| European Healthcare Design

Sara Madbouli

Senior architect, Hopkins Architects, UK

Sara joined Hopkins Architects 10 years ago during her studies at the University of Bath, first working in the practice’s Dubai studio, and now based in their London head office, led by Principal Simon Fraser. She has worked on a variety of projects with Hopkins, including the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts, and the Buhais Geological Museum, helping to develop concept proposals through to construction. During her time at the practice, Sara has been involved in a number of hospital projects, including the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, leading the coordination of the medical planning with the architectural design. The project has a highly complex brief combining several different outpatient, inpatient and imaging facilities. She has also most recently been involved with the masterplan and concept design for the National Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sultan Haitham City, Oman.

Ab Rogers

Creative director, Ab Rogers Design, UK

Ab Rogers is a designer and founder of Ab Rogers Design (ARD), a design and architecture studio he established in 2004 and now runs with co-director Ernesto Bartolini. With specific focus on caring spaces, sustainability and inside-out design, the studio now works internationally across health, culture, hospitality and residential sectors, designing active, supportive, engaging environments that inject narrative and purpose into the everyday. In 2021 the studio won the Wolfson Economics Prize with its design for the hospital of the future. Following this, Ab co-founded the DRU+, a design research unit that explores the interrelationship between design, culture and neuroscience, using scientific rigour to deliver the art of care. He has taught all over the world, creating and leading the Interior Design MA Programme at the RCA from 2012 – 2015, and has delivered projects for clients such as Maggie’s, 180 the Strand, Tate Modern and Selfridges.

Adam Bradshaw

Technical Director, AECOM, United Kingdom

Adam Hope

Associate Director of Estates and Facilities, Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom

Adam Hope, Associate Director of Estates and Facilities, Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Akilah O’Brien

Disaster Recovery Specialist , VI Department of Human Services, United States

Akilah O’Brien is a Disaster Recovery Specialist at the VI Department of Human Services, St. Croix, USA

Albert Vitaller

Founding Partner Architect, Vitaller Arquitectura, Spain

Albert Vitaller. He is the founding partner of Vitaller Arquitectura. Architect by ETSAB-UPC, and Master in Large-Scale Architecture by UPC. Vitaller Arquitectura has developed projects in all their phases, from the creation of master and functional plans to overseeing the construction. They have more than 20 years of experience in healthcare and social care architecture. They have worked on the design of several medical care facilities, developing and creating proposals that foster the human scale, as well as the comfort and well-being of the users.

Alejandro Iriarte

Health Planning Principal, HDR, United Kingdom

in his more than 28 years of experience, Alejandro has designed/planned/built more than 2.6 million square feet of healthcare related facilities, including renovations and green-field hospitals. His experience includes several years of facilities’ evaluation and strategic/conceptual planning for leading Hospital Campus organizations across the globe.

Alex Senciuc

Associate Director, Archus, United Kingdom

An experienced healthcare planner and architect, Alex has led the development and delivery of major healthcare infrastructure and transformation programmes across the UK, Europe, Africa, and North America. With over 11 years in the healthcare sector and a PhD in strategic healthcare planning, Alex specialises in system-wide transformation through data-driven, collaborative approaches that align clinical, workforce, infrastructure, and financial strategies. With a portfolio of more than 63 projects totalling over £6bn, Alex brings a unique blend of design thinking, system data modelling, and stakeholder leadership. Through his PhD at UCL, he pioneered the use of simulation modelling in Integrated Care System (ICS) planning, enabling health systems to make evidence-based decisions across organisational boundaries. A skilled facilitator and project leader, Alex is valued for the ability to unite diverse stakeholder groups around shared goals and deliver innovation at scale.

Andrea Buckley

Technical Director, Lexica, now WSP, United Kingdom

Andrea Buckley is a Technical Director at Lexica (member of WSP) with over 15 years of experience in public/private sector partnerships in the UK construction and development industry, with a focus on corporate social responsibility policy. Andrea led the strategic development of the Demand and Capacity Climate Impact Model development for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, a unique model that forecasts benchmark climate related spells in the future, mapping flooding, overheating, air pollution and health deprivation. She has successfully led high-impact projects across the public sector, including net zero strategy for the General Medical Council, heat decarbonisation across NHS Trusts in the South East and Midlands and secured funding through LCSF, PSDS and local funding schemes. Her previous roles in development funding and social value with organisations, including Morgan Sindall Investments and GB Partnerships, have given Andrea expertise in finance structuring, Public Private Partnerships, PFI, ESG and stakeholder engagement.

Andrew Ardill

Director, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

Andrew joined Hopkins Architects in 2000 and became a Director in 2015. He studied Architecture at Queen’s University Belfast, where he was awarded the RSUA Silver Medal for his finalyear thesis. He has significant international experience on major Hopkins Architects projects, including a mixeduse skyscraper in Tokyo, the Dubai World Trade Centre One Central district, and the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts, a highly complex development comprising more than 87 pavilion buildings and an extensive public realm. Working alongside Hopkins’ Principal Simon Fraser, Andrew has coled several major healthcare buildings, including the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, now under construction, and the masterplan and concept design for the National Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sultan Haitham City, Oman. The latter features an innovative courtyardbased approach that creates a strong sense of community for each patient group.

Andrew Castle

Director, Currie & Brown, UK

Andrew Castle is a Director in Currie & Brown’s Healthcare Advisory team with a background in healthcare strategy and operations. He has over twenty years of international experience across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Andrew specialises in designing and delivering complex strategic change programmes. He has particular expertise in healthcare planning, facility development, and clinical strategy across primary, secondary, tertiary, and mental health settings. He has held senior roles, including Programme Manager at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. Andrew has also held consulting roles with the NHS and the Health Holding Company in Saudi Arabia. In addition to his professional work, he is a published author on Lean in healthcare and a former Health Service Journal columnist.

Andrew Hall

Head of Impact and Evaluation, CW+, United Kingdom

Andy is the Head of Impact and Evaluation for CW+, the charity for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In this role he oversees the charity’s strategy for evaluating the impact of its work, working closely with the Trust and key partners to measure and articulate the effect of its programmes within the hospital community. Andy originally joined CW+ in 2016 as a Musician in Residence, building on his background in both music and research to lead projects investigating the effects of arts participation on patients, families and staff. His work has led to publications and conference presentations across the country, including at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, and the Manchester Science Festival.

Andrew Jackson

Environmental sustainability manager, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, UK

Andrew Jackson is the Environmental Sustainability Manager at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, focusing on climate change adaptation, greenspace and the sustainability of our food within healthcare. Andrew has spent more than 12 years working within public and private organisations to improve environmental performance. His focus currently is to make climate resilience tangible to key decision makers within the Trust. GSTT have partnered with Lexica (member of WSP) to develop an innovative approach to healthcare planning to help understand the impact of climate change on patient demand at GSTT’s sites to plan for the future.

Andrew Simpson

Director, Andrew Simpson Planning Ltd., United Kingdom

Andrew trained in medicine but in the late eighties was diverted into work as a campaigner for better mental health services as a director of Mind the mental health charity. This led to his work in planning improved services for the NHS and thus to a wider role in urban planning. Andrew focusses on the importance of well-being and sustainability in urban planning. As Director of Estates and Regeneration for South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, he secured planning permission with a delivery model for the largest regeneration scheme on an NHS site in England at Springfield Hospital, based on a vision of integrated health and social care provision at the heart of a new community. Springfield Village is now substantially complete, representing the largest new neighbourhood in London since the Olympic Village as well as the largest new mental health facility built in the capital in recent times. Since then, Andrew has been engaged on a number of regeneration projects, aimed at creating new communities that respond to the housing, climate and ecological emergencies and are great places to live, work and play. He was a founder director of Lewes Phoenix Rising, a community development company that successfully promoted the genuinely sustainable regeneration of the last large industrial site in the centre of Lewes. This project is now being taken forward by Lewes District Council. Andrew specialises in community engagement and stewardship, ensuring that development responds to the real needs of existing people and communities. Andrew lives and works in Lewes, East Sussex

Anna-Johanna Klasander

Architect SAR/MSA, P.hD. , White Arkitekter, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Anna Johanna Klasander took her MSc in architecture at Chalmers in 1997, and finished her PhD here in 2004 with the thesis Suburban Navigation. Structural coherence and visual appearance in urban design. After almost ten years as a practitioner she came back to the division of Urban Design and Planning in 2014; since then she splits her time between Chalmers and White arkitekter. Her main professional interest is urban design and human settlements (of any size) as form and phenomenon, issues that she has addressed at Chalmers as well as at Gothenburg City Planning Office, where she worked for three years, and at White arkitekter, where she is director of R&D.

