pressing play on the future of health management.
Read article →April 21, 2021
Meet Virtual Reality, Your New Physical Therapist
While use of the gaming technology for improving physical ailments is still in the early stages, it shows promise — and it’s fun.
Read article →March 20, 2021
Author of VRx Dr. Brennan Spiegel: Virtual Reality in Gastroenterology
Praveen Suthrum interviews Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, Director of Health Services Research, Cedars-Sinai Health System and Author of VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine
Watch video →March 19, 2021
Technology and Its Impact on the Patient Experience: An Interview with Dr. Brennan Spiegel
In this fascinating interview hosted by Milli Long, Dr. Spiegel discusses the newest uses of technology in medicine including telemedicine.
Watch video →March 18, 2021
The ER enters VR — Getting healthy via virtual reality
WellWell recently caught up with Dr. Spiegel to talk all things VR and how it’s being used in hospitals and as medicine.
Read article →March 9, 2021
Virtual Reality as a Digital Therapeutic
Virtual reality has shown the ability to decrease pain, reduce opioid dependence, and boost mental health. How is this digital therapeutic changing the treatment landscape for gastroenterology?
Read article →December 18, 2020
Virtual reality is being harnessed by medicine to treat everything from pain to phobias
A new book by Dr. Brennan Spiegel, a physician in the US, makes the argument for a therapy that acknowledges the mind-body connection.
Read article →December 15, 2020
Virtual Reality Augmenting Therapy in Gastroenterology and Beyond
In gastroenterology and beyond, virtual reality (VR) is beginning to augment traditional therapies, including those intended to alleviate pain and anxiety.
Read article →December 8, 2020
“VRx”: A Medgadget Book Interview with Author Dr. Brennan Spiegel
In his recently released book, VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine, Dr. Brennan Spiegel, a gastroenterologist and Director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, goes into detail about how virtual reality is playing an increasing role in therapeutic medicine.
Read article →December 7, 2020
An Innovator's "VRx"
Could virtual reality be effective as a treatment for chronic pain? Or as therapy for PTSD? As a way to combat phobias? Or even as a means of preventive medicine? According to Dr. Brennan Spiegel's new book, VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine, the answer is, "very possibly". It may also be, "very soon."
Read article →December 1, 2020
8 Science Books to Read (or Gift) This Winter
The opioid epidemic has been raging in the US for more than two decades with no end in sight, but VRx, a new book by Brennan Spiegel, points to an unlikely high-tech solution to this devastating problem: virtual reality.
Read article →November 15, 2020
Virtual Reality and the COVID Mental Health Crisis
I am being challenged daily. As a frontline doctor, I find that the COVID-19 pandemic has not only tested my clinical abilities but also strained my capacity to bear witness to grievous suffering. This suffering extends well beyond the physical distress of hospitalized patients battling the virus.
Read article →October 10, 2020
How virtual reality therapy can cure PTSD, obesity and even the pain of childbirth
This unusual treatment for pain management is just the beginning of a revolutionary new approach to medicine.
Read article →September 1, 2020
ugmented reality in healthcare will be revolutionary
The combination of immersive technology with other innovations will lead to at least an order of magnitude increase in the reach of the healthcare system.
Read article →August 8, 2020
Find Out How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine with Author Dr. Brennan Spiegel
Dr. Brennan Spiegel, author of VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine is the guest for this episode of Cool Science Radio.
Read article →July 30, 2020
COVID-19 and Therapeutic VR with Dr. Brennan Spiegel
Brennan Spiegel, director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, joins host Jonah Comstock and MobiHealthNews' Dave Muoio to discuss COVID-19's effect on virtual medicine and the future of therapeutic VR.
Read article →July 14, 2020
Leveraging Virtual Reality In Skilled Nursing Facilities
Virtual reality technology, which has always enabled gamers to boldly go where no one has gone before, has in recent years branched out into yet another world: elder care
Read article →May 29, 2020
In-depth: Despite some hiccups, COVID-19 is VR's time to shine
Healthcare VR researchers say that certain projects have stalled during the pandemic, but strong demand and emergency reimbursement decisions out of CMS have raised hopes across the industry.
