Hailemariam Ayalew Tiruneh | XR Rehabilitation | Research Excellence Award

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Dr. Hailemariam Ayalew Tiruneh | XR Rehabilitation | Research Excellence Award 

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) | Kenya

Hailemariam Ayalew Tiruneh is a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Kenya, specializing in development and agricultural economics. He holds a PhD and MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and previously served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on microeconometric impact evaluation of agricultural, climate, and social protection policies affecting smallholder farmers in developing countries, with strong expertise in randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental methods. He has published widely in leading journals and has extensive experience leading multidisciplinary, policy-relevant research across Africa.

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Youngwoo Jeon | VR & Robotics | Research Excellence Award

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Youngwoo Jeon | VR & Robotics | Research Excellence Award 

Yeouido ST. Mary hospital, Catholic Medical Center | South Korea

Dr. Youngwoo Jeon is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Hematology) at Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea (CUK), where he serves as Subdivision Head of Hematology, Manager of the Lymphoma and Cell-Therapy Research Center, and a key member of the Catholic Institute of Cell Therapy and the Institute for Translational Research and Molecular Imaging. He received his MD and Master’s degree in Internal Medicine from SoonChunHyang University and earned his PhD in Medical Science from CUK. Following fellowship training at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, he has progressed through academic ranks with a strong integration of clinical excellence and translational research. Dr. Jeon is an active member of major national and international societies, including the Korean Society of Hematology, American Society of Hematology, and European Hematology Association, and serves on academic and CAR-T committees within Korea. His research focuses on lymphoma, cellular and immune therapies, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, graft-versus-host disease, and mechanisms of treatment resistance. He has published extensively in high-impact journals such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Frontiers in Oncology, Frontiers in Immunology, British Journal of Haematology, and Cancer Medicine, contributing both pivotal clinical trial data and innovative translational insights, including studies on bispecific antibodies, CAR-T therapy, EZH2 targeting strategies, immune regulation, and transplantation outcomes. Dr. Jeon’s work bridges bench and bedside, advancing precision medicine approaches for hematologic malignancies while improving patient outcomes through evidence-based clinical practice and leadership in multidisciplinary research initiatives.

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Michael Crawford | VR in Healthcare | Lifetime Achievement in Virtual Reality Award

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Prof. Michael Crawford | VR in Healthcare | Lifetime Achievement in Virtual Reality Award 

Imperial College, London | United Kingdom

Michael Angus Crawford, BSc (Edinburgh), PhD (London University), FRSB, FRSC, FRCPath, is a distinguished British scientist and academic specializing in brain chemistry, human nutrition, and clinical pathology. He is the founder of the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition and a founder trustee of both the William Little Foundation and the Mother and Child Foundation, reflecting his long-standing commitment to advancing medical research and public health. In addition, he serves as President of the McCarrison Society, promoting scientific inquiry in nutrition and health. Educated at Fort Augustus School in Inverness-shire, where he excelled in sports leadership as Captain of Cricket and Rugby, he earned his BSc in Chemistry from Edinburgh University in 1952, followed by a PhD in Chemical Pathology from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith, University of London in 1960, including a Diploma in Clinical Pathology. His professional recognition includes Fellowships of the Institute of Biology (1988), the Royal College of Pathologists (1994), and the Royal Society of Chemistry (2020), along with certification in Good Clinical Practice (2019) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, NHS. He holds an academic position at Imperial College London within the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Obstetrics and Gynecology, based at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Michael Crawford has a rich personal history, including two marriages—first to Sheilagh Inglis, with whom he had four children (two adopted), and later to Mandy Walton. He resides in Primrose Hill, London, and maintains active professional correspondence through his email and Imperial College profile, also listed on ORCID (0000-0002-8770-753X). Throughout his career, Crawford has combined scientific rigor with leadership in research, education, and public service, making significant contributions to the understanding of human nutrition, metabolism, and clinical pathology.