Anne Guri Grimsby

Senior Creative Leader , Arkitema AS, Norway

Anne Guri Grimsby is an experienced Norwegian architect and senior leader with deep expertise in the planning and execution of large, complex hospital developments. She has directed multidisciplinary architectural teams on major projects in Norway and Sweden, including the New Østfold Hospital (89,000 m²), Södertälje Hospital (40,000 m²), and Nye UNN Narvik (34,000 m²), serving as the primary liaison to client organisations across all phases. Anne Guri is currently part of the core team developing Oslo University Hospital’s New Aker Hospital (210,000 m²), where she focuses on functional planning and structured user involvement in collaboration with the client, and being the architect’s representative in the art commission for the project. A former partner at Arkitema and a healthcaresector leader since 2006, she brings strategic competence in user engagement, functional design, costcontrolled planning, sustainability, and project governance. Her work consistently supports the delivery of efficient, integrated, and patient-centred healthcare environments.

Annette Dörr

Interior Architect, heinlewischer, Germany

Annette Doerr is an interior architect and project manager with more than 30 years of experience at heinlewischer. Throughout her career, she has led the conceptual and interior design of numerous projects in Germany and abroad, contributing significantly to the firm’s healthcare and workplace portfolio. Her expertise extends beyond practice to academia and professional discourse; she has taught seminars at the universities of Palermo and Napoli and has presented internationally on topics ranging from interior design principles to the planning and organization of healthcare facilities. Annette served as the project manager for the surgical suite expansion at the Dortmund Hospital, North Clinical Center.

Austin Ferguson

Architect, heinlewischer, Germany

Austin Ferguson is an American architect based in heinlewischer’s Berlin office, specializing in the design and planning of healthcare facilities. With professional experience in both the United States and Germany, he brings a valuable understanding of the healthcare systems, regulatory frameworks, and design standards in both contexts. His cross-cultural expertise strengthens the firm’s local and international healthcare projects. Beyond his core work in healthcare design, Austin led the expedited planning and implementation of mass vaccination centers for the State of Berlin during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also played a key role in developing a refugee reception center in Berlin for Ukrainians fleeing the war, contributing urgently needed expertise during a time of crisis.

Aysegul Ozlem Bayraktar Sari

PhD Candidate / Researcher, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

Aysegul Ozlem Bayraktar Sari is a PhD candidate at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. Her research focuses on computational Building Information Modelling (BIM)-based methods for spatial analysis in healthcare environments. She develops graph-based and visibility-driven workflows integrating Revit, Dynamo, and Python to evaluate accessibility, integration, privacy, and movement patterns in emergency department layouts. Her work aims to embed spatial performance analysis directly within the BIM environment to support evidence-based design decision-making in complex healthcare settings. She has presented her research at international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals. Her broader interests include computational design, graph-based analysis, digital twins, and data- and learning-driven approaches in architecture, particularly in relation to healthcare design and performance-oriented environments.

Azadeh Kazeranizadeh

Architect, Billard Leece Partnership , Australia

Azadeh is a registered architect at Billard Leece Partnership, having joined the firm in 2021. Azadeh has worked with government agencies, Local Health Districts, developers and consultants on complex public projects. Her work engages not only with building design but with the broader systems that shape healthcare and community environments. She advocates for holistic approaches to health design, spaces that support wellbeing clinically, spatially, culturally and emotionally. For Azadeh, healthcare architecture should be restorative, dignified and meaningfully connected to the communities it serves. Azadeh approaches architecture as both a technical discipline and a social project. Born and educated in Iran, she completed a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering where she developed an early understanding that the built environment must respond to how people live, heal, gather and belong. She moved to Australia in 2017 to pursue a Master of Architecture at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 2019.

Azrin Jamaluddin

Researcher, Architectural Cognition in Practice , ETH - Zurich , Future Cities Lab , Singapore

Azrin is a researcher in the Architectural Cognition in Practice group. He holds an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from UCL and a BSc in Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham. He has experience working with behavioural, survey, eye-tracking, and neural data. His current research in the group involves evaluating the usability and effectiveness of a pedestrian wayfinding system using various methodologies such as deep dive interviews, user shadowing, and behavioural experiments using mobile eye-tracking.

Barbara Linowiecka

Assistant Professor, Poznan University of Technology, Poland

Dr Barbara Linowiecka, is an interior architect, researcher and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Poznań University of Technology. She specializes in healthcare interior architecture, evidence-based design, universal and ecological design, and place identity. In her research and practice, she applies methods such as eye-tracking, user behaviour analysis and participatory design to translate scientific evidence into practical design solutions. Her current work focuses on model patient rooms and hospital inpatient areas that enhance patient well-being, family comfort and staff efficiency. She has authored numerous scientific publications on interior design, sustainability and inclusive spaces for diverse users. Dr Linowiecka has completed over 60 interior projects, ranging from private apartments and public buildings to healthcare facilities. She combines academic research and teaching with collaboration with industry partners, physicians and engineers, enabling her to implement and test design solutions in real-world settings.

Barbara Miszkiel

Health Director Canada East and Vice President, HDR Architecture Associates Inc, Canada

As Director of HDR’s Canada East health practice, and a leader in design for mental health, Barbara is internationally recognized in her design of empowering healthcare environments, deftly balancing safe freedom of movement with care, treatment and the need for joy. She provides unique insight through her award-winning work, including CAMH, the Lutherwood Mental Health Centre, and Sunnybrook’s Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, and Hillsborough Hospital and Transitional Housing Pavilion. Her contributions have been recognized through global speaking engagements, articles as for the Design in Mental Health Network, and citation in the recently published book “Innovations in Behavioral Health Architecture” by Stephen Verderber.

Bill Saul

Senior Architect, Sable ARC, Canada

Bill Saul is an AAPEI, AAA and AIA registered architect in Prince Edward Island with over 25 years of experience. He has designed a range of mental health, civic, post-secondary, residential, health care and urban design projects across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, which have influenced his approach to design for mental health. He is also recognized as a leader in net zero ready, future focused design that balances environmental responsibility with patient care, bringing new standards and best practices to sustainable design, from patient experience to net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Cameron C. Brown

Associate Professor, Texas Tech University , United States

Dr. Brown is a licensed marriage and family therapist with more than ten years of clinical experience. He is an Associate Professor in the Couple, Marriage, and Family Therapy program at Texas Tech University, where his work focuses on the systemic intersections of behavioral, social, and physical health. His research includes areas such as health, attachment, ethics, power, and relational processes. In addition to his academic role, he is co-owner of Desert Sky Family Therapy, where he provides clinical services and supervises emerging mental health professionals.

Carlos Acuña

SITE ENGINEERING MANAGER, SACYR UK LTD, United Kingdom

Carlos is an accomplished Architect with extensive experience managing a diverse portfolio of projects across the Commercial, Residential, Hospitality, and Healthcare sectors. His core expertise lies in the latter two, where he has developed a strong reputation for delivering complex, high-value developments to the highest standards. Carlos has successfully led teams across both private and public sectors, working on the client and delivery sides. His leadership spans projects of varying scale, from smaller bespoke developments to large-scale initiatives. Notably, he played a key role in stakeholder engagement and delivery of multiple healthcare facilities, ensuring seamless handovers and stakeholder alignment. Carlos is quality-driven and highly detail-oriented, consistently focused on delivering exceptional outcomes and exceeding client expectations. His blend of technical expertise and strong operational leadership makes him a valuable asset to any project team.

