SHSU Department of Art Using Virtual Reality to Explain Sickle Cell Disease
SHSU Department of Art Using Virtual Reality to Explain Sickle Cell Disease
May 25, 2022
by Nifemi Bola
CAM Media Contact: Jackie Swan
A collaborative effort between Sam Houston State University’s Department of Art and Nemours Children’s Hospital is taking the unlikely relationship between art and medicine to the next level with a new virtual reality education program. Developed by faculty members Fredric Freeman, Sherman Finch, and David Rosario with branding designed by student Lindsay Richardson, the CyberCell VR Experience is a way to help pediatric patients with Sickle Cell Disease and their caregivers better understand the complexities of the condition through the art of virtual reality.
Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic condition in which a person’s red blood cells are C-shaped instead of round which decreases the lifespan of red blood cells in the body leading to different health issues.
The goal of the CyberCell VR Experience is to provide evidence-based, immersive, and interactive education about the disease by visualizing how the drug Hydroxyurea is used in treatment. “Understanding genes and how we inherit traits or conditions is a complex process that is difficult to understand and hard for the medical community to explain simply,” said. Dr. Melanie Pitone, medical editor for Nemours Children’s Health. “It is a great honor to work with this team to help people learn through experience, rather than explanation,” Dr. Pitone said.
The idea originated with Freeman, who describes himself as an artist by heart with the brain of a scientist. As the Creative Director for VR Design and Development, Freeman’s background in animation and experience in project design and development for companies like Pfizer equipped him to develop a solution that would both educate and raise awareness for emerging treatment for Sickle Cell Disease through the use of technology.
“Virtual reality holds one of the keys to how we interface with our new digital world. So, intuitively, the project felt like a good way to potentially provide patients with the same level of ‘experience’ doctors, such as surgeons, receive during training,” Freeman said.
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lp bring this project to life, he recruited the help of Finch, a visual and graphic design educator with expertise in user experience and user interaction, and Rosario, whose background in video game design was beneficial in developing the prototype that will be used in clinical trials. Finch then introduced the project to his senior studio art class and added graphic design student Lindsay Richardson to the team to design the branding for the CyberCell VR Experience logo.
"When Finch approached me with the chance to work with students from Sam Houston State University, I was pretty excited. From what I’ve seen, their level of creativity and work is top-notch,” said Freeman. “I always truly enjoy collaborating, so what better way to produce something brand new than to work with the College of Arts & Media on a clinical research prototype.”
Significant progress has been made with the CyberCell VR Experience. Dr. Aimee Hildenbrand, a psychologist with Nemours and one of the leading medical experts for the CyberCell VR Project, stated that the team is using the input of youth that are sick along with the input of their families and care providers to improve. “This will ensure that CyberCell is appealing, relevant, intuitive, and practical for users. Initial feedback from patients, families, and healthcare professionals has been very positive, and we plan to carefully study the impacts of this program in a future trial,” Dr. Hildenbrand said.
For more information on the CyberCell VR Experience project, visit the Nemours website.