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UW Health Sciences Library awarded grant for Virtual Reality Lab for cardiac surgical teams

October 5, 2017
UW Health Sciences Library awarded grant for Virtual Reality Lab for cardiac surgical teams

sketch of proposed Virtual Reality studio in UW Health Sciences Library

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded an IMLS National Leadership Grant for Libraries to Tania Bardyn, PI  at the University of Washington Health Sciences Library (HSL) to design and build a Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) program and studio for surgical care teams to simulate cardiac surgery – in a library environment.

In collaboration with the University of Washington Center for Cardiovascular Innovation (CCVI) and School of Medicine, Bioinformatics and Medical Education, the UW Health Sciences Library (HSL) will design and create a VR service in the Translational Research and Innovation Lab (TRAIL) utilizing a data wall, stereoscopic headsets, and a laptop. The VR and AR software, Pear Medical’s Bosc, allows participants to visualize complete patient anatomy in 3D, simulating depth, movement and structure of the human body more realistically than on a standard computer screen.

The Center for the Future of Libraries identified VR as one of the trends relevant to libraries.

The award of $25,000 for “Medical Libraries of the Future: Creating a Primer on How to Design a Virtual Reality Studio” project will be augmented by Kenneth S. and Faye G. Allen Library Endowment for $17,000.

Tania Bardyn, associate Dean, UW Libraries, and Associate Affiliate Professor, Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education, School of Medicine, commented that, “What excites us about this project is that it will allow a team of clinicians, researchers, and librarians to come to the TRAIL space in the Health Sciences Library to pursue connecting learning, developing new surgical methods and techniques through VR technology and a network of professional peers. Interactive, hands-on learning can happen with VR, even in libraries."

TRAIL is a partnership between the Institute of Translational Health Sciences, the UW Health Sciences Library, UW Medicine Research Information Technology, and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine - Pacific Northwest Region.

The HSL serves the University of Washington schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work and affiliated hospitals and research institutes.

Questions may be directed to Tania Bardyn, bardyn@uw.edu; 206-543-0422, or Adam Garrett,  garrett@uw.edu; 206 616-4142.

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