Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Modeling & Simulation Applications in Bio-Medicine

Dr. R. Michael Robinson

1030 University Boulevard

Suffolk, VA 23435

June 15, 2010

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center
APPLIED RESEARCH AREAS

• General BOK/Applied Principles of M&S (fundamental concepts: theory of 

simulation, distributed simulation, interoperability, V&V, etc.)

• General / Social Science (non-medical life sciences: ecology, climate modeling, 

oceanography, biochemistry, etc.)

• Defense/HLS (interfacing M&S capabilities with C2, M&S OR support, analysis and 

visualization of military or HLS system problems)

• Medical & Healthcare (augmented VR, VOR, VR Rehabilitation, and physical systems 

modeling, etc.)

• Business & Supply Chain Modeling / M&S in Eng (changes in traditional eng 

disciplines: enterprise decision support, product design, optimization and more)

• Transportation (M&S to solve multimodal {road, rail and air} transportation problems 

– micro/macroscopic travel)

• Virtual Environments (domain specific virtual intelligent agents, construction of VE, 

flexible crowd models, task level planning of agents and immersive simulations)

• Education & Game-Based Learning – serious games to train soldiers, workforce 

and help achieve national STEM objectives.

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center
APPLIED RESEARCH AREAS

• General BOK/Applied Principles of M&S (fundamental concepts: theory of 

simulation, distributed simulation, interoperability, V&V, etc.)

• General / Social Science (non-medical life sciences: ecology, climate modeling, 

oceanography, biochemistry, etc.)

• Defense/HLS (interfacing M&S capabilities with C2, M&S OR support, analysis and 

visualization of military or HLS system problems)

• Medical & Healthcare (augmented VR, VOR, VR Rehabilitation, and physical systems 

modeling, etc.)

• Business & Supply Chain Modeling / M&S in Eng (changes in traditional eng 

disciplines: enterprise decision support, product design, optimization and more)

• Transportation (M&S to solve multimodal {road, rail and air} transportation problems 

– micro/macroscopic travel)

• Virtual Environments (domain specific virtual intelligent agents, construction of VE, 

flexible crowd models, task level planning of agents and immersive simulations)

• Education & Game-Based Learning – serious games to train soldiers, workforce 

and help achieve national STEM objectives.

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center
Medical M&S Application Areas

• Training and Diagnostic Tools

• Patient Care and Treatment

• Infectious Disease Spread

• Hospital Operations

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center
Training and Diagnostic Tools

• Used in tandem with a standardized patient (SP)

• “Tracked VPS” or wireless control

• Substitutes abnormal sounds for healthy sounds, supporting 

diagnostic training

• Licensed by Cardionics Inc.

• Partners include ODU, EVMS/

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Anterior Heart & Lung Sound 

Locations ( 12)

Posterior Heart & Lung Sound 

Locations (14)

Virtual Pathology Stethoscope
Training and Diagnostic Tools

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

•Computer generated 

dynamic organ models

•Sonograph of fetus is 

shown

•Virtual fetus is placed in 

real environment on SP 

that is not pregnant.

•Practice proper 

placement and hand-eye 

coordination

•Selection of 

injury/disease effects

•ODU, EVMS

Virtual Pathology Sonography
Training and Diagnostic Tools

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

• Virtual hospital for nurse education

• Interact patient avatars

• Variety of illnesses and injuries

• Nurses trained on admittance interviews

• Patient priority

• Immediate diagnostic requirements

• Increased efficiency and accuracy

• Virtual Patient Library

• VMASC/ODU, EVMS

Monarch General
Training and Diagnostic Tools

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Mechanical engineering 

strength and fatigue analyses

Strength models of bone and 

soft tissue (cadavers)

Simulated injuries

Diagnosis/treatment recommendations

Future work will develop models to treat trauma and 

diseases on a patient specific basis 

Ankle Joint Injuries
Using Xbox 360 for Rehabilitation of 

Brain Injured Patients

• Improve patents’ cognitive and motor skills

• Sponsored by Office of the Secretary of Defense, DoD.

• SBIR Phase I with MYMIC LLC.

