Virtual Ability, Inc.® presents the 13th Annual International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference (IDRAC) on Friday, Nov 15, 2024.

This annual professional conference will be held online, and is free and open to the public.

The conference will take place in Second Life® at The Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island.

The conference will also be Live Streamed on YouTube.

Our theme this year is “Disability & Health: Where will AI take us?” Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an area of current research interest and regulatory concern. It holds both promise and peril for people with disabilities and healthcare in general. The utility and problems of AI differ for people with different types of disabilities. This conference offers a quick look at this broad topic. We expect lively discussions and information sharing among presenters and our very interested and interactive audience.

Below is the schedule of the presenters from different parts of the world who will share their thoughts and predictions about AI, Disability and Health.

IDRAC 2024 Schedule of Events

IDRAC 2024 Speaker Biographies

Speaker	Speaker
Denis R. Newman-Griffis	Dr Denis Newman-Griffis (they/them) is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor of Data Science at the University of Sheffield (UK) and a proudly queer and neurodivergent academic. Denis’ research and teaching focuses on responsible use of artificial intelligence in practice, with a particular focus on health and disability. They aim to build open and inclusive international community around ethical and effective use of AI to better inform health, disability, and data-driven understanding of being human.
Nicholas Lesica	Nicholas Lesica is Professor of Neuroengineering at the Ear Institute, University College London (UK). His research has focused on understanding how neural networks process sound in the brain. His group develops experimental and computational tools to aid individuals with hearing loss.
Aldo Faisal	Aldo Faisal is the Professor of AI & Neuroscience at the Department of Computing and the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London (UK). His research aims to understand the brain with principles from engineering, which often translates into direct technological applications for patients. He is also an Associate Editor for Nature Scientific Data and PLOS Computational Biology and has chaired numerous professional conferences.
Sahrish Panjwani-Charania	Sahrish Panjwani-Charania is pursuing a PhD in science education. She is an instructional coach supporting high school interrelated special education teachers with Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia. She is also the project manager for Proportionate Shares, which develops resources for students with disabilities in private schools or homeschooled.
Rose Hill	Rose Hill, MLIS, CPC, SUDP-T, is a Certified Peer Counselor with a focus in trauma and crisis counseling. She is in her final year of a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program. She has extensive professional and lived experience with a wide range of therapy modalities with specialized training in relational therapy, somatic therapy, existential therapy, psychotherapy, CBT, DBT, EMDR, and crisis intervention. She is currently an OUD specialist at Crisis Connections in Seattle, WA
Muhammad Mamdani	Muhammad Mamdani, PharmD, MA, MPH, is Vice President for Data Science and Advanced Analytics at Unity Health Toronto. A professor at the University of Toronto, he holds the Odette Chair in Advanced Analytics. He is Director of the University of Toronto Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM) and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute.
Amol Verma	Dr. Amol Verma, MD, is associated with the St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto; Department of Medicine, the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He worked on the design and implementation of the CHARTwatch intervention.
Cynthia Calongne	Cynthia Calongne is Professor Emerita at Colorado Technical University. She teaches doctoral AI and computer science. She serves on the board of the Nonprofit Commons as Education Co-Chair, creates AI art for exhibitions in SL and elsewhere, and conducts game simulation research at Virtual Harmony using OpenSimulator.
Carol Miller	Carol Miller, whose work focuses on language development, is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at Penn State. She is a member of the AI Institute for Exceptional Education's subgroup on learning science for children with disabilities.
Kate Glazko	Kate Glazko is a graduate student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. She has presented at and has papers published for the Association of Computing Machinery, which is a leading industry association for computer scientists.