Catherine Junda

Health Sector Technology Practice Leader, Stantec Architecture, United States

Cathy Junda is the Health Sector Digital Technology Practice Leader at Stantec, where she leads global digital health visioning, ecosystem design, and technology-enabled care models across acute, ambulatory, cancer, mental health, and community care environments. With a background spanning healthcare architecture, engineering, and enterprise technology, her work focuses on aligning clinical operations, digital infrastructure, and physical environments to support resilient, future-ready health systems. Cathy has led digital strategy and design for major healthcare projects across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, including regional command centres, hybrid nursing models, smart hospitals, and digitally enabled community care networks. Her work emphasizes equity of access, workforce sustainability, and the use of regional and virtual models to extend specialist expertise beyond hospital walls. She is a frequent speaker on digital health ecosystems, ambient intelligence, and healthcare system resilience, and actively contributes to industry forums focused on innovation, health design, and system transformation.

Cathy Walker

Manager Clinical Planning, Trillium Health Partners , Canada

Yvonne is a Senior Clinical Operations Manager at NHS England, currently working within the New Hospital Programme. With a clinical background that spans nursing, midwifery, and health visiting, Yvonne has dedicated the past decade to specialising in public health, holding roles across local, regional, and national teams to drive improvements in population health and address health inequalities. Her 21-year career in the NHS and wider public sector reflects a strong commitment to shifting healthcare from treatment to prevention by embedding public health principles into service design and delivery. In her current role, Yvonne applies this expertise to the development of new hospitals in England, ensuring they are not only centres of treatment but also environments that actively promote health and wellbeing. She has drawn on her experience and knowledge to support the creation of the Healthy Hospitals Enhanced Framework and Toolkit, integrating population health into hospital design and operations.

Chai Jayachandran

Healthcare Architect, Jacobs, United States

Chai Jayachandran, AIA, ACHA is a healthcare architect with 23 years of experience specializing in planning & design of complex healthcare spaces across the care continuum. Chai plays an integral role in client business development, thought leadership, staff mentoring and project leadership.

Charlie Prats

Architect and Medical Planner, Page/Stantec, United States

Charlie Prats, RA, LEED AP BD+C, LEAN BB IISE, is a Sr. Project Architect & Medical Planner at Page Southerland Page/Stantec, USA.

Chen Cohen

Partner, DIALOG, Canada

Cohen (who goes by her last name) is an award-winning designer recognized for her expertise in large-scale, complex institutional projects. With a background in both interior design and architecture, she brings a holistic perspective to her work, shaping buildings from the inside out. Her projects are defined by a refined interplay of light, thoughtful material selection, strategic use of colour, and carefully curated furnishings that work in harmony to elevate the overall spatial experience. Known for her methodical, hands-on, and highly collaborative approach from early concept through completion, Cohen translates clients’ visions and aspirations into elevated, enduring design solutions that are both timeless and beautiful. Her commitment to equitable and universal design is integral to her process. She leads explorations around cultural, physical, and gender sensitivities, ensuring that each project meaningfully supports and enhances the user experience.

Chris Bonnett

General Manager - Strategic Projects & Government Growth Initiatives, GE Healthcare, United Kingdom

Chris is General Manager of Strategic Projects and Government Growth Initiatives at GE HealthCare. He is a globally experienced healthcare leader with over 20 years’ experience in international markets. Chris specialises in healthcare projects, funding, and development. He has led government affairs, partnerships, and implementation programmes across complex environments. Chris works with public and private sector organisations to deliver large-scale transformative healthcare programmes for Ministries of Health and government bodies.

Chris Richardson

Architect - Principal and Technical Lead - Health, Jacobs, Australia

Chris Richardson is an Architect and Principal in Jacobs’ Health Architecture studio in Brisbane, Australia, with almost 30 years’ experience designing and delivering buildings for public and private sector clients. His work spans the full project lifecycle, from briefing and master planning through to technical design, delivery, commissioning and handover. Health architecture has always been a part of Chris’s career and has become his primary focus for the past decade, particularly within Queensland and the broader ANZ region. He currently leads the Jacobs Health Architecture team for the New Toowoomba Hospital, an 80,000 sqm acute services development for Darling Downs Health, designed to expand clinical capacity and strengthen regional healthcare resilience, scheduled for completion in Q4 2028. Chris is driven by complex briefs and multifaceted design challenges. He is committed to creating human‑centred, inclusive environments that welcome diverse patient cohorts and support improved health outcomes for the whole community.

Christian Wrede

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Twente, The Netherlands

Dr. Christian Wrede works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Interaction Design group of the University of Twente, the Netherlands. As a psychologist and digital health specialist, he is interested in innovative solutions to support ageing in place, informal care, and community nursing. His doctoral research focused on the design and implementation of remote monitoring solutions to support home-based dementia care.

Christine Chadwick

Managing director, Archus Canada, Canada

Christine Chadwick is the Managing Director of Archus Canada with 30+ years of experience in healthcare, including many executive and leadership roles. Christine brings system-wide expertise and skills including strategy/visioning, equipment planning, health services planning, masterplanning/programming, functional programming, lean thinking, digi-physical visioning, stakeholder engagement at all levels and input into healthcare planning. She has led major hospital and long-term care projects across Canada and internationally, with a focus on ensure that the clients receive price certainty and value for money whilst maintaining the highest level of patient care and staff safety. Christine is Co-Chair of the CSA Z8005 Digital Infrastructure & digital technologies in healthcare facilities. She also sits as a Voting Member of the CSA Health Care Facilities Technical Committee (Z257 TC). Alongside her technical expertise, Christine is a passionate advocate for developing the next generation of healthcare leaders. She is a Mentor in Residence and sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine & Innovation, a mentor for the Women’s Infrastructure Network and Founding President of the Canadian Women’s Circle of Healthcare (CWCH) (which is a national non-profit organization).

Christoph Hoelscher

Chair, Cognitive Science, ETH - Zurich , Future Cities Lab , Switzerland

Prof Christoph Hoelscher has been a full professor of cognitive science at ETH Zurich since 2013, with an emphasis on applied spatial cognition research in built environments. Since 2016, he has been a Principal Investigator at the Singapore ETH Center (SEC) Future Cities Laboratory, heading a research group on ‘Cognition, Perception and Behaviour in Urban Environments’ and now on ‘Architectural Cognition in Practice’, with a more translational focus. He holds a PhD in Psychology from University of Freiburg, and served as honorary senior research fellow at UCL, Bartlett School of Architecture, and as a visiting Professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Northumbria University Newcastle.

Claire O’Donnell

Principal , Parkin Architects, Canada

Yvonne is a Senior Clinical Operations Manager at NHS England, currently working within the New Hospital Programme. With a clinical background that spans nursing, midwifery, and health visiting, Yvonne has dedicated the past decade to specialising in public health, holding roles across local, regional, and national teams to drive improvements in population health and address health inequalities. Her 21-year career in the NHS and wider public sector reflects a strong commitment to shifting healthcare from treatment to prevention by embedding public health principles into service design and delivery. In her current role, Yvonne applies this expertise to the development of new hospitals in England, ensuring they are not only centres of treatment but also environments that actively promote health and wellbeing. She has drawn on her experience and knowledge to support the creation of the Healthy Hospitals Enhanced Framework and Toolkit, integrating population health into hospital design and operations.

Corey Horowitz

Associate, Senior Urban Planner, DIALOG, Canada

Corey is a registered urban planner based in Toronto, bringing over 12 years of diverse experience spanning multiple practice areas including mixed-use, institutional and healthcare-specific planning. He has led the development approvals process for multiple hospital projects in the Greater Toronto Area. His expertise extends to land use strategies, master plans, policy development and affordable housing. Through a collaborative spirit and design sensibility – shaped through years of working closely with urban designers, architects and technical disciplines – Corey’s perspective drives his impact at a wide range of scales and project stages. Whether crafting compelling visions and conceptual development or at more detailed design phases, at a site-specific level or through a broader strategic planning lens, Corey values a holistic, contextual approach.