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Patient Care and Treatment
Modeling Communication 

Helping Children with Severe Autism Communicate

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Patient Care and Treatment

Funded by Microsoft Research

Partner: Clermont University, CA
Virtual Reality

Helping Children with Cerebral Palsy Walk

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Patient Care and Treatment
•Opposed helicopter extraction model

•Improved modeling can be used to 

improve tactical planning 

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Patient Care and Treatment

Development and Assessment of 

Physical Training Regimes

•Assess importance of individual physical 

fitness on survivability

•Data collection funded by ONR. Measure 

12 meter “rush speeds

0.00%

50.00%

100.00%

0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150

Survivability vs Rushing Distance 

(m)

Survival Slow (2.34m/sec)

Survival Fast (3.78 m/sec)
Infectious Disease Spread

•Funded by NIH

•Partners: ODU, Johns Hopkins, 

U. Maryland, U. Michigan

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Tick-Borne Diseases: Rift Valley Fever 

•Collecting ticks from coastal 

Virginia sites from May through 

October

•Develop and use model to 

predict optimal control strategy
Infectious Disease Spread

• Assess compliance to infection 

control protocols

• Analyze potential spread of a 

pathogen

• Increase awareness through 

visualization

• Funded by NSF

• Partners: ODU, Murray State U., 

Marymount U. , U. of TN

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Cholera Model structure

Optimal Strategies for 

Controlling Cholera Outbreaks
Disaster Medical Assistance Team – DMAT 

Gaming Solution for Training and Assessment

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Hospital Operations

Funded by Mymic LLC through SBIR Phase I and II (2007-2010) 

Partners: Mymic LLC, Forterra System Inc 

Goal: Improve medical response team efficacy using research 

oriented short experiments and game based training
Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Hospital Operations

Population

with

Non-Emergent

Need

fracton of pop

receiving treatment 1B

Population

Directed by

Education1

total market

enrollment1

insurance

coverage1

insurance coverage

intervention effects on PCP

utilization

utilization1B

repopulation life

education1

contact1

education intervention

effects on PCP utilization

Population

Directed by

Insurance

utilization1A Coverage1 Population

Receiving

PCP

Treatment

aggregate1A

aggregate1B

fraction of pop

receiving treatment 1A

Treated

Populations

flow1

repopulation

aggregate life1B

aggregate life 1A

flow1 life

fraction of pop

receiving treatment at

PCP

Population

Directed by

Insurance

Coverage2

Population

Directed by

Education2

Population

Receivng ED

Treatment

utilization2A

utilization2B

aggregate2A

aggregate2B

flow2

enrollment2

insurance

coverage2

effectiveness of insurance

intervention 2A

effectiveness of

education inervention 2B

education intervention

effects on ED utilization

contact2

education2

insurance coverage

intervention effects on ED

utilization aggregate life 2A

aggregate life 2B

flow2 life

fraction of pop receiving

treatment in ED

fraction of pop

receiving treatment 2A

fraction of pop

receiving treatment 2B

Modeling the Sensitivity of Inappropriate 

Emergency Department Utilization
Patient Arrival

Triage 

Process and 

Registration

Test? Doctor/Nurse

treatments

Admitted or

/Depart 

from ER

Pod A

Pod B

Pod C

T

F

CAT 4

Wait for Bed 

and 

assessment

Bed and Baseline 

Assessment

Bed and Baseline 

Assessment

Bed and Baseline 

Assessment

Test 

Evaluation

Testing

CAT1

Bed available

Test? Doctor/Nurse

treatments

T

F

Test 

Evaluation

Testing

CAT 2/3

Test? Doctor/Nurse

treatments

T

F

Test 

Evaluation

Testing

CAT 4

Hospital Operations

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Optimizing Emergency Department Resources

Backup Slides

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center
• Developing an internet based rehabilitation program for warfighters with functional hearing loss secondary to blast and/or 

mTBI (OSD, SBIR-phase I and II)

• Dr. Stacie Ringleb

• ODU

• Developing VR assessment modules to determine return to 

duty and affective (OSD)

• Dr. Stacie Ringleb

• ODU

• Improving VR based rehabilitation systems to treat stroke 

patients and collecting fMRI data on these patients (ODU’s 

Office of Research)

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center
• GaMeTT: Create a computer game-based software tool to track, 

assess, and train medical support teams to operate under 

stressful conditions. (Mymic LLC)

• Dr. Gianluca De Leo

• VMASC/ODU, Mymic LLC, Forterra Inc

• Iphone Application for Emergency Preparedness (Hampton 

Roads Planning District Commission )

• Dr. Gianluca De Leo

• VMASC/ODU

Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center