Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Louis Pasteur is one of my research and innovation role models. Not only because we have a word in the dictionary—pasteurization—that celebrates his work in food preservation and safety, but because he was one of the original thinkers who seamlessly combined research focussed on fundamental understanding of scientific problems with innovation that solved issues impacting society. He showed us that we do not have to choose between being a researcher and an innovator—we can be both.
Along with many of my colleagues, I aim to be a researcher and a disruptive innovator, applying new technologies and theories to the health profession. The road to this stage of my career has allowed me to see and contribute to the evolution of so many areas of my field, including technology and education. There is a complex relationship between science, real world problems and innovation, which is the birthplace of incredible development.
Over time, my passion, and the focus of my career, has become simulation-based health professions education. It is often said that “practice makes perfect” and simulation does just that. Simulation is a powerful tool for training health-care professionals. Trainees become proficient in performing routine skills such as catheter insertion, while experienced professionals can maintain skills required less frequently, such as pediatric intubation, or rehearse complex procedures, like tumour removal. This work uses research to find solutions, study their effectiveness and fuel transformation.
Despite these great benefits of simulation, it is expensive and not easily accessible in remote and rural areas. My research explores the application of disruptive technologies, like 3D printing, to make simulation more cost-effective and accessible. For example, a surgeon preparing for a complex surgery would be able to send a patient’s scan to a dedicated digital design laboratory, which would generate a 3D printable model of the treatment. The physician can then rehearse the procedure many times before performing it on the patient.
It is this kind of thinking that will help healthcare to evolve. So many companies are examining the obstacles patients and providers currently face, and are using new technologies and theories to address these problems.
In addition to my research career, over the last two decades I have been heavily involved in many leadership roles that put me close to the end-point users of the very innovations I was researching in my lab. This unique mix of research and leadership has highlighted to me the importance of strong partnerships between researchers and end-point users. Although collaborative models, such as living labs, exist and are very effective, they also highlight new opportunities for innovation. Specifically, researchers are good at solving problems through research; however, they are not always good at moving these innovations past the research laboratory. This leaves their partners and end-point users, those who invested in the innovation development process, wanting more. But this means there is fertile ground for entrepreneurship and startups. Working across the fields of rigorous research, practical innovation and entrepreneurship is not an easy journey, but it’s one worth trying. Pasteur remains a strong inspiration for it.
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
2001
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
1997
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
1996
Dr. Bill Kapralos is an Associate Professor at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Canada, and an Honorable Guest Professor in the Graduate School of Informatics, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan. Dr. Kapralos is a recent recipient of an Australian government 2018 Endeavour Executive Fellowship to conduct research in Australia and spent one month as a Visiting Research Fellow in the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation at Deakin University as part of this Fellowship. He is a past recipient of a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship to conduct research in Japan and spent two months as a Visiting Professor at Shizuoka University in Hamamatsu, Japan, as part of this Fellowship. He is also a past recipient of an IBM Centres for Advanced Studies Faculty Award, a past co-recipient of a Google Faculty Award.
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Honours, First Class, With Distinction
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Kapralos has led several large interdisciplinary and international virtual simulation/serious gaming research projects that have brought together experts from medicine/surgery, medical education, game development/computer science, and engineering. He is currently leading the serious gaming theme within the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Interactive and Multi-Modal Experience Research Syndicate (IMMERSe) initiative. He has been invited to speak on the topic of immersive technologies, virtual simulation, and serious gaming for medical education at numerous international events including a keynote presentation at the keynote presentation at the Healthcare Simulation Network (SIM-one) SIM Expo in Toronto (Nov. 30, 2017). In 2018, Dr. Kapralos was appointed as the Technical Lead of the Collaborative Human Immersive Interaction Laboratory (CHISIL), at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, in Toronto, Canada. The research conducted within CHISIL focuses on the use of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed realities in clinical, medical and patient education in the perioperative period. At the invitation of the Federal Republic of Germany as part of the Germany Visitors Programme, Dr. Kapralos participated in a week-long event (Aug. 2016), part of which focused on establishing collaborations between himself and German serious gaming companies and academics. Dr. Kapralos has chaired numerous international conferences and workshops including the ACM FuturePlay conference (2007-2011), IEEE Games, Entertainment, and Media conference (2014 and 2015), and the 2018 International Workshop on Immersive Technologies and Serious Gaming for Health Professions Education (2018).