Cristiana Caira

Architect, White Arkitekter, Sweden

Cristiana Caira, MArch, is Partner and Board director at White Arkitekter, Artistic professor of healthcare architecture at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, member of the Board at the European Health Property Network, and member of the Programme Committee for the European Healthcare Design Congress. Cristiana has 25 years of experience in planning complex healthcare environments in Scandinavia and internationally. Focused on increasing collaboration between practice, research and education, Cristiana has led major White Arkitekter healthcare projects, including the award-winning Södra Älvsborg Hospital Psychiatric Clinic, the Queen Silvia Children Hospital in Gothenburg and a large-scale extension of Karlstad Hospital. Her latest international project is the award-winning extension for the Panzi Hospital in Congo, in collaboration with the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Denis Mukwege. Cristiana is currently Healthcare design lead architect within the expert international team appointed to design Cambridge Children’s Hospital. Embedding research alongside clinical expertise in physical and mental child health, the hospital will be a state-of-the-art hospital designed to take care of the whole child.

D. Kirk Hamilton

Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M University, United States

Hamilton is a board-certified healthcare architect who had 30 years of active practice in hospital and ambulatory center design before adding a master's degree in organization theory and joining Texas A&M where he researches the relationship between evidence-based design and measurable organizational performance. He earned a PhD in Nursing and Healthcare Innovation at Arizona State University in 2017. He taught evidence-based design for health in the Texas A&M graduate program and co-edits the peer-reviewed HERD journal. He is a widely published author and frequent national and international speaker. He retired after 18 years at Texas A&M in September 2022 to become professor emeritus.

Dara Rasoal

Senior Researcher, Dalarna University, Sweden

Dr. Dara Rasoal is a senior researcher at the School of Health and Welfare, Dalarna University. His primary research interests include clinical ethics within the healthcare sector and medical decision-making processes. Dr. Rasoal has completed and published numerous research projects both in Sweden and internationally, exploring topics such as predictors and consequences of paid employment after retirement, moral distress among nursing personnel, and women's health and medical rights within healthcare. Additionally, his research addresses critical ethical issues related to women's health during the COVID-19 pandemic, elderly care, and caregiving ethics.

David Allison

Alumni Distinguished Professor and Director, Clemson University, United States

David Allison FAIA, FACHA is an Alumni Distinguished Professor and has served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Architecture + Health [A+H] at Clemson University since 1990. His teaching, research and scholarship involve the study of relationships between health, healthcare and the built environment. The A+H program at Clemson is nationally recognized for its focused curriculum and emphasis on design excellence within the discipline of healthcare architecture. It is committed to the integration of innovative design with academic scholarship and research in healthcare environments and healthy community planning and design, and it has won numerous national and international program and student awards for its work under Professor Allison’s direction. Professor Allison is also a Licensed Architect in South and North Carolina. He is a board certified, founding member and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Architects [ACHA], currently serves as 2025 President on the ACHA Board of Regents, and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. He was selected in 2007 as one of “Twenty Making a Difference” nationally by Healthcare Design Magazine and identified again in 2009, 2010 and 2012 by a national poll conducted by the magazine as “one of the most influential people in healthcare design.” Design Intelligence Magazine named him one of the nation's 30 Most Admired Design Educators in 2013-14 and again in 2019. He was also recently recognized as the Center for Health Design 2019 Changemaker.

David Nicholson

Managing Director UK, MENA, Tektology, United Kingdom

David Nicholson is the Managing Director of Tektology in the UK, Middle East, and North America — a consultancy focused on health system design, digital innovation, smart hospitals, new facilities, and transformation. With more than 20 years of senior executive experience at the highest levels, his career spans Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, and the UK, where he has worked on complex healthcare and public-sector challenges across diverse settings. His work spans major programmes with NHS trusts and NHS England’s New Hospital Programme, where he serves as a member of the Independent Technical Review Panel, Chair of the NHP Independent Digital Group, and a digital adviser. He also works closely with NHS Wales organisations and national bodies to support system-wide digital transformation. Internationally, his experience extends across Australia and New Zealand, contributing to strategic digital transformation and patient-centred care pathways, and across Canada and India, supporting large-scale health improvement programmes that align policy, technology and outcomes. At Tektology, David has been instrumental in developing innovative methodologies which help organisations incubate, evaluate, and scale new technologies rapidly. His work focuses on practical solutions to complex challenges, integrating strategic policy, digital tools, and operational redesign to enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes.

David Powell

New Velindre Cancer Centre Project Director, Velindre University NHS Trust, United Kingdom

David is Project Director at Velindre University NHS Trust responsible for the new Velindre Cancer Centre. He joined Velindre in May 2020 to develop the new Velindre Cancer Centre. David is also combining this with a role at the Alder Hey Health Campus for Alder Hey CNHSFT. David joined the Alder Hey Board as development director in December 2012 and has more than 30 years’ experience working in the NHS. Prior to his role at Alder Hey, David held development director posts in Bristol and London overseeing new hospital programmes.

Debajyoti Pati

Professor and Rockwell Endowment Chair, Texas Tech University, United States

Dr. Debajyoti Pati is a Professor and Rockwell Endowment Chair in the Department of Design, Texas Tech University. He has published widely in the areas of health and healthcare design. He has been listed on the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List and twice voted among the 25 most influential people in healthcare design in the US. He is currently serving on the editorial board of HERD journal, and on the International Advisory Board of the Swiss Center for Design and Health, among others. He is a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects.

Debbie So

Senior Innovation Manager, Imperial College Healthcare Partners, United Kingdom

Debbie So is a healthcare innovation and strategy leader. Her current role is Senior Innovation Manager at Imperial College Healthcare Partners, with a background in strategy consultancy and partnerships from Deloitte. Debbie is passionate about taking innovations from concept to practice across large scale public and private organisations to deliver user-centred care, including obesity pathway redesign for NW London, COVID-19 testing pathways, and the Vodafone Centre for Health. Her work was awarded Innovation, Growth & New Business Models Gold by the Financial Times and British Media Interactive Media Association (BIMA) Top 100. Debbie graduated with an MSc in Healthcare Design from Imperial College of London and an MRes from the Royal College of Arts London. Her thesis was on the redesign of a NW London based trauma emergency department to support effective, efficient and safe patient flow.

Deborah Wingler

Global Practice Director, Applied Research, HKS, United States

As Partner and Global Practice Director for Applied Research at HKS, Dr. Deborah Wingler collaborates across sectors to develop and implement applied research services that drive innovation and achieve measurable impact across the firm and health practice, globally. She also serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Advanced Research and Evaluation (CADRE) and holds an appointment as Adjunct Faculty in the School of Architecture at Clemson University. Deborah’s research focuses on improving the user experience by eliciting insight into users’ affective responses to high stress healthcare environments. Through her research, she has worked with some of the most forward-thinking Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and manufacturers, to reimagine primary, specialty, acute, and home healthcare. She is a well-known passionate patient and family advocate for healthcare design, researcher, speaker, and published author. She holds a Ph.D. from Clemson University in Healthcare Architecture and earned a M.S.D. in Healthcare Innovation from The Herberger Institute of Design at Arizona State University. Deborah holds several industry and academic awards. She was recently awarded HCD 10 researcher of the year for 2022 by Healthcare Design Magazine.

Deirdre Moreley

Clinical Lead, National High Level Isolation Unit, Consultant Infectious Disease and Intensive Care Medicine, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Eccles St, Dublin 7, Ireland

Deirdre is Clinical Lead for the National High Level Isolation Unit at the mater Miseriordiae University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. She is a Consultant Infectious Disease and Intensive Care Medicine. She completed FJFICMI and EDIC examinations and is on the specialty register of Intensive Care Medicine since 2020. She completed Higher Specialist Training in Infectious Disease in 2017.

Diana Anderson

Healthcare Architect and Physician, Jacobs, United States

Dr. Diana Anderson is a triple boarded professional – healthcare architect (ACHA-American College of Healthcare Architects), internist, and a geriatrician. As a “dochitect,” she pioneered a collaborative, evidence-based model for approaching healthcare from the medicine and architecture fields simultaneously. She has worked on hospital design projects globally and is widely published in both architectural and medical journals, books and the popular press, including The New York Times, The Lancet, Metropolis, etc. She is a past fellow of the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, which launched her current exploration of the ethics of built space. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston University and undertakes research in health design. She is a healthcare principal at Jacobs, contributing her thought leadership at the intersection of design and health, and was elevated to the Council of Fellows within the ACHA for her contributions to the profession.

