Defense Health Agency showcase highlights AI solutions for combat casualty care

By Cassidy Mills, Staff Writer

 

Dec. 2, 2025

 

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) hosted a marketplace showcase at Central Florida Tech Grove on Nov. 12, bringing together innovators from across the medical simulation and training ecosystem.

 

The showcase highlighted AI-driven systems designed to elevate combat casualty care readiness across the joint force, with the goal of delivering faster, more accurate and more scalable training that directly improves warfighter survivability.

 

Participating organizations demonstrating products included Exonics Inc., VRpatients, SIMETRI, Ameulus-XR Inc., Vcom3D, SimX, Information Visualization and Innovative Research Inc. (IVIR), Mentice, Design Interactive and DLH Corp.

 

Featured products included AI-enabled and immersive training solutions demonstrating capabilities ranging from AI-driven nursing and trauma-response scenarios to virtual reality training platforms and advanced performance-tracking technologies.

 

The event served as a proving ground for emerging capabilities and a direct link to DHA’s modernization efforts. One featured product, the Exonicus Trauma Simulator, is a headset-based system that enhances lifesaving training by allowing trainees to practice trauma response in realistic, immersive scenarios.

 

Another highlighted product, VRpatients’ spatial VR platform, delivers AI-powered nursing and prehospital care scenarios, enabling users to interact with virtual patients, make clinical decisions and receive real-time performance feedback.

 

Robert Bell, program manager for DHA’s Medical Simulation and Training Program Management Office, said the agency timed the event to gather insights as artificial intelligence continues to advance across the training and simulation sector.

 

“The primary objective was to evaluate advancements in artificial intelligence and its potential to enhance combat casualty care readiness,” Bell said. “We also wanted to see how AI could be applied across diverse training curricula, regardless of subject matter.”

 

Bell said the showcase helped DHA strengthen relationships with companies working in medical simulation, giving program leaders an opportunity to engage directly with developers, exchange feedback and better understand emerging commercial capabilities.

 

“The showcase provided a valuable platform to connect with innovative companies in the medical simulation training space,” Bell said. “It allowed us to introduce them to our organization and articulate how we align with the Defense Health Agency’s broader mission.”

 

Before DHA can award a contract, Bell said the agency must first gather detailed market information, including what technologies exist, which companies can provide them and how mature the solutions are.

 

“We simply cannot issue a contract without a strong base of market research,” Bell said. “This showcase will pay dividends the next time we need to secure a contract.”

 

Showcases like this help DHA conduct that research by allowing staff to see new technologies in action, evaluate their capabilities firsthand and engage directly with the companies developing them.

 

Bell credited Central Florida Tech Grove with playing a key role in planning and executing the event. He said the partnership supports DHA through outreach, participant recruitment, logistics and technical coordination.

 

“Tech Grove provides a significant force multiplier,” Bell said. “Their support ensures these events run seamlessly and helps foster innovation in medical simulation and training technologies.”

 

Bell said the event reflects a broader commitment to strengthening collaboration across government, academia and industry, and that continued engagement with innovators will help ensure the joint force has the medical capabilities it needs.

 

The showcase reinforced DHA’s push to integrate AI-enabled tools into training environments designed to prepare medics, corpsmen and clinicians for lifesaving decisions in future operational settings.