The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies’ Heartbeat magazine looked at “Innovative Learning Through AI and VR: Faculty-lead grants to test educational value of new technology” in its fall 2025 issue. The article examined the power of VR to enhance health care education thanks to a partnership with Bodyswaps Inc. and Meta’s XR Higher Education program. 
This partnership created a pilot program where Bodyswaps’ AI and VR software teaches “soft skills around communication, employability, and leadership to higher education and healthcare students” and where Meta afforded free use of their Quest 3 technology and equipment.
The pilot program was led by Miller School of Medicine (MSOM) faculty Gauri Agarwal, MD (at right), Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Education and Associate Dean for Curriculum, Mairead Moloney, PhD (at left), IDSC Core Faculty Member in Population Health Informatics and Associate Professor in the MSOM Department of Informatics and Health Data Science, and Greta Mitzova-Vladinov, DNP, APRN, CRNA (pictured bottom right), Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing and Health Studies and Director of the DNP Nurse Anesthesia Program at UM.
The VR scenarios allowed graduate nursing and medical students to swap bodies with the patient so they could to experience the interaction to see how them come across during difficult conversations.
• Read the full Heartbeats article (pp. 22-23) by Robin Shear | Download .pdf
• Also featured in Inventum article by Lauren Comander: “What’s Best for the Patient? Students Collaborate in Virtual Environment to Hone Soft Skills”
Header photo by Debora Cabrera | DRC Images, taken at Miami XR 2025.