Diego Morettin

Partner, DIALOG, Canada

Diego is an accomplished architect, driven by a strong belief in the transformative power of design to enhance community wellbeing. He specializes in large, complex institutional and healthcare environments, guiding multidisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholder groups toward clear, balanced, and human-centered solutions. His work reflects a deep commitment to addressing complex organizational challenges while delivering meaningful social impact. A collaborative and team-oriented leader, Diego is dedicated to mentoring emerging architects and fostering a culture of shared learning and design excellence. Grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the architectural process, from early visioning through delivery, he integrates diverse perspectives into cohesive, purposeful outcomes. His inclusive leadership style and strategic clarity have earned industry-wide respect and resulted in a body of work that leaves a lasting impact on both communities and the profession.

Domenica Landin

Associate Lecturer, University of the Arts London, Australia

Domenica is a a design researcher, consultant, and educator working between Bristol and London. Her research focuses on addressing the nature–culture divide and supporting people to close the sustainability value–action gap. She works across writing, spatial interventions, and consultancy, using collaborative and participatory approaches. She has contributed to funded research projects for the University of the Arts London and the Royal College of Art, exploring socio-environmental transitions, including shifts from extractive to regenerative practices in higher education. Her work prioritises relational methods and collective knowledge-making. Domenica's design strategies centre ecosystems and biocultural diversity, recognising the interdependence of nature, culture, and language. She advocate's for perspectives that have been historically marginalised, including non-human voices, and seek to embed these into design and decision-making processes. As a freelance consultant with The Place Bureau, Domenica provides research-led insights to support placemaking for city planners and stakeholders, including futures-oriented participatory workshops. As an educator, she takes a facilitative leadership approach, supporting interdisciplinary collaboration and diverse learning methods, including non-human pedagogies.

Dorsa Jalalian

Associate, Senior Urban Designer, DIALOG, Canada

As an Associate and Senior Urban Designer at DIALOG, Dorsa brings over ten years of experience shaping vibrant, inclusive, and people-centred urban environments. With a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and a Master’s in Urban Design, her work spans master plans, city-wide planning studies, design guidelines, public realm improvements, and large-scale campus projects across North America. Her practice focuses on creating places that feel lively, bustling, and welcoming to all. In recent years, Dorsa has also led and co-led major healthcare campus planning and healthcare visioning initiatives, supporting hospitals and health systems in imagining the future of care. Her work integrates community insight, placemaking, and long-term campus frameworks to enhance the experience of patients, staff, and visitors, while supporting the evolving operational and service-delivery needs of healthcare organizations.

Eduard Boonstra

Sector Director Healthcare, Deerns, The Netherlands

Eduard has extensive experience in design, project management, and strategic consulting within the healthcare sector. His focus is on delivering added value for the client, understanding the diverse needs of customers and stakeholders, and fostering connections between project partners. In his role as Project Director, he is strongly motivated to deliver successful projects for clients and involved partners, while introducing new, innovative ideas and insights. In addition to his project work as a Strategic Advisor, Eduard serves as International Sector Director within the Deerns Group and is actively engaged in innovations related to sustainability and Smart Hospital Building.

Edzard Schultz

Architect / Partner, heinlewischer, Germany

Edzard Schultz is a principal architect and partner of heinlewischer and spokesman for the entire office. He studied architecture at the TU Berlin. To this day, he is also involved in teaching and research, for example at Clemson University South Carolina (USA) Architecture + Health. He is a member of the “AKG – Architekten für Krankenhausbau und Gesundheitswesen” and is active in the DIN committee. His work covers the broad spectrum of complex building tasks, primarily buildings for health, with a holistic approach from master planning through competitions and realisations to evaluation. He is especially interested in the structural and communicative synthesis in the architect's work.

Elaine Turner-Lyn

Deputy Director of Workforce, NHS England- The New Hospital Programme, United Kingdom

Elaine Turner is the Deputy Director of Workforce for the New Hospital Programme at NHS England, leading national workforce transformation across hospitals impacting more than 200,000 staff. She works with trusts to assess future workforce needs, develop sustainable skills, and maximise the benefits of Hospital 2.0 to improve operational efficiency and patient care. Elaine also leads work on Staff Welfare Spaces Standards, workforce planning and modelling capability, and the synthesis of evidence around delivering care in 100% single bedroom hospitals. With over two decades of NHS experience, she has led major initiatives including training London’s COVID 19 vaccinators and coordinating the Nightingale London volunteer workforce. Prior to NHS England, Elaine worked at Health Education England on Nursing Associate and apprenticeship programmes and began her career in market research, specialising in culture transformation across the hospitality and airline sectors.

Elika Herischi

Project Planner, CannonDesign, Canada

Elika is a Senior Healthcare Architect who works on planning, design and coordination of various scales of healthcare projects. She has progressive and innovative experience in all aspects of healthcare planning and design, master planning, design development and construction. Elika understands strategic solutions, operational plans and business cases and can translate planning concepts into clear terms to client and team members. She has particular experience and expertise in Canadian healthcare projects and their design, planning and construction.

Elisa Cecilli

Senior Associate Strategic Foresight, Perkins&Will,UK and Portland, United Kingdom

Elisa Cecilli is a strategic foresight consultant at Perkins&Will and Portland Design with over 15 years of experience decoding socio-cultural change and its implications for business. With a background in economics, she distills complex trends into actionable strategic recommendations for the built environment. Her client portfolio includes the UK Government, Chatham House, Moody's, CNN, Samsung, Diageo, LinkedIn, and Transport for London. She leads international research and discovery programmes, applying futures thinking and design methodologies to unlock growth opportunities and help companies respond strategically to emerging shifts in technology, culture, and end user behaviours.

Elizabeth van den Brink

PRINCIPAL, ZGF ARCHITECTS, United States

With over 27 years of experience designing, planning, and programming healthcare facilities across the US and internationally, Elizabeth sees architecture and design as a way to leave a positive and lasting impact and to breathe life into projects that might otherwise strive to simply be functional or efficient. As a lead healthcare planner with a certified Lean Green Belt, Elizabeth integrates functionality and operational efficiencies with her proficient knowledge of project delivery, BIM, and Lean workflow. As a leader of the clinical team, she incorporates the latest trends and technology to provide for future generations of healthcare users. Elizabeth has built a reputation around quality project delivery and a focus on clients’ goals and objectives by providing innovative care delivery methods, adaptability, and design excellence. Her project experience ranges from initial stages in developing functional briefs, programming, master planning, stakeholder engagement, concept design, clinical planning, end user engagement, detail, and technical design as well as project management.

Elke Reitmayer

Senior research and lecturer, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria

Elke Reitmayer is an architect and senior researcher/lecturer specialising in architectural psychology and neuroarchitecture. She studied Architecture at Graz University of Technology and holds a MAS in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design from IUAV Venice. She has contributed to research projects in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, including participatory design of acute psychiatric wards and dementia-friendly hospital environments, integrating psychological and neuroscientific insights into evidence-based design. She teaches in Switzerland and Austria and is establishing a PSN-based Architecture research field at Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, combining psychology, sociology and neuroscience to better understand how people perceive and experience space. Her work focuses on architecture’s impact on health, behaviour and well-being and on participatory design approaches. She is also co-founder of the Hamburg-based company raumDNA, which developed “Architectural Profiling,” a method that analyses conscious and unconscious user needs and translates them into evidence-based spatial strategies that emotionally, socially and cognitively support users.

Ellen Gedopt

Architect · Director, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, The Netherlands

Ellen graduated as an architect at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA and achieved her master degree in ‘Urban Design & Housing’ at the McGill University in Montréal, CA. She’s a creative thinker and is passionate about working on projects that embrace issues of care; both the care of people, as well as the care of the planet. She likes complex projects and get really energized from working on projects with a positive social impact. With over 15 years of experience in Europe and Canada, Ellen joined our firm in 2019 and has been Architect Director since 2025. She has worked on healthcare, education, and housing projects, bringing an open-minded perspective from having lived in five countries and the ability to communicate her ideas in three languages. She has worked on projects such as Hospital Oost Limburg in Genk, Hospital Maas and Kempen in Maaseik, the logistics platform for University Hospital Leuven, Zorgsaam Terneuzen, and Youth Institution De Kempen – Campus De Hutten in Mol.