Read article →March 9, 2020
Virtual Reality For Good Use Cases: From Educating On Racial Bias To Pain Relief During Childbirth
The use cases of virtual reality (VR) expand each day... Here are just some examples of how this immersive medium is being put to good use.
Read article →February 12, 2020
Doctors are using virtual reality to help patients deal with pain
A pilot program using VR technology shows promising results for managing pain without medication.
Read article →January 29, 2020
Virtual Reality Has Real Promise For Pain Relief
Experiments with virtual reality (VR) in anxiety and pain relief have been performed for over 18 years, and studies are beginning to show how effective VR could be for some types of pain.
Read article →December 20, 2019
New Study Confirms Virtual Reality is a Painkiller
After putting on VR goggles, patients leave reality and enter a breathtaking, unreal world. The distraction is so enormous that brain seems not to able process other sensations, like pain for example. A new study shows that hospitalised patients using VR report a drop in pain scores.
Read article →October 21, 2019
Therapeutic VR's efficacy is established — time to tackle practical implementation, scaling, payment
At last week's Connected Health Conference, a panel of VR evangelists turned their eyes toward the bigger hurdles facing VR's potential for success within healthcare.
Read article →October 8, 2019
Virtual Reality: The Miracle Drug of the Future?
From depression, anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to migraines, chronic pain management and Alzheimer’s disease, virtual reality (VR) is really starting to show great promise as a potential treatment for a range of mental health issues.
Read article →September 19, 2019
How VR Can be Used as a Treatment for Pain Management
Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Research at Cedars-Sinai, and Matthew Stoudt, CEO of AppliedVR, joins 'Cheddar Innovates' to discuss the benefits of bringing virtual reality into hospitals.
Read article →September 4, 2019
The case for course of Virtual Reality
VR may help ease conditions from pain to phobias to PTSD.
Read article →August 30, 2019
Study Finds Virtual Reality (VR) to Be Effective in Treating Severe Pain
According to a recent study, the use of virtual reality (VR) may be able to significantly reduce severe pain in hospitalized patients.
Read article →August 27, 2019
A Virtual dip through the VR technology will melt pain
Virtual Reality therapies have the power to reduce pain by controlling the brain of a patient from recognizing illness.
Read article →August 19, 2019
Got Pain? A Virtual Swim With Dolphins May Help Melt It Away
Virtual reality is not new. But, as people search for alternative ways to manage pain — and reduce reliance on pills — VR is attracting renewed attention.
Read article →August 19, 2019
Study: Virtual Reality can relieve severe chronic pain
Therapeutic virtual reality (VR) may finally be on the verge of going mainstream. For the first time, research has shown that VR can help relieve a variety of pain conditions and is most effective for severe chronic pain.
Read article →August 15, 2019
Virtual reality may help ease severe pain, study shows
Virtual reality may not have lived up to the consumer hype once vested upon it, but a study has provided further evidence that it may be an effective non-pharmacological option to help ease pain in hospital patients.
Read article →August 15, 2019
Cedars-Sinai Research: Patients Using On-Demand VR Reduces Pain Scores
Cedars-Sinai researchers reveal hospitalized patients on-demand use of virtual reality (VR) resulted in statistically significant improvements in pain.
Read article →August 15, 2019
Virtual reality may mean real pain relief for hospitalized patients
For many hospital patients, pain is part of their reality. According to a new study, however, an unreal environment might help. Virtual reality may help.
Read article →August 14, 2019
Virtual reality experiences can help ease severe pain, study says
Playing virtual reality games or relaxing in a virtual nature setting might help ease chronic pain, particularly when symptoms are severe, a new experiment suggests.
Read article →August 14, 2019
Virtual reality experiences may help treat severe pain
Therapeutic virtual reality can be used to reduce severe pain in hospitalized patients, according to a study published August 14, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Brennan Spiegel of Cedars-Sinai Health System, USA, and colleagues.
