Jane McGonigal, Ph.D., a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games—games that are designed to improve real lives and solve real problems—will speak on the second day of the main conference about how we can apply gaming to the health care industry.
McGonigal, director of games research and development at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit research group in Palo Alto, Calif., has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Army on how to use games to heal. She has also worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on using games to improve medical research.
But she is best known as the inventor and cofounder of SuperBetter, a game that has helped more than a million players tackle real-life health challenges such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury.
She will deliver a keynote presentation on gaming and heath care on Wednesday, March 9, the last day of RISE National 2022.
In addition, RISE Association members who attend the conference will receive a complimentary copy of her new book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything - Even Things That Seem Impossible Today. The book draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our brains to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable.
McGonigal will join previously announced headliners Nancy Messonnier, M.D., former director of the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Ryan Avery, a two-time bestselling author and the youngest World Champion of Public Speaking in history, at the annual conference, which will take place as an in-person live event March 8-9 at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn. Avery’s keynote is sponsored by Edifecs. Preconference workshops and a welcome cocktail reception will be held on Monday, March 7.
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About Jane McGonigal
McGonigal is a two-time New York Times bestselling author of the books Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.
Her TED talks on how games can make a better world and the game that can give you 10 extra years of life, are among the all-time most popular TED talks, and have more than 15 million views.
Her SuperBetter game has been effective in using smart phone interventions to treat depression and anxiety and has been used by professional athletes, children’s hospitals, substance recovery clinics, and campus health centers worldwide.
McGonigal’s work at the Institute for the Future focuses on how games transform the way we lead our real lives and how they can be used to increase our resilience and well-being. Her latest future forecasting project is the Ethical OS of gameful tools to anticipate the unintended consequences of new technologies, so we can avoid social harms and protect humanity’s long-term wellbeing. Ethical OS is currently in use by mayors, universities, start-up incubators, and leading Silicon Valley companies in a global, collaborative effort to make a better future—and not get blindsided by the tech we create.
Her presentation at RISE National will address how we can apply gaming to health care, such as simply a lesson on user interface, patient engagement, and the effective use of rewards.
RISE National 2022 will take place March 8-9, with preconference workshops on March 7, at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to attend the event. Click here to see the full conference agenda, roster of speakers, and how to register. Click here for our health and safety protocols.