Emily Leonard

Healthcare Planner, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom

Emily is a healthcare planning consultant, with a scientific background in biomedical sciences and an MSc in Public Health. Emily has contributed to a number of large-scale healthcare planning projects across the UK and internationally, including four years working with the UK New Hospital Programme and supporting the development of a paediatric healthcare facility in Canada. Emily is experienced in developing schedules of accommodation, clinical briefs, standardised room designs, and facilitating clinically-led hospital departmental design workshops. She also holds a Certificate of Professional Development in the TAHPI Health Facility Planning Course (CPD and IHEEM Certified). Passionate about embedding best practice and clinical expertise into the future design of healthcare facilities, Emily focuses on optimising efficiency, productivity, and the experience for both patients and staff. With a strong commitment to resilience and flexibility, she strives to build towards future-ready facilities that deliver long-term value and adapt to evolving healthcare needs.

Esme Banks Marr

Strategy Director, BVN, UK

Esme is Strategy Director at BVN. She specialises in the intersection of human behaviour and the built environment. With a career spanning design, research, communications, and business intelligence, she translates data into actionable insights that shape the future of spaces and places. Esme has worked across diverse sectors, exploring how strategic briefing influences outcomes at every scale - from individual wellbeing to system-wide efficiency. Her expertise lies in bridging gaps between disciplines, ensuring environments are not just functional but deeply responsive to human needs. She is passionate about understanding how people interact with space and how this, in turn, impacts experience. A recognised commentator on the built environment, Esme has contributed to global conversations and publications on design and strategy, the future of work, sustainability and regeneration and digital transformation. Committed to breaking down industry silos, Esme integrates research, data, and strategy with design, to create holistic and future-focused environments. Her work ensures that the built environment evolves in a way that enhances both human experience and organisational outcomes.

Evangelia Chrysikou

Associate Professor, Programme Director MSc Healthcare Facilities , University College London (UCL), United Kingdom

Dr Evangelia Chrysikou is Associate Professor at BSSC UCL and Founder/Program Director of the MSc Healthcare Facilities. Multi-awarded RIBA architect and healthcare planner. She has published widely and has won several prestigious grants and fellowships including Horizon 2020, UKRI, Wellcome, British Academy, Royal Society of New Zealand, Sasakawa Foundation. Research interests span across the disciplines of Built Environment, Health, Digital Technologies and Social Science. Key author and Committee member of ISO 25553 (BS). Member of the National Accessibility Authority, Hellenic Republic by invitation from the Greek Prime Minister, led the working group on access and accessibility in healthcare. Former coordinator, Environment Section of the EIPonAHA, EU. She has worked as a consultant for international government bodies such as the Japanese MOFA, Peru Reconstruction Mechanism and the British Government for projects related to healthcare planning and architecture. Elected Former Vice-President, Urban Public Health Section, EUPHA. Invited ULI Life Sciences and Healthcare Council Leadership Committee Member.

Ewan Graham

Partner, Hawkins\Brown, United Kingdom

Ewan Graham is an Architect and the Health and Science Lead at Hawkins\Brown Architects. His work crosses traditional sector boundaries and regardless of geographic location focuses on developing healthy and sustainable places that concentrate on improving access to health and reducing health inequalities. He has led some of the most ambitious projects in London that combine health, research and education and speaks openly about the potential for good design and architecture to positively influence health outcomes for society. Ewan has worked on numerous projects in the UK that concentrate on creating better places and spaces with the explicit aim of creating improved levels of health in our society. His ambitions are to raise awareness of and improve the way designers, contractors, building commissioners and policy-makers consider the impacts of the built environment on population health. Ewan believes that brave, kind and caring architecture has the potential to drive down the level of chronic illnesses and mental health issues in our communities.

Farzane Omidi

Assistant Teaching Professor, Iowa State University, United States

Farzane Omidi is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Interior Design program at Iowa State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Interior and Environmental Design from Texas Tech University and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture, along with a Master’s degree in Environmental Design with a focus on healthcare design. Her research examines how built environments influence human well-being, with particular emphasis on evidence-based design, sustainability, and the role of environmental factors in care delivery. She holds EDAC and LEED Green Associate credentials. With more than a decade of professional experience in architecture and engineering firms, she has contributed to a wide range of building design projects, integrating research-informed strategies into practice.

Femke Feenstra

Architect · Director, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, The Netherlands

Femke Feenstra: Femke Feenstra is an interior architect, architect, and partner at the architecture firm Gortemaker Algra Feenstra. She trained at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. Femke believes it is important for a designer to look beyond their own discipline. “How can a designer contribute to the future of healthcare, wellbeing, and the built environment? How can a space support your health and overall wellbeing? An environment that supports what you do is essential.” She feels a strong social responsibility and combines a high level of conceptual thinking with practical solutions and an eye for detail. Currently, Femke is working on several projects for people with disabilities, as well as various healthcare and assisted-living projects. Her past work includes the outpatient centre for Rijnstate Hospital in Elst, an expertise centre for Ipse de Bruggen in Nootdorp, and a residential building for Humanitas for people with intellectual or physical disabilities. In addition to her projects, she is also responsible for research within GAF, such as the study: The Outpatient Clinic of the Future.

Fiona Daly

Director of sustainability and workforce and national deputy director of estates, NHS England, UK

As the National Deputy Director of Estates for NHS England, Fiona is tasked with leading the strategies, policies and national programmes to decarbonise of the NHS Estate, improve operational resilience and patient experience, and develop the 100,000 strong Estates and Facilities Workforce; driving innovation, engagement and delivery, and providing healthcare organisations with critical support they need to implement their plans. Fiona has 17 years’ experience of working in Estates and Facilities Management and is passionate about reducing health and social inequalities, establishing an estate that supports the transition to sustainable models of care throughout the NHS. She is focused on driving the delivery of a healthy, resilient healthcare estate; tackling organisational leadership, investment in the built environment and developing the skills and capacity of the current and future NHS workforce. In 2018 she was made an honorary professor at University College London (UCL) for her contribution in supporting the development of students in her field.

Fiona Lennon

Deputy Clinical Director, NHS England, United Kingdom

Fiona Lennon is Deputy Clinical Director in the NHS New Hospital Programme (NHP). An experienced NHS senior manager and registered nurse with a career spanning over 30 years leading complex NHS teams in major acute and specialist Trusts. She has worked in strategic health roles at both a regional and national level. Throughout her career she has been involved in various design and build projects including as a Project Clinician on the first ever tripartite private finance initiative (PFI) hospital scheme. Her background gives her a unique understanding of healthcare management and operational leadership to support the NHP deliver hospitals that are safe, flexible, and efficient for the future.

Fiona Parker

Senior Health Advisory Consultant, Currie and Brown, United Kingdom

Fiona is an Associate in Currie & Brown’s Healthcare Advisory team with over a decade of NHS clinical and healthcare project experience. Her experience spans service transformation, operations, and infrastructure projects across complex healthcare environments. She is passionate about innovation, improving health outcomes, and ensuring equitable access to healthcare services. Fiona brings strong clinical expertise and a deep understanding of hospital operations, patient flow, and care pathways. She has gained global health experience across Europe, Ireland, Australia, and the Middle East. Fiona is particularly focused on workforce transformation and designing digitally enabled hospitals that redefine future healthcare delivery.

Fiona Smith

Arts in Health Curator, Children's Health Ireland, Ireland

Fiona Smith is the Arts in Health Curator with Childrens Health Ireland (CHI). She has over 15 years’ experience in delivering large‑scale participatory arts projects across Ireland and the UK in a range of multifaceted settings. In her current role with CHI, she works in acute healthcare and across multi‑stakeholder partnerships with artists, children, young people, families and clinicians to design and deliver meaningful, creative and impactful arts in health projects in these complex settings. She champions ambitious artistic practice with the highest quality provision for those taking part and has a particular commitment to how creativity and curiosity amplify the voices of children and young people. Providing strategic leadership across both artwork commissioning for healthcare spaces and participatory and collaborative programmes, she advocates for the arts as a powerful and transformative influences on the delivery of excellent, patient centre care in these settings.

