Director, Clinical Technology Innovation
Innovation Ecosystem, Systems Design Lead
Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Caitlin Rawlins has been a Nurse since 2011 and with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) since 2017. In her first year of VA practice, she initiated the first positive distraction-focused virtual reality program for pain and anxiety management in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Ms. Rawlins then co-led the development of the VHA Extended Reality Network and played an integral role in the creation of the VA Immersive Program. She now continues to aid in leading VHA innovation and immersive technology utilization as Director of Clinical Tech Innovation, Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning’s Immersive Lead, Innovation Ecosystem Systems Design Lead, and co-lead of the Enabling Excellence in Emerging Health Tech (E3) Alliance and E3 Operations Workgroup in the Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning. Since 2017, she has directly supported the expansion of XR technology use from just a few sites to over 90% of VA Healthcare Systems and XR network engagement to more than 3,000 VA employees, including working as program manager, leading national pilots, facilitating data collection, and the developing healthcare integration resources in close collaboration with various VA program offices.