New Jersey Health Foundation has awarded a $50,000 Innovation Grant to Tara Alvarez, Ph.D., to help create a 3D virtual reality therapy game for children suffering with binocular vision dysfunction (BVD). Alvarez is a professor of biomedical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

Alvarez is seeking to advance the development of a device and protocol that is therapeutically effective for patients ages eight to 18, and is less expensive than currently available treatments. The game format will encourage compliance by making participation fun for children affected by BVD, increasing the effectiveness of the treatment.

"After meeting with Dr. Alvarez, we began to understand that the binocular vision dysfunction she is addressing can have far-reaching learning repercussions for children with this disorder," said George F. Heinrich, M.D., vice chair and CEO of New Jersey Health Foundation. "We were drawn to the idea that Dr. Alvarez is employing a novel way for a child to participate in his or her own treatment, which could prove to be very effective when treating BVD."