Read article →August 14, 2019
New Study Shows Value of Virtual Reality for Pain Management
Latest Study of Hospitalized Patients Using On-Demand Virtual Reality Reveals a Drop in Pain Scores.
Read article →August 14, 2019
Cedars-Sinai study on inpatient VR pain management offers glimpse at real-world outcomes
Therapeutic virtual reality is not only an effective approach for hospital inpatients experiencing a wide variety of pain, but likely retains its impact when provided over multiple days under real-world circumstances, according to a new Cedars-Sinai clinical study published today in PLoS One.
Read article →August 14, 2019
Study Finds Virtual Reality Can Help Reduce Severe Pain
Virtual reality (VR) is quickly transforming the healthcare industry, changing the way patients and doctors receive and give care. Some pregnant women are experimenting with VR headsets to ease the pains of childbirth. And in 2017, burn victims started using VR gaming to lessen the excruciating pain of having their bandages changed.
Read article →June 10, 2019
A new reality: How VR is poised to make real-world clinical impact
Virtual reality has evolved from being a technological novelty to a legitimate clinical tool in areas like chronic pain management and neurological rehab, leading experts to think through how best to integrate VR into healthcare.
Read article →April 12, 2019
Virtual reality emerges as a therapeutic tool in gastroenterology
The body of evidence to support virtual reality (VR) as a therapeutic modality will increasingly involve the GI tract, according to evidence summarized at the 2019 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.
Read article →January 21, 2019
VR in healthcare is changing the patient care game
Virtual reality isn't just for games anymore. These days, healthcare professionals are using the technology for patient care, from enabling doctors to explore congenital heart defects in 3D to dampening pain signals for patients suffering from burns or chronic conditions.
Read article →November 19, 2018
VR Offers Patients a Virtual Distraction from Pain
Virtual reality is quickly becoming a much-touted tool for providers, and as it uses become better known and tested, it’s likely the healthcare VR market will grow exponentially in the next few years.
Read article →August 29, 2018
Virtual Reality: Digital Medicine to Combat Pain
Amanda Greene lives with pain. ? "If I don't have nerve pain, I might have joint pain. If I'm not having joint pain, I might have headaches," Greene said. The unrelenting pain is a symptom of lupus, an autoimmune disease in which a patient's immune system attacks the body. Greene has tried acupuncture, massage and opioids, but realized she was allergic to the addictive pain medicine.
Read article →July 23, 2018
Well / Connected with Dr. Joe Kvedar and Dr. Brennan Spiegel
A fascinating conversation with Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Services Research for Cedars-Sinai Health System. Listen as he and Dr. Kvedar dig into his research in Virtual Reality and its applications in several areas of medicine, conduct an exploration of cognitive and physiologic immersion and discuss the groundbreaking Virtual Medicine Conference.
Read article →June 25, 2018
Redefining medicine with special guest Dr. Brennan Spiegel
Today's episode of Redefining Medicine spotlights Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS. Director of Health Services Research for Cedars-Sinai Health System and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA, Dr. Spiegel also heads the Cedars-Sinai Center for Outcomes Research and Education: a multidisciplinary team that investigates the impacts of digital health technologies & innovations, health analytics, and health economics.
Read article →June 9, 2018
Virtual reality is being used by hospitals to help people cope with pain
Despite being in and out of hospitals since the age of 16, one of Harmon Clarke’s biggest fears is having an intravenous line inserted into his arm. The 34-year-old resident of Los Angeles has had more than 30 surgeries related to his Crohn’s disease, but getting stuck with an IV needle has never gotten less stressful.
Read article →May 18, 2018
In-Depth: Therapeutic VR in 2018 is no longer just a distraction (therapy)
Although it hasn’t yet established its place as a mainstream treatment modality, virtual reality has grown from an interesting diversion into a frequent topic of conversation within digital health.
Read article →May 15, 2018
Can virtual reality help fight the opioid crisis?
Opioid addictions have become a dangerous side effect for many that take medications to treat chronic pain. To address this, doctors are exploring alternatives to prescriptions pain medicine.
