Contact Howard about: Product Development, VR Design Consulting, Business Partnerships, Media Relations, Public Speaking.

Howard Rose, Co-Founder and CEO of Firsthand Technology, a pioneer in the field of Virtual Reality for over 20 years. Howard’s passion is to use creative technologies, like VR, for positive and lasting benefit. His groundbreaking work has shown that VR offers limitless possibilities to make us healthier and more productive.

Howard co-founded Firsthand, with Ari Hollander as a vehicle to develop and market innovative VR solutions to relieve pain, treat phobias, and help people adopt healthier lifestyles.

Howard’s virtual reality career began as a graduate student researcher at the Human Interface Technology Lab (HTIL) in Seattle, founded by Dr. Thomas Furness, recognized as the Grandfather of Virtual Reality. Howard joined the HITL Learning Center which was exploring the frontiers of VR as a tool for constructivist learning. “It was an amazing, creative time to be at the center of this emerging technology. VR was wide open territory to explore, with no rules to hold us back. It opened my eyes to the tremendous potential of VR, and set me on my path to use VR to improve people’s lives.”

Howard’s portfolio of VR projects includes iconic health applications like SnowWorld for burn pain relief, IraqWorld to treat battlefield PTSD, and Attack of the S. Mutans to inspire children to improve dental self-care habits. Howard is creator of the world’s first VR application to learn a foreign language (Japanese), called Zengo Sayu, and one of the earliest Augmented Reality training tools for training anesthetic injection techniques.

Howard has secured an international reputation as a thought leader in virtual reality applications for health, therapy, and education. Howard is a frequent invited speaker at international events, where he shares his vision of how VR can tap into our untapped potential to make us happier, smarter and healthier.