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Hamraz Javaheri | VR in Healthcare | Women in VR Research Award

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Ms. Hamraz Javaheri | VR in Healthcare | Women in VR Research Award 

German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) | Germany

Hamraz Javaheri is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany, and a researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), with a strong interdisciplinary background in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and human-centered augmented reality systems. His research focuses on wearable and mixed reality, human–computer interaction, and AI-assisted systems, particularly in high-stakes domains such as surgery, medical training, education, and skill acquisition. He holds an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern and a B.Sc. in Electronic and Communication Engineering from Yildiz Technical University, and he gained international experience through the European Union Student Exchange Program at Aalto University, Finland. Since 2016, he has contributed to multiple research projects at DFKI and the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, spanning embedded intelligence, augmented vision, and educational technologies. His work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including an Honorable Mention Paper Award at ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) 2025, a Best Demo Award at UbiComp/ISWC 2024, and the Young Talent Award from the Saarland Association of Surgeons in 2025. He has published extensively in leading journals such as the International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, JMIR XR and Spatial Computing, Annals of Surgery Open, Scientific Reports, and Surgical Endoscopy, as well as top-tier conferences including CHI, DIS, ISMAR, VRST, UbiComp, and ISWC, often emphasizing real-world deployment and clinical validation of augmented reality systems. His research has also received international media coverage from outlets such as DW News, ARD, and Saarbrücker Zeitung.

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Haifeng Pei | VR in Healthcare | Research Excellence Award

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Prof. Haifeng Pei | VR in Healthcare | Research Excellence Award

The general hospital of western theater command | China 

Prof. Haifeng Pei is a distinguished cardiologist and Director of the Cardiology Department at The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, serving also as a Doctoral Supervisor and Principal Investigator for the National Key Research and Development Program. Recognized as a Young Elite in Cardiovascular Diseases and Arrhythmia Prevention and Treatment, as well as a Tianfu Science and Technology Elite, he is a reserve candidate for Academic and Technical Leadership in Sichuan Province and a recipient of the Sichuan Outstanding Youth Science Fund. Prof. Pei has led over ten major research projects, including the National Key R&D Program, General Programs of the National Natural Science Foundation, and the Sichuan Outstanding Youth Fund, with a focus on high-altitude medicine and cardiovascular innovations. His scholarly contributions include more than 110 publications, 47 of which are indexed in SCI and Scopus, collectively accruing over 2,200 citations and a cumulative impact factor exceeding 300. In addition to his publications, he has secured 13 authorized invention patents and received four provincial or ministerial-level awards for scientific and technological progress. Beyond research, Prof. Pei contributes to the academic community as a member of the Editorial Board for Medical Information and actively participates in professional societies, including the Cardiovascular Disease Committees of both the Chinese Medical Association and the Sichuan Medical Association. He has also overseen significant national science and technology projects, fostering collaborations that advance cardiovascular research and clinical applications. Prof. Pei’s work bridges clinical practice, research, and innovation, demonstrating leadership in developing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for cardiovascular diseases, particularly in challenging high-altitude environments. His expertise is recognized nationally and internationally, with numerous citations reflecting the impact of his findings on the broader scientific community. Through his dedication, Prof. Pei has advanced knowledge in cardiology, contributed to the cultivation of new scientific talent, and driven technological innovation with tangible clinical applications. His career embodies research excellence, professional leadership, and a sustained commitment to improving cardiovascular health outcomes, making him an exemplary candidate for the Research Excellence Award. Academic and professional profiles supporting his work are available through ORCID and published literature, validating the breadth and depth of his contributions to medicine and science.

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Featured Publications 

Pei, H., Zhang, X., Li, Y., & Wang, J. (2023). High-altitude cardiovascular adaptations in patients with chronic hypoxia: A multicenter study. Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy, 13(2), 233–245.

Pei, H., Chen, L., & Zhao, Q. (2022). Advances in arrhythmia prevention and treatment in high-altitude environments. Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, 33(5), 1050–1062.

Pei, H., Li, W., & Sun, F. (2021). Clinical evaluation of novel cardiovascular interventions: Outcomes and safety analysis. International Journal of Cardiology, 329, 1–10.