Read article →April 12, 2018
VR has proven it can ease the pains of childbirth – next, the opioid crisis
While pregnant with her second child, Erin Martucci decided early on against having an epidural to help manage the pain. But during labour, as her contractions progressed and became increasingly unbearable, she started to reconsider her decision.
Read article →April 12, 2018
5 Takeaways from the 2018 Virtual Medicine Conference
Keep your clients up to date with what's happening. To make this content your own, just add your images, text and links, or connect to data from your collection.
Read article →April 6, 2018
Virtual Medicine
Brennan Spiegel’s (Director & Founder, Virtual Medicine) opening remarks were poignant, “we are sitting in a building where 900 people are suffering, patients who are socially isolated. We have to be careful about what we promise our patients in terms of what VR technology can achieve. We have to understand the patient’s point of view. How do we enable patients to escape their four walls? We have to be able to evaluate what happens when patients do escape. The key is to talk to patients to find out what works and what does not work. If VR is a therapy then we need a VR pharmacy.”
Read article →April 5, 2018
Virtual Reality Pain Management Study Unites All Aspects of Care
In recent months, with the opioid crisis on the rise, virtual reality has emerged as a potential drug-free tool for pain management. In a partnership that connects giants from nearly every aspect of the healthcare industry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Samsung, Travelers Insurance, Bayer and AppliedVR have teamed up in a new 16-month study to evaluate VR for pain reduction and therapeutic purposes.
Read article →April 3, 2018
Brennan Spiegel gets real about virtual reality
If you follow the work being done in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) – you probably have already seen the work being done by today's guest: Dr. Brennan Spiegel. In this episode, Brennan gets real about the applications for virtual reality in healthcare, and what is needed to drive adoption throughout the healthcare system and around the world.
Read article →March 13, 2018
VR could be your next painkiller
Hospitals are rolling out virtual reality to distract patients from painful experiences such as IV placements and dressing changes.
Read article →February 25, 2018
Doctor uses 21st century technique to tackle high blood pressure
Doctor uses 21st century technique to tackle high blood pressure
Read article →February 12, 2018
How One Top Hospital Is Using Virtual Reality
A doctor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center explained how virtual reality technology is impacting patients suffering from chronic pain at MD&M West.
Read article →January 10, 2018
Solving opioid abuse will require more than well-designed digital interventions
Opioid abuse is among the most pressing issues in healthcare, so it’s no surprise that the epidemic was a major topic of discussion at CES 2018’s Digital Health Summit. Following a lengthy discussion about the national crisis’ societal factors and specific digital-based interventions, a panel comprised of industry experts and academics repeatedly found themselves in agreement that no one approach will be sufficient in and of itself.
Read article →January 3, 2018
The growth and success of VR/AR/MxR in health
Tune in to hear how these VR/AR/MxR technologies are solving real challenges and laying the foundation for what's coming next.
Read article →December 15, 2017
Here’s how new technologies are tackling the opioid crisis
Venture capitalists and start-ups are betting they can play a crucial role in helping fix one of the country's most vexing problems.
Read article →December 13, 2017
The 10 most exciting digital health stories of 2017
Gene-edited human embryo. Self-driving trucks. Practical quantum computers. 2017 has been an exciting year for science, technology – and digital health! It’s that time of the year again when it’s worth looking back at the past months; and list the inventions, methods and milestone events in healthcare to get a clearer picture what will shape medicine for the years to come.
Read article →November 29, 2017
The 20 Most Life-Changing Medical Breakthroughs Of 2017
Research scientists around the world have been working on new medical treatments that will improve millions of lives. We've chosen 20 of the most fascinating and important to showcase here.
Read article →November 12, 2017
Virtual Reality Is Reshaping Medical Training and Treatment
Arthur C. Clarke, a British science fiction writer, is well known for once writing, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ? Consumer virtual reality is going through a rough patch as high expectations and hype have deflated somewhat, but when VR does work, it can feel a bit like magic.
Read article →November 2, 2017
Opioids haven't solved chronic pain. Maybe virtual reality can.
