Centre for virtual medicine

The Centre for Virtual Medicine (CMV) focuses on the integration of virtual reality and related new technologies in clinical research and patient care.

It provides the expertise and technological infrastructure necessary to transfer innovation and translate basic research to the clinical environment.

The CMV is the result of a collaboration between the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, the Department of Medicine and the Department of Diagnostics at the HUG, the Medical Faculty at Unige, in close collaboration with the EPFL. It lies at the interface between engineering, medicine and human behavioural research, and focuses on the application of technological advances to clinical research, both at the bedside of patients in hospital and in their homes.

The CMV is a pioneer in the use of the latest virtual reality technologies (virtual reality, immersive virtual reality, augmented reality or mixed reality) and the Internet of Things (IoT, smart healthcare, wearables, remote monitoring) for clinical research and new medical practice for research, diagnostics, anaesthesia and therapy, and for patient well-being.

The CMV is open to the development of applications in all medical fields: surgery, internal medicine, neurology and psychiatry, intensive care, anaesthesiology, orthopaedics, rehabilitation medicine, geriatrics and palliative care.

The CMV is an important link to Campus Biotech within the HUG. It brings the specific skills and solutions developed at Campus Biotech to the patients’ bedside. It facilitates clinical research and the development of new technologies with and for HUG patients, involving research, diagnostics and new therapies. The CMV stimulates collaboration between engineers, virtual reality specialists, neuroscientists, clinical researchers and physicians in three key areas:

• Clinical research
• Patient care
• Medical training

The CMV also provides direct support to research and application projects. It is an active centre for fundamental and translational patient research.  It is composed of engineers and clinical assistants as well as junior and senior research assistants, financed by research grants and joint collaborations between the HUG, the Geneva Campus Biotech Foundation, the EPFL and the HES schools.
 

The CMV works hand in hand with academic partners such as the EPFL and the University of Geneva, as well as with specialist companies such asMindMaze SA or OramaVR.