VR Medical Training Company Appoints Harvard Director for Board

Dr. Gianluca De Novi, Director of the Harvard Simulation Lab, has come on board as the Simulation Advisor for MediSim VR, a virtual reality (VR)-based medical training company. This engagement will reinforce MediSim VR’s commitment at a global level to drive VR simulation-based training for medical students.

Located in India, MediSim’s patented technology offers various training procedures for medical and nursing students in a fully virtual and safe environment. MediSim VR combines the benefits of VR and simulation to deliver immersive learning for skill training. Their built-in artificial intelligence (AI)-based competency assessment tool provides comprehensive performance metrics to both students and the institution.

As a resident company of IIT-Madras, India and Johnson & Johnson Innovation Labs, US, MediSim VR is rapidly growing in the SE Asia & US markets. Dr. Novi, is known as an expert who turned down Ferrari to contribute to the medical field. A lover of luxury and sports car, Dr. Novi was supposed to work on simulation of the Ferrari car, instead, he went into the medical field after witnessing a surgical operation on a five-year-old girl. He is an expert in High Performance Computing and a pioneer in AI, VR/AR, Computer Vision, and Blockchain. With a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering, followed by a PhD from University of Boston in Robotics and Control Systems, he joined Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as a visiting researcher for a year before completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Medical Simulation in Harvard Medical School.

By the mid-90s, Dr. Novi developed a keen interest in simulated computed-based surgeries. This led him to develop technologies and AR/VR frameworks for ultimate surgery simulation including task recognition and gesture analysis. Dr. Novi is on the Board of Directors of many leading technology & med-tech companies. MediSim VR is looking forward to using his expertise to further enhance their simulation capabilities and development methodologies.

Dr. Novi commented: “MediSim VR has built great VR applications and aims to push the boundaries of what can be done for medical training across the globe. The company has shown strong business acumen and willingness to grow, experimenting and contributing in the technology advancement. I feel honored to leverage my expertise and experience in this field to help MediSim VR to continue innovate and expand.”