Francine de Stoppelaar

Specialist Advisor Medicines Optimisation, Health Delivery Partnership, United Kingdom

Francine de Stoppelaar, PharmD, MSc, CertBA Honorary Associate Professor | Digital Health & AI Innovator Francine de Stoppelaar is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 25 years of leadership experience across British, American, Dutch, and UAE health systems. Her career is defined by operational excellence, healthcare innovation, and strategic technology implementation, including AI-driven transformation. With expertise in both internal and consultancy roles, Francine has successfully led large cross-functional teams in delivering hospital activations, greenfield capital projects, and advanced clinical improvement programs. Her initiatives consistently enhance patient outcomes, safety, and medicines optimization. A pioneer in digital health, Francine has led on the hospital wide operational activation of Cleveland Clinic London, as well as spearheaded the implementation of the UK’s first Closed Loop Medicines Optimization model at Cleveland Clinic London, now fully operational and nationally recognized. Under her leadership, the initiative earned multiple accolades, including the Cleveland Clinic CEO Team Award and two consecutive nominations for the Laing Buisson Innovation Awards (2022, 2023). Her innovative contributions to healthcare earned her recognition as one of Intelligent Health Top 50 Innovators of 2023. She frequently presents at international conferences and serves on expert panels focusing on digital transformation and AI in medicine. As co-founder of The Asclepius Project, Francine is leading a pan-European initiative to automate and digitally transform hospital medicines optimization using AI and intelligent automation technologies. She is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Leicester and an Associate at Deloitte UK. Her academic foundation includes a Doctor of Pharmacy and MSc from Utrecht and Maastricht Universities, a Certificate in Business Administration from Warwick Business School, and executive education in Digital Transformation Leadership from Harvard Medical School.

Gareth Banks

Head of Healthcare and Director, AHR, United Kingdom

Head of healthcare and director at AHR, Gareth Banks is an experienced architect having designed and delivered a number of innovative healthcare projects, which have transformed communities, including the ‘Hospitals Transformation Programme’ in Shrewsbury, the large, state-of-the-art Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and he is currently working on the NHP program. As head of healthcare, he is dedicated to delivering intelligent, futureproof healthcare spaces, which prioritise the health and wellbeing of patients and staff and are built to last. An example of this is the UK’s first building approved under the NHS Net Zero Building Standard, the Countess of Chester Hospital Women and Children’s Building. With experience both in the UK and internationally, Gareth is an advocate for sharing knowledge to advance patient care and is also secretary of Architects for Health.

Giulia Scialpi

arch. partner, archipelago architects | UC Louvain, Belgium

Giulia Scialpi is an Italian architect based in Brussels. She holds a Postgraduate Master’s from CRAterre-ENSAG laboratory, a centre of excellence that manages the UNESCO Chair “Earthen architecture, construction cultures and sustainable development” in Grenoble’s School of Architecture. She is currently working in Belgium for archipelago architects and its R&I team, supporting many research projects with her expertise in circular design. She also works as a researcher and PhD candidate in the Urban Metabolism Lab at the Louvain research institute for Landscape, Architecture, Built environment (LAB) and as teaching assistant at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Studies (LOCI) of UCLouvain.

Günther Niemeck

Director, BDO Austria, Austria

Trained originally as a medical doctor at the Medical University of Vienna, he later changed focus to healthcare consulting and now leads the organizational management team at BDO Austria’s Healthcare and Life Science Advisory division. His main area of projects involves process development and organisational optimisations in hospitals and similar healthcare facilities.

Hamed Yekita

Assistant Professor, Iowa State University, United States

Hamed Yekita is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Interior Design at Iowa State University. He holds a PhD in Interior and Environmental Design from Texas Tech University, where his dissertation examined the association between spatial awareness and situation awareness among ICU nurses. He also holds master’s degrees in Environmental Design and Healthcare Architecture. Hamed’s research focuses on how environmental design influences clinical cognition, decision-making, and patient safety in critical care settings. His work has been published in HERD: Health Environments Research and Design Journal and presented at major international conferences on healthcare design. With prior academic appointments in the United States and Iran, along with professional experience as an architectural designer, he integrates evidence-based design, sustainability, and systems thinking into both research and teaching. His scholarship advances resilient healthcare environments that better support frontline clinicians and improve care outcomes.

Harriet Brisley

Associate Director, Morris+Company, United Kingdom

Harriet Brisley leads Morris+Company’s Health and Community sectors, bringing over a decade of experience across public and private healthcare, specialist housing and education projects. She is a committed advocate of the role architecture plays in delivering positive social and environmental impacts, championing wellbeingdriven design, maximising positive ESG outcomes, and promoting collaborative and inclusive stakeholder engagement. Harriet led the £20m Harold Moody Centre and Early Years Nursery, an exemplary integrated care hub at the heart of the Aylesbury Estate regeneration. Her wider portfolio includes senior living, care home and neighbourhood health centre projects. She is an active voice in the health design community, recently contributing to the NHS Property Roundtable for the Healthier NHS Developments Framework and presenting on primarycareled neighbourhood design at the Healthcare Estates Conference. Harriet also leads Morris+Company’s Social Value Outreach programmes and POE process development.

Henry Darch

Client Engagement Manager, Smartco Future Health, United Kingdom

Henry Darch is a Client Engagement Manager at SCFH, working at the forefront of collaboration between healthcare organisations, industry partners and delivery teams to support the development of smarter, digitally enabled hospitals. He specialises in building trusted partnerships that help translate strategic ambition into coordinated action across complex health systems. Henry works closely with NHS leaders and stakeholders to align innovation, service transformation and organisational priorities, ensuring that programmes are shaped around real operational and clinical needs. His work focuses on enabling meaningful engagement between technology, infrastructure and people, supporting the successful adoption of intelligent design principles within healthcare environments. With a strong focus on collaboration and outcomes, Henry helps organisations navigate change with clarity and confidence, contributing to the delivery of future ready healthcare spaces that improve experience, efficiency and long-term system resilience.

Hieronimus Nickl

CEO Nickl & Partner, Nickl & Partner, Germany

Hieronimus Nickl studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, graduating in 2003. In 2008, he completed an MBA in International Hospital and Healthcare Management at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. He joined Nickl & Partner Architects in 2003 and, by 2005, was leading projects and teams, with a focus on international assignments. Since 2015, he has been the Managing Director of the Beijing oﬃce, and in 2019, he became a member of the Board of Directors at Nickl & Partner Architects. He additionally holds the role of Managing Director of Nickl & Partner Architects Germany GmbH and Nickl & Partners Holdings Limited.

Ignacio Higueras Hare

Ambassador of Peru to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Peru

Iván Paul Martín Jefremovas

Architect | Lead Advisor for Healthcare Infraestructure Projects, Valencian Regional Department of Health, Spain

Architect, Master’s Degree in Hospital Engineering and Architecture, and civil servant in the Spanish regional administration, with over 10 years of experience in public social infrastructure, coordinating the planning and supervision of complex facility projects. Since 2021, he has specialized in healthcare infrastructure projects at the Valencian Regional Department of Health, contributing to flagship projects such as the implementation of a proton therapy unit at La Fe University Hospital in Valencia or the new Campus for the Clinic University Hospital in Valencia, as well as providing cross-cutting support to the Infrastructure Service’s broader portfolio. In the field of research and dissemination, he is an active member of the Spanish and Valencian Associations of Hospital Engineering. He specializes in surgical block design, his research was awarded

Jacob Glazer

Professor of Economics, Tel Aviv University and University of Warwick (UK), Israel

Jacob (Kobi) Glazer is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick (UK) and Emeritus at Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management. Kobi earned his PhD from Northwestern University in 1986. Since then, he has held several academic positions at Tel Aviv University, such as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Management, Head of the Kovens Institute for Health Systems Management, or the Issachar Haimovich Chair for Strategic Management. Kobi’s main research areas are health economics, industrial organization and game theory. He has led major research projects funded by, among others, the NIH, NIA, VA, the British Academy, and several Israeli research institutes. Kobi has also been a consultant for numerous healthcare organizations and startups in Israel and beyond.

