Licensed Psychologists

Brenda K. Wiederhold - San Diego
Executive Director
, Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA serves as Executive Director of the Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC), a professional medical corporation with offices in San Diego and Los Angeles, California; and as Chief Executive Officer of the Interactive Media Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the application of advanced technologies for patient care. She is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD. Dr. Wiederhold is a licensed clinical psychologist and has a doctorate in Clinical Health Psychology, as well as national certification in both biofeedback and neurofeedback. She serves on the editorial board of CyberPsychology & Behavior Journal and is recognized as a national and international leader in the treatment of anxiety, panic, and phobias with virtual reality exposure and cognitive-behavioral therapy, having completed over 3,000 VR therapy sessions. VRMC offers comprehensive programs to treat fear of flying, driving, public speaking, heights, claustrophobia, panic disorder and agoraphobia, social phobia, and eating disorders. Prior to entering the field of psychology, Dr. Wiederhold completed a Masters in Business Administration, and has ten years experience as a chief financial officer of a management consulting firm, and served in civil service as head of internal audit for the government. She currently is completing her third book and has over 50 publications.

Dr. Wiederhold also serves as Chief Executive Officer of VRHealth, an international company with offices in San Diego and Milan, Italy. VRHealth develops virtual environments and clinical protocols as well as conducting clinical research studies using virtual environments and Internet-based worlds.

Mark Wiederhold - San Diego
President

Dennis P. Wood - Palo Alto
Clinical Psychologist

Licensed Psychiatrists

William H. Rickles - Los Angeles
Medical Director
William H. Rickles, M.D. did a postgraduate degree in Neurophysiology at Baylor School of Medicine and obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He took his in training in Psychiatry at UCLA and stayed on at the Department of Psychiatry as Chief of the Clinical Psychophysiology Research Laboratory. Dr. Rickles' early laboratory research and resulting publications concerned neurophysiology of schizophrenia, psychophysiology, migraine, marijuana and biofeedback therapy of stress related disorders. His interest in psychotherapy integration has produced lectures and paper regarding psychoanalytic object relations, self psychology, and physiological monitoring of stress reduction training. Dr. Rickles is a member of the clinical faculty in the Dept. of Psychiatry at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences and teaches at psychotherapy training programs in the Los Angeles area. His current interest and practice is in integrating treatment methods including Virtual Reality Immersion Therapy, Biofeedback, Medication and Dynamic Psychotherapy.