Richard Boyd, Chief Architect for Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs
On the last day of 2011 Healthcare Information Systems Society's Annual Conference & Exhibition, Richard Boyd, Chief Architect for Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs, a renown expert in virtual reality simulation for computer gaming, defense and film industries, shared some of his vision about how advances in gaming and simulation technology have the potential to further revolutionize the healthcare industry, just as other advances in healthcare information technology shown by exhibitors and sessions at HIMSS 11 have done. In particular, Boyd demonstrated examples using interactive 3D simulation technology to enhance understanding of complex healthcare system environments and better forecast potential disruptive events. As one of the creators of the Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs, Boyd leads a group that utilizes cutting edge gaming and virtual world technologies to improve human performance. Before joining Lockheed, Boyd was the General Manager and VP of Sales for Virtus Corporation, where authors Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton were but a few of the collaborators Boys worked with as their gaming titles pushed the envelope of technology. While this session demonstrated very little in the way of open source technology, it does underscore examples of how technology has the potential to be re-purposed in ways that are not initially intended.