Katie Brown
2014 Conifer High School graduate
2019 CSU graduate
My graduate studies are so challenging, and so much fun. We are creating a new degree program for me that combines biomedical sciences and education. I feel so incredibly grateful for the mentors who have made this possible. I have two research projects, both centered around application of virtual reality. I'll attach a fun pic of me on the cover of CSU's alumni magazine in our new VR lab! The first project is on using VR as a method of distance learning to bring high quality STEM education to rural high schools in CO. I train grad students as mentors, and they connect remotely to VR headsets in high schools to teach human anatomy through a curriculum I've been working on. The mentors and students meet in the same "virtual room" and use our anatomy program and real CT/MRI patient data! If the high school can just get grant funding for 4x VR headsets, we throw all of our resources at them: our VR program, my curriculum, our grad students... everything!!
The other project is centered around using VR to help surgeons with pre-operative planning. I work with the trauma surgeons and cardiology team at Medical Center of the Rockies, in Loveland. We are assessing patient outcomes for planning operations using traditional imaging (CT/MRI), and using these images viewed in true 3D in VR. The clinicians are really excited about it! We are studying its use in trauma surgeries, and with aortic valve replacement surgeries. The preliminary data is really promising, and I'm having a blast working so closely with these wonderful docs. They push me every day to grow!
Outside of the projects I help teach physiology, human anatomy and neuroanatomy. If I'm lucky, sometimes I even get to sleep!
2014 Conifer High School graduate
2019 CSU graduate
My graduate studies are so challenging, and so much fun. We are creating a new degree program for me that combines biomedical sciences and education. I feel so incredibly grateful for the mentors who have made this possible. I have two research projects, both centered around application of virtual reality. I'll attach a fun pic of me on the cover of CSU's alumni magazine in our new VR lab! The first project is on using VR as a method of distance learning to bring high quality STEM education to rural high schools in CO. I train grad students as mentors, and they connect remotely to VR headsets in high schools to teach human anatomy through a curriculum I've been working on. The mentors and students meet in the same "virtual room" and use our anatomy program and real CT/MRI patient data! If the high school can just get grant funding for 4x VR headsets, we throw all of our resources at them: our VR program, my curriculum, our grad students... everything!!
The other project is centered around using VR to help surgeons with pre-operative planning. I work with the trauma surgeons and cardiology team at Medical Center of the Rockies, in Loveland. We are assessing patient outcomes for planning operations using traditional imaging (CT/MRI), and using these images viewed in true 3D in VR. The clinicians are really excited about it! We are studying its use in trauma surgeries, and with aortic valve replacement surgeries. The preliminary data is really promising, and I'm having a blast working so closely with these wonderful docs. They push me every day to grow!
Outside of the projects I help teach physiology, human anatomy and neuroanatomy. If I'm lucky, sometimes I even get to sleep!
