Chinami Michaels is the Project Manager for the Virtual Reality Laboratory within the Sonntag Spine Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, part of Dignity Health and CommonSpirit St. Joseph’s Hospital. She brings digital innovation to the nation’s #1 ranked neurosurgery residency program. The VR Lab leads has multiple patents pending and in development.
Barrow is an international leader in the treatment, research, and education of brain and spinal diseases. Led by the world’s top neurosurgeons, the Institute is one of the busiest centers for neurosurgery and neurology in the United States. Each year, our surgeons perform more than 6000 brain and spine surgeries. Renowned for its culture of innovation and surgical expertise, it was selected as the first site for Neuralink’s PRIME study.
Chinami holds a Master of Science in Biomedical Visualization (Medical Illustration) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and dual undergraduate degrees in Biology (BS) and Fine Arts (BFA) from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
She uses games, art, science, and real-time interactive media both as an artistic outlet and to stay fluent in the latest XR technology. Her mixed-reality game Cuddlefish was among the first MR experiences on the Meta Quest Store. As an Oculus Start member and a Meta Horizon Worlds Creator, she experiments with spatial narrative design in multiplayer environments. Her Japanese-themed cultural worlds Hanami: Cherry Blossom Viewing and Ryugujyo: The Dragon King’s Under Water Palace feature immersive environments and the first animated Kabuki play within Horizon Worlds.
Chinami is particularly interested in real-time high-precision object tracking (at submillimeter accuracy), XR surgical training, pushing the limits of Unreal Engine, open-source AI and U-Nets for automated spine pathology segmentation, and theme park design as it relates to spatial storytelling.
The VR Lab at Barrow Neurological Institute welcomes collaboration with industry partners. If you are developing next-generation medical devices, spatial computing platforms, or real-time visualization tools and are interested in clinical testing, technical feedback, or licensing opportunities, please reach out. Together, we can help shape the future of neurosurgical training and immersive medicine.
