Let the Gaming Begin!

Today the 5^th annual Games for Health conference kicks-off in Boston, MA.  The conference has sold out and for good reason: the schedule is packed with a dynamic lineup of speakers and sessions.  Pioneer has been a major sponsor of the conference since 2004 and we’re excited that it has grown to be the premiere health gaming event.   

Several of Pioneer’s grantees will feature their work during the conference:

• Debra Lieberman, national program director of Health Games Research, University of California at Santa Barbara, will be presenting on the “Age of Sensors,’ along with Marientina Gotsis, University of Southern California and Kevin Stanley, University of Saskatchawan, today at 2:00 PM.  A couple of Health Games Research grantees are presenting as well – Ann Maloney of Maine Medical Center will talk about social and psychological factors linked to exergaming play today at 4:30 PM and a team from Cornell University will update attendees on progress with their Mindless Eating Challenge game study tomorrow at 3:00 PM.  
• David Lowenstein from The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, will be moderating a discussion on ‘Games for Health and Education: A Policy Report’ also today at 2:00PM.  Look for news on an upcoming DC event on this report, to be held June 23.
• Ben Sawyer, President of Digitalmill and Games for Health Founder, will be leading two presentations during the conference. ‘Games for Health Potpurri: 10 Things We Might Have Overlooked until Now’ and ‘Health in Games: An Update’. Both sessions are tomorrow, June 12, beginning at 2:50PM

If you are at the conference you should stop by and listen to their sessions. 

These are just a few examples of the packed lineup that features the latest in exergaming, disease and health management, skills and workforce training, rehabitainment, epidemiology, and virtual worlds and health.  If you’re attending we’d love to know about which sessions or speakers you are excited to hear.

Also, we’re excited to see that HopeLab, with whom we partnered on Ruckus Nation, announced that they are collaborating with Virtual Heroes to create the next version of their amazing game, ReMission!, which helps kids fight cancer.  Funding partners include Vivendi, the Annenberg Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. 

As a reminder, Pioneer Portfolio will be tweeting throughout the event @pioneerrwjf and you can follow all live twitter feed from the conference here and here.  If you plan to tweet from Games for Health make sure to include the conference hash tag #gamesforhealth or #g4h09.