Dr. Kapralos’ research is centred on two themes: i) spatial sound generation, and ii) immersive technologies (virtual and augmented reality), and serious games. His research objectives include the development of multi-modal virtual learning environments/serious games that maximize learning, ultimately connecting my two current research themes. Additional interests (and expertise), lie in the fields of multi-modal virtual environments/simulation/reality, the perception of auditory events, multimodal interactions, and curriculum development. He is currently part of an NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience Program grant worth CAD$1,650,000 distributed amongst seven researchers at various universities in Ontario and focused on providing students with industry-based human-computer interaction experience. He is also currently leading the serious gaming theme within the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Interactive and Multi-Modal Experience Research Syndicate (IMMERSe) initiative, and has been involved in many large interdisciplinary and international initiatives that included experts from Canada, Australia, Germany, Colombia, Chile, United States, Greece, and Japan. He has also received considerable research funding from international sources to support this research including grants from Colombia, Japan and Germany.
For a comprehensive list of publications, visit IEEE Xplore, ACM or Pubmed.
My interest in immersive technologies began when I started working with virtual reality (VR) as part of my undergraduate Mechatronics Engineering studies. I had the opportunity to implement and develop several simulations for industrial processes and mechanical design. After witnessing the vast number of VR applications and its potential impacts outside of engineering, I pursued an engineering VR developer position at the Virtual Reality Center at the Universidad M. Nueva Granada University in 2004. That experience led me to expand my understanding of VR and simulation while engaging in further medical applications, including periodontal ligament simulation and anatomical 3D visualizations. As a result, I had the opportunity to design a VR undergraduate course, which I taught for two years to students in the Mechatronics and the Multimedia Engineering programs at the Universidad M. Nueva Granada in Bogotá, Colombia.
In 2007, I pursued graduate studies at the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, in São Paulo, Brazil. My master's work involved the development of a VR environment for teleoperating a human-like gripper within a robotics work-cell. For my doctoral work, I was awarded a scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). My research focused on designing a lower-limb exoskeleton coupled with a VR scenario to help those with reduced mobility engage in assisted physiotherapy. It was during my doctoral studies that I obtained a broader understanding of the importance of simulated scenarios in health care, and since then, I have been working with VR, human-computer interactions (HCI), and games.
Upon completing my graduate studies, in 2012 I obtained an Assistant Professor tenure-track position at the Universidad M. Nueva Granada, where I acquired grant-based funding to conduct research on VR focusing on medical applications. As a result of my research, I obtained a postdoctoral fellow position, which started on September 21, 2015 at the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo. My postdoctoral research focused on serious games and game-based learning, aiming to better understand the role of game technologies to improve transfer and retention of knowledge in medical training.
My research in VR has led to interdisciplinary collaborations seeking to find innovative approaches to address challenges in various fields. More specifically, I have focused on medical applications where VR can provide immersive, interactive and effective complementary tools to practise procedures such as cardiac auscultation, intra-venous and intra-osseus access, and eye examination. Alongside my research in VR, a component that plays an important role in its adopting is engagement. Researching games has led me to investigate the design and use of VR and 3D user interfaces towards creating interactive and meaningful scenarios. Areas of application of this research have led to project in health care in the form of exer games and serious games.
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
2016
Universidade Estadual de Campinas
São Paulo, Brazil
2011
Universidade Estadual de Campinas
São Paulo, Brazil
2008
Universidad Militar Nueva Granada
Bogotá, Colombia
2003
For a comprehensive list of publications, visit IEEE Xplore.
Associate Professor & Program Director, Bachelor of Health Administration and Allied Health Sciences Programs, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario Tech University. Member, Advancement in Dementia Care Centre steering committee, & executive committee member and theme lead Work Environments & Retention, for the Canadian Health Workforce Network. Current research studies include digital educational tools for interprofessional collaborative practice, role of MLT’s on primary healthcare teams, exergames for people living with Dementia and their care givers & the investigation of the lived experiences of unhoused Canadian female Veterans.