Roger Holzberg

Roger Holzberg

Roger Holzberg at Infusionarium.
Born 1954 (age 61–62)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation Health innovator, creative director, inventor

Roger Holzberg (born 1954) is an American health innovator, creative director, and inventor. He is the co-founder and creative director for Reimagine Well,[1] as well as the founder of the organization My Bridge 4 Life.[2] He also previously served as the Creative Director (consulting) for the National Cancer Institute. Through My Bridge 4 Life, Holzberg provides a wellness network for people facing health crises. Holzberg was for twelve years a Vice President / Creative Director at The Walt Disney Company,[3] both at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online and at Walt Disney Imagineering,[4][5][6] until he left to found My Bridge 4 Life in 2008.[7]

Early life

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Holzberg attended the University of Colorado in 1974 with a full Title III Talent/Creativity scholarship, majoring in scenic design for theatre and minoring in psychology. He received a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1976, studying writing and directing in the Theatre School and Film School. After graduation, Holzberg worked in various art department positions on films and commercials while honing his writing and design skills in live theatre on productions like Desert Fire,[8] The Trial of Mother Jones,[9] and Under The Rainbow.[10]

Reimagine Well

Holzberg is the co-founder and creative director for Reimagine Well.[11] Building on the Disney theme parks' "architecture of reassurance", Reimagine Well seeks to evolve patient treatment and healing by utilizing emerging technologies to create programs and services that better health and wellness outcomes worldwide. Holzberg, himself a cancer survivor who was featured in a Livestrong Foundation survivorship video in 2009,[12] designed the "Infusionarium" for the Children's Hospital of Orange County, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them,[13] and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.[6] He has presented innovations at the Society of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (SAYAO) conference,[7] Health 2.0,[14] Pediatrics 2040,[15] and Brink 2.0.[16]

My Bridge 4 Life

Holzberg founded My Bridge 4 Life (MB4L) to provide a wellness network for people facing health crises.[7] MB4L partners with leading healthcare organizations and foundations to enhance patient community awareness, engagement and interaction. My Bridge 4 Life wellness networks enable patients to connect for customized professional healthcare content and expert educational support.[7] MB4L also supports the patient community with professionally curated evidence based Tips 4 Life, one-on-one coaching and Video Survival Guides and Ebooks featuring leading specialists.

National Cancer Institute

As the first Creative Director (consulting) for the National Cancer Institute, Holzberg led a team to "evolve" the digital portfolio of the institute's messaging and education platform. Projects involved redesigning and relaunching Cancer.gov, launching the institute's Facebook page, developing NCI’s YouTube channel and directing media experiences that include projects like Prognosis Video Series.[17]

Walt Disney Company

Holzberg was previously a Vice President / Creative Director for the Walt Disney Company. At Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online projects he was the creative director for projects that included the massively multiplayer online game, Virtual Magic Kingdom, as well as Disney's Villains' Revenge and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters Online.[3] At Walt Disney Imagineering he served as the Senior Show Producer,[18] and Imagineering creative director for projects including the 100 Years of Magic and Millennium Celebrations at Walt Disney World, and co-invented Disney's Magic Moment Pins, location sensitive display device, system, and method of providing animation sequences. Holzberg sought to create immersive experiences in the tradition of Walt Disney's idea of "dimensional storytelling".[18]

Writing, directing, and designing

Holzberg produced Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, a 1996 educational simulation video game, and directed Steven Spielberg in scenes in which Spielberg himself appeared.[19] Holzberg wrote The Living Sea (1995; directed by Greg MacGillivray), which received an Academy Award nomination for best documentary. He is also credited as the co-writer and director of Midnight Crossing (1988; starring Faye Dunaway and Kim Cattrall), and as writer and director of the animated television film, The Magic 7, in the early 1990s. He directed the 2nd unit stunt units for Radioactive Dreams (1985) and The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), on which he also designed special effects props and weapons. Cinefantastique Magazine wrote of The Sword and the Sorcerer that "Roger Holzberg's special weapons are inventive creations, particularly Talon's spring-loaded triple-headed sword".[20]

Inventions

Holzberg holds patents for four inventions:

References

  1. ↑ Reimagine Well.
  2. ↑ "Roger Holzberg, BFA – Founder / Bridge Coach", My Bridge 4 Life.
  3. 1 2 Deborah Todd, Game Design: From Blue Sky to Green Light (2007), p. 32-33, 37-39.
  4. ↑ Carolyn Handler Miller, Digital Storytelling: A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment, Third Edition (2014), p. 434.
  5. ↑ Jim Korkis, "A Final Farewell to One Man's Dream", MousePlanet (September 9, 2015).
  6. 1 2 Jan Hoffman, "Infusionarium Aims to Take Trauma Out of Chemotherapy for Young", New York Times (December 16, 2014).
  7. 1 2 3 4 Emily Drake, "New Innovation in the AYA Cancer Movement: The Future Is Here", Huffington Post, January 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Bangor Daily News - Google News Archive Search".
  9. ↑ LORI CAREY, IR Staff Writer. "Troupe’s summer season begins with ‘The Trial of Mother Jones’". Helena Independent Record.
  10. ↑ "Valley News from Van Nuys, California · Page 63". Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Our Story & Founders", Reimagine Well.
  12. ↑ Roger Holzberg - Livestrong Video on Thyroid Cancer (2009).
  13. ↑ Allison Druin, Cynthia Solomon, Designing Multimedia Environments for Children (1996), p. 10.
  14. ↑ "Roger Holzberg". Health 2.0.
  15. ↑ "Innovation Beach". Pediatrics 2040.
  16. ↑ "Thanks Roger Holzberg". BRINK Institute.
  17. ↑ Understanding Your Cancer Prognosis. 2 January 2013 – via YouTube.
  18. 1 2 Carolyn Handler Miller, Digital Storytelling: A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment (2014), p. 434-35.
  19. ↑ Joseph McBride, Steven Spielberg: A Biography Second Edition (2012), p. 431.
  20. ↑ Cinefantastique Magazine (1989), Vol. 12, p. 89.
  21. ↑ United States Patent 61/138,032.
  22. ↑ United States Patent 7,564,426.
  23. ↑ United States Patent 8295957 B2.
  24. ↑ United States Patent 7396281 B2.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.