Sara Heldring

Sara Heldring is an Assistant Professor and PhD holder at Sophiahemmet University, specializing in ambulance care as a Registered Nurse and Specialist Nurse. Her work bridges clinical practice and academia, focusing on enhancing ambulance personnel training through virtual reality (VR) technology. She is affiliated with the Department of Health Promotion Science and contributes to the LLiHCC research group and Ambulatory Care project group.

Her research investigates how VR can simulate realistic mass casualty incidents (e.g., bombings, school shootings) to improve emergency response skills. Key projects include evaluating VR's effectiveness in training scenarios, analyzing clinical reasoning under pressure, and advocating for scalable VR implementation in ambulance education. She has presented her work globally, including at a Barcelona conference, and adapts to challenges like pandemic-related remote learning.

Dr. Heldring’s recent milestone includes defending her thesis “Virtual reality as a pedagogical method when learning about mass casualty incidents” in June 2025. Her advocacy emphasizes systematic feedback mechanisms in VR training and its potential to save lives during disasters. She remains actively involved in ambulance care while advancing pedagogical innovations.