Ahmet Seven | VR in Healthcare | Research Excellence Award

Published on by VR Research Awards

Assist. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Seven | VR in Healthcare | Research Excellence Award 

Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University | Turkey

Ahmet Seven, currently serving as an Assistant Professor at Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Turkiye, is an academic specializing in palliative care, chronic disease management, symptom management, death, and grief studies. With active research involvement in areas such as diabetes, hypertension, and internal medicine nursing, he has completed or is engaged in 30 research projects and has contributed significantly to scientific literature with 35 journal publications indexed in SCI and Scopus, 10 Web of Science–indexed publications, and an H-index of 3 based on Web of Science Core Collection metrics. His academic portfolio further includes the publication of 9 books with ISBN numbers, editorial service as Editor of the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences, and professional membership in the Turkish Nurses Association. While he has not yet participated in consultancy or industry-linked projects, he remains committed to advancing healthcare research and contributing to the scientific community. His ongoing work highlights the critical role of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in easing the workload of nurses and improving the overall efficiency of healthcare systems. He identifies a significant gap in Türkiye regarding nurses’ attitudes toward AI, their adoption levels, and their concerns and expectations about technology integration. His study aims to address these gaps by producing evidence that will guide the development of AI integration strategies in clinical nursing practice, support curriculum enhancements for nursing education, and facilitate smoother technology adaptation processes among healthcare professionals. These insights are expected to inform policymakers and contribute to national strategies for AI-enabled healthcare transformation. Ahmet Seven’s academic and professional engagement is supported by verifiable research profiles, including his Google Scholar account and Web of Science author record, which document his scholarly contributions. He has no patents or formal collaborations to date but continues to develop his expertise through independent academic work and editorial responsibilities. Through his nomination for the Excellence Research Award under the Global VR Research Awards, he certifies that all provided information is accurate and complete and agrees to the terms, conditions, and policies of the awards. His dedication to research, education, and the future of healthcare technology positions him as a noteworthy contributor to the scientific and nursing communities, with ongoing efforts aimed at shaping the future of AI integration in clinical settings.

Profile: Google Scholar

Featured Publications

Semerci Cakmak, V., Seven, A., & Sonmez Sari, E. (2025). Death anxiety and death literacy among patients with chronic diseases: A cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 25(1), 299.

Seven, A., Adadioglu, O., & Danc, E. (2021). How do nurses perceive workplace incivility: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Health and Nursing Management, 8(3), 388–396.

Seven, A., & Sert, H. (2021). Nursing care of a patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma according to the Watson Human Care Model: A case report. Turkish Journal of Science and Health, 2(1), 118–123.

Sert, H., Dogan, S. G., Cetinkaya, S., Pelin, M., & Seven, A. (2019). Health status of patients hospitalized in the infection unit and information needs of caregivers: A pilot study. Journal of Intensive Care Nursing, 23(2), 57–63.

Seven, A. (2018). Effects of nursing care based on Watson’s Human Care Model on dyspnea management, anxiety, and quality of life in palliative care patients (Master’s thesis). Sakarya University.

Seven, A., & Dulger, H. (2020). Compassion levels of healthcare and care services students and influencing factors. Social Sciences Studies Journal, 6(54), 28–34.

Dulger, H., & Seven, A. (2019). Determination of health perception levels of vocational school of health services students and influencing factors: A cross-sectional study. EJONS International Journal on Mathematics, Engineering and Natural Sciences.

Albert “Skip” Rizzo | VR Therapy & Mental Health | Lifetime Achievement in Virtual Reality Award

Published on by VR Research Awards

Prof. Albert “Skip” Rizzo | VR Therapy & Mental Health | Lifetime Achievement in Virtual Reality Award

USC-Institute for Creative Technologies | United States

Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist who founded one of the world’s first Clinical Virtual Reality laboratories at USC in 1995 and currently serves as Director of Medical VR at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, where he has spent three decades designing, developing, and evaluating over 60 VR and Virtual Human systems for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and research across domains such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, autism, ADHD, stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and other health conditions; best known for his groundbreaking BRAVEMIND PTSD therapy used with veterans and trauma survivors, he has collaborated extensively with computer scientists, engineers, artists, and medical leaders to advance the field, earning widespread recognition including being named one of Polygon’s top 25 VR innovators, Ozy’s “Godfather of Virtual Reality,” recipient of the 2018 Michael Dell “Engine of Human Progress” award, the ISTSS Trauma Innovation Award, the International Society on Virtual Rehabilitation Distinguished Service Award, the Best Paper Award for his VR ADHD classroom study involving 700 children, and the 2023 IEEE VR Lifetime Achievement Award; his team also secured second place and $1M funding in the VA Mission Daybreak competition for the Battle Buddy suicide-prevention system, while his career research portfolio exceeds $60M in funding—$30M specifically in Virtual Humans—with major grants from the Department of Defense, DARPA, VA, Army Research Lab, and leading industry partners including HP, Nvidia, Google, Dell, Intel, Samsung, HTC/Valve, AMD, Magic Leap, and many others; with more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, 31 chapters, 10 books, over 1000 professional presentations, 41 awards, and over 1000 media appearances, Dr. Rizzo’s influential body of work continues to shape and expand the global impact of clinical VR in healthcare and rehabilitation.

Profiles:  Orcid | Google Scholar

Featured Publications

Rizzo, A. S. (2025). Relationships between parent ratings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder behaviors and the Virtual Reality Attention Tracker in school-aged children: Cross-sectional study. Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Rizzo, A. S. (2025). Virtual reality exposure for treating PTSD due to military sexual trauma. Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Rizzo, A. S. (2025). Expert consensus best practices for the safe, ethical, and effective design and implementation of artificially intelligent conversational agent (i.e., chatbot/virtual human) systems in health care applications. Journal of Medical Extended Reality.

Rizzo, A. S. (2024). Reporting guidelines for the early-phase clinical evaluation of applications using extended reality (RATE-XR): Qualitative study guideline. Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Rizzo, A. S. (2024). Advances in the use of virtual reality to treat mental health conditions. Nature Reviews Psychology.

Rizzo, A. S. (2024). Reporting guidelines for the early-phase clinical evaluation of applications using extended reality (RATE-XR): Qualitative study guideline (Preprint). JMIR Preprints.

Rizzo, A. S. (2023). Reporting the early-stage clinical evaluation of virtual-reality-based intervention trials: RATE-VR. Nature Medicine.

Rizzo, A. S. (2022). Enhancing exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized clinical trial of virtual reality and imaginal exposure with a cognitive enhancer. Translational Psychiatry.