Anatomy is more than a series of structures, it is also the knowledge of the spatial relationships between structures and the spaces through which they transverse and communicate. In order to more effectively teach complex, deep, and otherwise hard to visualize spaces I have teamed with Greg Dorsainville of the NYU Langone Institute for Innovations in Medical Education to create immersive eXtended Reality (XR) educational experiences into these mysterious spaces.
XR experiences are those where real and virtual elements are combined in human-machine interactions facilitated through screens and/or wearable devices. XR experiences extend the sensory perception of the user beyond the physical environment into a virtual space. XR is a spectrum of real-digital interaction ranging from single sense inputs to complete immersion in a virtual environment.
In our case, we build 3D virtual spaces by importing 3D models I have created and adding lights, textures, animations, and interactions. These spaces are then hosted on the web using the Mozilla Hubs platform. Learn more about our methods and experiences here.
Students have entered the heart and GI tract on their desktops, navigating through multiple regions using their mouse and keyboard reminiscent of PC based gaming. The heart was later redesigned for VR, as was the pterygopalatine fossa, a small space in the middle of the skull. Associated with each XR experience students were given tutorial experiences to learn pertinent skills and gain familiarity with the virtual world.
If you want to learn more, or try out one of our virtual experiences shoot us an email at kristen.ramirez@nyulangone.org.
Heart
GI Tract
Pterygopalatine Fossa (Skull)
Our efforts into the use of XR resources in medical education have been presented at various academic conferences.
2024. Ramirez, K. and Dorsainville, G. Immersive anatomy: custom VR experiences into the body. Northeast Group on Educational Affairs Annual Meeting, AAMC.
2022. Dorsainville, G. and Ramirez, K. Onboarding Design and Deployment for Custom Virtual Educational Environments. IT in Academic Medicine Digital Demonstration Conference, AAMC.
2022. Ramirez, K., Dorsainville, G., Lieber, J., Melamud, K., Clayburn, A., Harnik, V., Poles, M., and Oh, S. Immersive XR Anatomy Teaching Tools: Review of four custom-built virtual spaces, their deployments and educational value. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal.
2021. Ramirez, K., Dorsainville, G., and Clayburn, A. Standing inside the pterygopalatine fossa: An immersive VR lab station. New York University Grossman School of Medicine Medical Education Day Poster Symposium.
2021. Ramirez, K., Dorsainville, G., Lieber, J., Poles, M., and Melamud, K. A virtual escape room connects GI anatomy and clinical cases. Information Technology in Academic Medicine Conference, AAMC Group in Information Resources.
2021. Ramirez, K.R. and Dorsainville, G. An immersive web-based experience into the heart. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
2020. Shearer, B., Ramirez, K., Dorsainville, G., Harnik, V., and Rosenfeld, M. Teaching cutaneous sensory distribution of the upper limb using interactive virtual reality. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
And covered by the media and other public forums.
Kristen Ramirez 