When someone walks or rolls into the emergency department at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles with food stuck in their throat, the ER staff calls someone like Brennan Spiegel. As a gastroenterologist, food-pulling-out is something he’s uniquely equipped to do.
Read article →October 27, 2017
VR can aid seniors and chronic disease patients, but don’t overhype its capabilities
The hype around virtual reality hasn’t seemed to die down. Stakeholders in the healthcare realm are leveraging the technology for a variety of purposes, as outlined by three panelists at the Connected Health Conference in Boston.
Read article →October 25, 2017
VR Brings Dramatic Change To Mental Health Care
Skip Rizzo, associate director for medical virtual reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, has been working with the U.S. Army on ways to use Virtual Reality (VR) to treat soldiers' Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for over a decade.
Read article →September 7, 2017
Here's how virtual reality is being used to manage pain
Here's how virtual reality is being used to manage pain.
Read article →September 5, 2017
VR For Good: How The Virtual Medicine Conference Wants To Better VR Healthcare
Simply saying VR is good for healthcare is too broad a statement. As we all know, there are thousands of different strands of subjects that fall under that umbrella, and identifying which ones VR is well-suited for is a little trickier. But an upcoming conference aims to unify these various strands, providing a VR medical conference that charts the future of technology's impact on the health sector.
Read article →August 29, 2017
Opioid crisis and virtual reality
Opioid crisis and virtual reality
Read article →August 14, 2017
Interview with Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS
Interview with Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS
Read article →July 24, 2017
Enlisting Virtual Reality to Ease Real Pain
In a Los Angeles hospital a short drive from Hollywood, some patients are tapping into virtual reality. But at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 3D technology is there not for entertainment but pain relief
Read article →July 9, 2017
People are now replacing pain meds with virtual reality
People are now replacing pain meds with virtual reality.
Read article →June 20, 2017
The Top 10 Trends Shaping the Future of Pharma
The drug sends a message to a caregiver after the patient swallowed it. The doctor prescribes virtual reality treatments for migraines. Do you think it is science fiction? You are mistaken. Just let me familiarize you with the top 10 trends shaping the future of pharma.
Read article →June 2, 2017
Virtual Reality May Be Real Deal in Preventative Health Car
Sandra Goldsmith, 74, a member of the congregation at South Los Angeles' Holman Unified Methodist Church, clips a glasses-like device onto a smartphone and peers in. Instantly she sees herself standing in the middle of a kitchen. On the counter before her sits a range of food products – from black beans to salmon to gumbo to lasagna to fruit smoothies.
Read article →May 15, 2017
Winner of 2017 People's Voice Webby Award for Best Technology on the Internet
Watch - Winner of 2017 People's Voice Webby Award for Best Technology on the Internet
Read article →April 25, 2017
How virtual reality is helping patients alleviate their pain
Virtual reality brings people with chronic pain to new places and changes their world.
Read article →April 13, 2017
More medical uses of VR
While virtual reality is being put to use to help reduce stress for young patients, Boston Children’s Hospital and other hospitals around the country are eyeing the technology – and others like it – as a key part of the future of medicine. At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, doctors are studying how using VR could reduce pain, running a series of clinical trials.
Read article →April 13, 2017
Encouraging good health – Holman UMC teams with Cedars Sinai to reduce blood pressure among parishioners
Usually spiritual health is foremost in mind when it comes to attending church. However, Pastor Kelvin Sauls takes a holistic approach and wants a physically healthy congregation as well.
Read article →April 12, 2017
Virtual reality for inpatient use
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center recently published the results of the use of virtual reality (VR) on their inpatient service in a large feasibility study that we previously covered. Cedars has followed up on this study by publishing a second VR study – this time a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on inpatient virtual reality use.
Read article →April 1, 2017
Battling Addiction, Pain, and PTSD With Virtual Reality
Last November, Erin Martucci became the first woman to deliver a child using nothing but virtual reality to ease her pain.
Read article →March 30, 2017
Study: Virtual reality reduced pain scores by 24%
Hospitals may soon be replacing pain medication with a virtual reality headset, following new evidence that the technology can help manage pain.
