BROADCASTS.com

XR has come a long way, baby \u2013 and we have one of the technology\u2019s earliest pioneer\u2019s on today\u2019s episode. Dr. Walter Greenleaf has been working in the field for 33 years, since the days when VR was little more than a twinkle in research scientists\u2019 eyes. Now, he and Alan chat about how far the technology has come, and how far it still has to go.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlan: Welcome to the XR for\nBusiness Podcast with your host, Alan Smithson. Today\u2019s guest is Dr.\nWalter Greenleaf, a behavioral neuroscientist and medical technology\ndeveloper working at Stanford University. With over three decades of\nresearch and development experience in the field of digital medicine\nand medical virtual reality technology, Walter is considered the\nleading authority in the field of working in this industry, and he\u2019s\nbeen doing this for 33 years. Unbelievable experience. Dr. Greenleaf\nhas designed and developed numerous clinical systems over the last 33\nyears, including products in the fields of surgical simulation, 3D\nmedical visualization, telerehabilitation, clinical informatics,\nclinical decision support, point of care, clinical data collection,\nergonomic evaluation technology, automatic sleep staging systems,\npsycho-physiological assessment and simulation assisted\nrehabilitation technologies, as well as products for behavioral\nmedicine. Dr. Greenleaf\u2019s focus has always been on computer supported\nclinical products, with a specific focus on virtual reality and\ndigital health technologies to treat post-traumatic stress disorder,\nanxiety disorders, traumatic brain injury, stroke, addictions, autism\nand other difficult problems, and behavioral and physical medicine.\nHe\u2019s currently a distinguished visiting scholar at Stanford\nUniversity\u2019s Media X program at Stanford University\u2019s Virtual Human\nInteraction Lab and the Director of Technology Strategy at the\nUniversity of Colorado National Mental Health Institute Center. To\nlearn more about the work that Dr. Greenleaf and his team are doing,\nyou can visit the Human Interaction Lab at Stanford at\nvhil.stanford.edu and a new\norganization that he\u2019s formed called the International VR Health\nAssociation at ivrha.org. \n\n\n\n\nWelcome to the show, Dr. Walter\nGreenleaf. So great to have you.\n\n\n\nWalter: Thanks, Alan. I\u2019m\npleased to be here with you.\n\n\n\nAlan: That\u2019s an honor. You are\nconsidered one of the godfathers of this technology. You\u2019ve been\nworking in it your whole life. And I want to personally say thank you\nfor laying the groundwork that allows people like myself \u2014 the new\npeople getting involved here \u2014 to really pick up where you left off,\nand where you\u2019ve driven this whole industry forward to, and let us\nreally build upon your lifetimes of knowledge. So thank you very much\nfor paving the way for us.\n\n\n\nWalter: Well, thank you, Alan.\nAnd really, without everybody else\u2019s and my colleagues work and your\nwork and other people who are helping the trends position from\nsomething that for a long time was a research lab curiosity and\nsomething that really hadn\u2019t escaped the confines of academia. Now we\nhave it out there in the world. And I\u2019m particularly excited about\nall the progress has been made in applying VR and AR technology to\ndifficult problems in healthcare. For me, it\u2019s a very exciting time.\n\n\n\nAlan: I\u2019ve been keeping track of\nall of the different things that come up in my news feed and I have a\nhealth and medical folder. And it\u2019s interesting, because last year I\nactually had to break it apart into a mental health folder, in\naddition to the traditional health and medical. So there is an\nenormous amount of, not just research, but real practical\napplications being created f