XRDC speaker Q&A: Sarah Hill on the power of well-being XR tech

Outside the world of games, VR and XR don't just have potential to help in advanced medical procedures, they also have the power to help people in their day to day well-being, coping with stress and other mental health challenges. 

At XRDC 2018, Sarah Hill, CEO of StoryUP XR, will be taking the stage to join other innovators in the field of health-driven XR and discuss how the field has grown over the last couple of years. For a quick discussion about Hill's work in the field, and to learn more about StoryUP's product Healium, we reached out to her for a quick Q&A which you can now read below! 

Attend XRDC 2018 to learn about AR/VR/MR for games, entertainment, healthcare, enterprise training, education, automotive, and innovative use cases across industries.

Tell us about yourself and your work in VR/AR/MR.
I'm the CEO of StoryUP XR, the makers of Healium, the world's first XR channel controlled by a brain-computer interface and other biometric wearables. I started using augmented reality as a television Journalist in 2011 to interact with viewers behind the scenes of a live TV newscast. A few years later, we started creating VR films. We got into well-being tech by noticing the reaction to our films from a group of terminally ill and aging World War II Veterans.

We decided to study what are these experiences doing to brain patterns and can we tailor media to impact well being. Healium XR now has about a dozen biometrically controlled VR or AR experiences. Our XR stories have been featured at festivals around the world. Our company's social purpose is a program we started called "Honor Everywhere" which provides virtual tours for terminally ill and aging World War II Veterans. 

Without spoiling it too much, tell us what you’ll be talking about at XRDC.
I'll be sharing about biometrically controlled VR and AR and what's different about XR for health. 

What excites you most about AR/VR/MR?
These are new tools with huge potential for wellbeing. 

Who would you like to meet at XRDC?
Potential partners who are interested in installing Healium bars at their workplace or organization. Content creators who want to collaborate with us.

What groups do you think would most benefit from work being done in the Medical XR field?
Healium is not a medical XR app. It is well-being tech. It's not meant to diagnose or treat any kind of disease. I think patients will ultimately benefit the most from work being done in the Medical XR field.  I also think nurses who suffer from compassion fatigue can greatly benefit from XR experiences like Healium and other meditation platforms.

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