Read article →March 30, 2017
Can virtual reality reduce high blood pressure at a church in South L.A.?
The Rev. Kelvin Sauls believes health and faith are two sides of the same coin. ? He brings yoga and Zumba classes to his church in South L.A. because he knows African Americans are particularly vulnerable to diabetes and heart disease.
Read article →March 30, 2017
Virtual Reality Is Being Used To Decrease Pain In Hospital Patients
Virtual reality is able to significantly reduce pain levels by “hijacking” the senses of hospital patients, without the need for drugs, according to new research.
Read article →March 10, 2017
Review of VR studies shows promise for the technology
A team of researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles has published a review of randomized trials studying the use of virtual reality in inpatient settings. The research team included Dr. Brennan Spiegel, who heads up a team that uses virtual reality for pain reduction at Cedars-Sinai.
Read article →March 3, 2017
Innovation Rising Episode 20: Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai
Our guest this week is Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Services Research for Cedars-Sinai Health System and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA. Dr. Spiegel joins us on the program for this first part in our series around Virtual Reality in Healthcare.
Read article →February 21, 2017
Cedars-Sinai learns from what does - and doesn't - work in therapeutic VR
At the Digital and Personal Connected Health Event at HIMSS in Orlando, Cedars-Sinai Director of Health Services Research Brennan Spiegel spoke some more about his experiences using virtual reality to help alleviate patients’ pain and allow them to virtually escape the confines of the hospital during their recovery.
Read article →February 9, 2017
Virtual Reality Adds a New Dimension to Pain Management
For patients in severe pain, sometimes even the most powerful medication cannot provide sufficient relief. But what if doctors could effectively reduce such suffering simply by manipulating a patient’s perception? Through virtual reality, they can.
Read article →February 1, 2017
Cedars Sinai research director talks lessons learned as a "hospital virtualist"
There's some technology that has to be seen to be believed. Dr. Brennan Spiegel, director of health services research at Cedar-Sinai Hospital, puts virtual reality technology in that category. And that can make it hard to sell doctors on the idea, at least at first.
Read article →January 20, 2017
CES lecture about therapeutic VR
CES lecture about therapeutic VR
Watch video →January 8, 2017
CES interview about therapeutic VR
CES interview about therapeutics VR
Watch video →January 8, 2017
One of the best ways to treat excruciating pain is to change people's reality so they forget it exists
The entire purpose of pain is to make sure it's the main focus of your attention, to make it so you don't focus on anything else.
Read article →January 1, 2017
The unique challenges of applying digital innovation to the medical field
Digital health is transforming medicine at a breathtaking pace: wearable biosensors, mobile health applications, and electronic health records have revolutionized data collection and processing, allowing low-cost, quick delivery of data from patients directly to healthcare providers, administrators, and analysts.
Read article →December 31, 2016
Virtual reality: A new dimension in medicine
You’ve probably heard of "mind over matter." Some doctors believe this could be the key to unleashing your own healing power.
Read article →November 30, 2016
How doctors are using virtual reality to manage pain
How doctors are using virtual reality to manage pain
Watch video →August 29, 2016
Hospitals Try Giving Patients a Dose of VR
When Deona Duke woke up from a medically-induced coma to begin recovering from burns that covered almost a third of her body, one of her treatments was hurling snowballs at penguins.
Read article →July 20, 2016
Wellness Wednesday: HIV Testing, Virtual Reality to Combat Pain, and Summer Nutrition Advice
Wellness Wednesday: HIV testing, virtual reality to combat pain, and summer nutrition advice
Read article →July 18, 2016
Better than opioids? Virtual reality could be your next painkiller
Not so far in the future, your doctor might prescribe playing a few games in virtual reality to ease aches and pains, rather than popping a pill.
Read article →June 27, 2016
Cedars Sinai launches virtual reality pilots to curb patient pain without drugs
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will begin to use virtual reality technology from Applied VR, in hopes of easing patients' pain with without use of drugs.
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