Hunter Hoffman
Director, Virtual Reality Research Center, Human Photonics Lab, University of Washington, Mechanical Engineering
Affiliate faculty, University of Washington's Department of Psychology
Virtual Reality is a unifying technology. Hoffman has collaborated with UW researchers in the Depts of Psychology, Radiology, Rehab Medicine, Anesthesia and Pain, the Pain Clinic at Roosevelt Center, Harborview Hospital Burn Center, Dept of Urology, Dept of Sports Medicine, Psychiatry, and Engineering. In 1997, Hoffman discovered/originated the technique of using immersive virtual reality for pain distraction during painful medical procedures, which he has developed at the UW, in collaboration with NIH funded pain researcher David Patterson at UW Rehab medicine and Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. Hoffman, Patterson, and Walter Meyer MD from Texas have recently conducted joint research using VR distraction to reduce pain in children with unusually large severe burn wound injuries at Harborview Burn Center and Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston Texas. Hoffman is also collaborating with researchers at the University of Montreal, using VR distraction to reduce the pain of young children (average age 2 years old) during burn wound care.