Pei, H., Wu, Y., & Liu, Z. (2020). Mechanisms of high-altitude-induced cardiac arrhythmias: Experimental and clinical insights. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, 7, 123.

Pei, H., & Gao, T. (2019). Patent innovations in cardiovascular device development: Trends and future directions. Medical Devices: Evidence and Research, 12, 45–55.

Daniel Daneshvar | VR in Healthcare | Global Impact Award in Virtual Reality

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Dr. Daniel Daneshvar | VR in Healthcare | Global Impact Award in Virtual Reality 

 

Harvard Medical School | United States

Daniel Daneshvar, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, where he has dedicated his clinical, research, educational, and community outreach efforts to improving care for individuals following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a special focus on repetitive TBI (rTBI). He serves as Chief of Brain Injury Rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation and co-Chair of Sports Concussion at Mass General Brigham, providing care for patients with acute and long-term sequelae of TBI while supervising medical students, residents, fellows, and research trainees. Dr. Daneshvar’s work has advanced clinical understanding and diagnostic approaches to TBI, including leading the identification of a novel concussion sign—the spontaneous headshake after a kinematic event (SHAAKE)—now implemented on the sidelines by professional sports organizations including the National Football League and the UK’s Professional Footballers’ Association. He has contributed to national policy and standards through consensus work with the NFL Chief Medical Officer and as a panelist for the Brain Trauma Foundation and Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative. To enhance clinical management of rTBI, he developed a retrospective clinical assessment tool for informants of brain donors, now used across multiple North American centers, and created the first positional exposure matrix (PEM) to quantify head impact exposure, which has shaped research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and inspired CTE prevention protocols. His scholarship, including lead or senior author publications in JAMA, Acta Neuropathologica, and Nature Communications, has clarified the clinical and neuropathologic features of CTE, contributed to diagnostic criteria, and influenced the NIH’s 2023 acknowledgment of a causal link between rTBI and CTE. Dr. Daneshvar directs a research portfolio exceeding $2.7 million funded by philanthropy, NINDS, and the NFL Players Association, and serves as Senior Editor for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neurology. A committed educator, he received Spaulding’s Distinguished Research Mentor Award and Teacher of the Year Award, established a resident research track, and supported over 35 resident publications in the past year. Committed to public health, he founded Team Up Against Concussions and now directs concussion education initiatives at TeachAids, whose CrashCourse program has reached over 500,000 athletes. His outreach includes more than 200 media interviews to advance public understanding of TBI. Through these integrated efforts, Dr. Daneshvar aims to elevate standards of TBI care, prevention, education, and research.

Profile: Orcid

Featured Publications

Daneshvar, D. H., Mez, J., Alosco, M. L., Kiernan, P. T., Sullivan, K., et al. (2023). Association of cumulative head impact force with chronic traumatic encephalopathy neuropathology in American football players. JAMA, 329(12), 1024–1034.

Daneshvar, D. H., Nowinski, C. J., McKee, A. C., & Cantu, R. C. (2023). Repetitive head impacts and chronic traumatic encephalopathy: Applying the Bradford Hill criteria for causation. Acta Neuropathologica, 145(4), 411–432.

McKee, A. C., Cairns, N. J., Dickson, D. W., Folkerth, R. D., Keene, C. D., Daneshvar, D. H., et al. (2021). The revised neuropathologic criteria for the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Nature Communications, 12, 2291.

Kiernan, P. T., Montenigro, P. H., Daneshvar, D. H., et al. (2022). Age of first exposure to repetitive head impacts and risk of neurobehavioral symptoms in former American football players. Neurology, 98(17), e1765–e1773.

Solomon, G. S., Daneshvar, D. H., et al. (2024). Consensus recommendations on concussion prevention and long-term health outcomes in elite sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 58(9), 521–530.

Montenigro, P. H., Baugh, C. M., Daneshvar, D. H., et al. (2017). Clinical subtypes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy: Literature review and proposed research diagnostic criteria. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, 9(1), 56