Obasanjo Bolarinwa | VR in Healthcare | Editorial Board Member

Dr. Obasanjo Bolarinwa | VR in Healthcare | Editorial Board Member 

York St John University | United Kingdom

Dr. Obasanjo Bolarinwa is an accomplished interdisciplinary global public health academic and demography specialist, recognised among Stanford/Elsevier’s Top 2% Scientists in public health and health services, with an extensive research portfolio of over 100 publications, multiple competitive research grants, and active editorial board memberships across leading international journals. He holds a PhD in Demography and Population Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand, an M.Sc. in Global Public Health (Distinction) from Canterbury Christ Church University, and both M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Demography and Social Statistics from Obafemi Awolowo University. His professional qualifications include Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and he serves as an External Examiner for MPH and DrPH programmes. Dr. Bolarinwa has secured prestigious awards such as the British Academy Small Grant (2025), NHS TEWV Joint Grant, Quality Related Funding from IHCI, UAPS–AIR Grant, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Early Career Grant, and the AfRes-Data Fellowship. He has presented research at major global conferences, including the International Population Conference, Africa Population Conference, PAA, ESHD Conference, LSE Postgraduate Conference, and the International Conference on Family Planning. Professionally, he serves as Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Public Health at York St. John University London, previously holding roles at the University of Chester and the University of Edinburgh, where he contributed to research design, data collection, analysis, and publication related to racially minoritised student experiences. His consultancy experience with Kent County Council further strengthened his expertise in research protocol development, statistical interpretation, and policy-relevant reporting. Dr. Bolarinwa’s publications centre on sexual and reproductive health, disability and sexuality, health inequalities, demographic behaviour, and AI in SRHR, with notable works in The Lancet, Reproductive Health, BMC Women’s Health, and International Journal for Equity in Health. He is an editorial member of SAGE, PLOS One, BMC, and Frontiers journals. His certifications span Good Clinical Practice, GDPR, digital and computational demography, COVID-19 research, and global health management. Highly skilled in statistical software (R, STATA, SPSS), data visualisation tools (Power BI, ODK, Kobo), spatial mapping (ArcGIS), and database management (SQL), he is recognised for innovative teaching, methodological expertise, and his commitment to equity-driven, interdisciplinary research that advances global public health, inclusive education, and population wellbeing.

Profile: Google Scholar

Featured Publications

Bolarinwa, O. A., Odimegwu, C., Babalola, B. I., & Mohammed, A. (2025). A qualitative study exploring the sexual experiences of women with disabilities in Lagos, Nigeria. Sexuality and Disability, 43(1), 1–25.

Bolarinwa, O. A., Odimegwu, C., & Tapera, T. (2024). Improving the sexual health of women with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review of published studies. Reproductive Health, 21(1), 1–13.

Bolarinwa, O. A., Odimegwu, C., & Adebisi, Y. A. (2024). Leaving no one behind: Addressing the sexuality of people with disabilities. International Journal for Equity in Health, 23(1), 129.

Bolarinwa, O. A. (2024). Inequality gaps in modern contraceptive use and associated factors among women of reproductive age in Nigeria between 2003 and 2018. BMC Women’s Health, 24(1), 317.

Bolarinwa, O. A., Adebisi, Y. A., Ajayi, K. V., & Boutahar, R. (2024). Sexual and reproductive health rights in the era of artificial intelligence. The Lancet, 404(10448), 120–121.

Bolarinwa, O. A., Hajjar, J. M., Alawode, O. A., Ajayi, K. V., Roberts, A. T., & Yaya, S. (2023). Multiple high-risk fertility behaviours and children under five mortality survivors among ever-married women of reproductive age in Nigeria. Archives of Public Health, 81(1), 175.

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

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.