Here’s How Virtual Reality Can Help Fight Disease

Last month, in a government building in Maryland, I put on virtual reality headset and got a glimpse of the future of medicine.

I was touring the Vaccine Research Center, located on the campus of the National Institutes of Health(NIH), the federal agency that runs public medical research in the United States. Our foundation has been working with the NIH for years—it’s one of the most important research relationship we have—and we get together occasionally to check in on our progress. After a morning of meetings, I got to visit the vaccine center with the institute’s director, Francis Collins, and his colleague Tony Fauci.

Our tour included a very cool demonstration of how researchers are using VR to examine viruses for weak spots that they could target in making a vaccine or drug. This state-of-the-art approach could lead to a universal flu vaccine—as opposed to today’s seasonal variety—and hopefully one day to an HIV vaccine. (I’m investing in a private company that’s doing similar work.)