Jacqueline Foy

Global health director, HDR, USA

Jacqueline is a healthcare architect with more than 23 years of experience designing environments that advance healing, equity and well-being. Known for her empathetic leadership style and collaborative approach, Jacqueline brings deep expertise in pediatric design as well as research and translational health sciences facilities. Across her career, she has built a reputation for championing design excellence while aligning architectural solutions with the missions of healthcare organizations and the communities they serve. Jacqueline serves as the global health director for architecture, leading our worldwide healthcare design practice. Based in our Kansas City, Missouri, architecture studio, she collaborates closely with health architecture directors and leaders across design, operations, marketing and business development to strengthen our integrated, multidisciplinary approach to healthcare design. Her focus includes advancing quality and innovation, fostering high‑performance teams and supporting clients as they plan and deliver resilient, people‑centered healthcare environments around the globe. Certified by the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA), Jacqueline is an active member of the Center for Health Design Pediatric Environment Network and a respected thought leader within the healthcare design community. She is deeply committed to mentorship, talent development and creating collaborative cultures that enable teams and the people they serve to thrive.

James Gordon

Associate Director, P+HS Architects, United Kingdom

Associate Director and Healthcare Lead at P+HS Architects with over 20 years’ experience in healthcare design and delivery. He has led complex acute and diagnostic projects across multiple NHS Trusts, including critical care expansions, hybrid theatres, emergency departments and cancer facilities . His work draws on lessons learned across live hospital programmes, with a focus on patient flow, infection control, technical compliance and ensuring the built environment actively supports safe, efficient clinical operations

James Taylor

Design Manager, Integrated Health Projects, United Kingdom

James Taylor; Design Manager; Integrated Health Projects

Jane Ho

Regional Practice Director, HKS, United Kingdom

Jane Ho is a Partner and Regional Practice Director, Health, at HKS. She works in the firm’s London office focused on developing the integration of concept and functionality and how people experience health care facilities. Jane designs with sensitivity for flexibility and adaptability, developing better buildings for a holistic user experience.

Jason Pearson

Director of Healthcare and Science Architecture, AECOM, United Kingdom

Jason is passionate about delivering inspirational healthcare architecture that provides the very best therapeutic environments to enhance patient, visitor and staff experiences. He has over 16 years sector experience working collaboratively with key stakeholders on major healthcare schemes, from masterplanning and concept design to identifying complex healthcare solutions to deliver high-quality and innovative clinical facilities. He has led AECOM’s UK & Ireland healthcare architecture team since 2017 that works across the region on a wide range of facilities, including community health centres, acute hospitals, critical care centres, mental health facilities, children’s hospitals and specialist maternity schemes. Jason led the design team that delivered the overarching estate Masterplan Vision for Oxford University Hospital’s, led the winning scheme for the new Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology RIBA competition, led a new Ambulatory Diagnostic Centre for Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and has provided peer review support on the new Belfast Maternity and Children’s Royal Victoria Hospital in Northern Ireland.

Jens Axelsson

Architect, White Arkitekter, Sweden

Jens Axelsson is an architect and employed at White Arkitekter in Gothenburg since 2015. Jens works with healthcare projects from early stages to project planning, in Sweden and abroad. He is responsible for White's internal network for healthcare architecture and a board member of the Swedish organization Forum Vårdbyggnad (Swedish Healthcare Facilities Network). Jens teaches at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, dept. of architecture, as a guest teacher, at master's and bachelor's level.

Jente Pauwels

Architect, Jente Pauwels Architectuur, Belgium

Jente Pauwels is a Belgian architect with a Master in Architecture and a specialization in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design. Her work explores the relationship between architecture, cognition, and behavior, focusing on environments that support mental, emotional, and physical well-being. She works on care and trauma-informed environments for people in vulnerable situations, translating psychological and therapeutic principles into spatial conditions aligned with how the brain and nervous system adapt, regulate stress, and heal. Her research-informed approach examines how sensory stimuli and stress shape emotional regulation, autonomy, and behavior, and how architecture reinforces or counterbalances these. After witnessing the cognitive and emotional decline of two women close to her during prolonged isolated hospitalization, she became driven to investigate how design can protect autonomy, identity, and resilience through balanced sensory environments that prevent both overstimulation and deprivation. The built environment is never neutral: it can undermine health or actively safeguard it.

Jeremy Cox

Partner, Strategic Healthcare Planning, United Kingdom

Jeremy is a seasoned expert in healthcare infrastructure development, with decades of experience delivering transformative hospital solutions in the UK and across the globe. Specialising in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), Jeremy has a proven ability to integrate design, construction, facilities management, and finance into cohesive, successful projects. His expertise in bridging public and private sector collaboration has been instrumental in addressing strategic planning, phased construction logistics, and long-term operational challenges. Jeremy has played a key role in numerous high-profile hospital projects, including Bart’s & The Royal, Derby General, and the Karolinska Solna Hospital in Stockholm. Internationally, he has worked with Ministries of Health in Oman, Turkey, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Singapore, and Thailand, contributing to the development of cutting-edge healthcare facilities. His notable achievements include leading the feasibility study for Medical City in Oman, advising on hospital developments in Salalah and Khasab, and supporting Turkey’s develop 22 acute and mental health hospitals. With a track record of delivering projects worth billions, Jeremy is recognised for his ability to manage complex developments, foster collaboration, and navigate challenging environments. His leadership, strategic insight, and commitment to excellence have made him a trusted partner in creating world-class healthcare infrastructure that meets the needs of diverse communities.

Jodi Sturge

Assistant Professor, University of Twente, The Netherlands

Dr. Jodi Sturge is an Assistant Professor with the Interaction Design (IxD) group in the Department of Design, Production and Management in the Faculty of Engineering Technology at the University of Twente. As a health geographer and design researcher, her research is both human-centred and spatially informed to design healthcare environments and systems that support positive health outcomes for a variety of populations.

John Naylor

Senior Researcher, Ryder Architecture, United Kingdom

John joined Ryder in 2024. He gained his diploma at the Architectural Association in 2013, winning the Fosters Prize for Sustainable Infrastructure. He has experience on complex projects in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Haiti, such as the Qingdao Eden Project. His interest lies in developing wider use of bio based materials in construction in LMICs. In 2014 he set up the bamboo Visiting School programme at the Architectural Association, which he now co leads as the AA-ITB BambooLab. He is studying a PhD in Engineering at Newcastle University and in 2022 he was named one of the RIBA Rising Stars.

Jon Reeve

Director, Lexica, now WSP, United Kingdom

A transformation lead with whole-lifecycle experience of large digital transformation undertakings from conception to delivery, mostly across healthcare. Jon has worked in a wide range of NHS settings for more than 20 years always with the ambition of delivering positive change through digital. In recent years, Jon has specialised on supporting NHS Trusts will developing their new hospital digital plans as part of the New Hospital Programme (NHP). Digital is key to ensuring all aspects of the new hospitals enables staff to work easier and for patient’s care and experience to be optimised, and to this end, Jon and the team supports the development of robust digital planning that we will ultimately support this ambition.

Jonathan Grice

Head of Building Services, Integrated Health Projects, United Kingdom

Jonathan Grice; Head of Building Services; 20+ years experience in the Building Services industry; Worked in both principal contractor and subcontractor capacities in a variety of roles; A keen focus on sustainable practices through design and delivery of the works

Jonathan Hasson

Project Architect, HDR, United Kingdom

Jonathan is a Project Architect with significant UK healthcare experience for both public and private clients. Jonathan is highly experienced in leading complex design and delivery of healthcare projects, in particular his project architect roles on NHP Hospital 2.0, Airedale District General Hospital, and Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital. He is proficient at working on BIM Level 2 projects and has an in-depth understanding of the coordination of construction information across multidisciplinary teams with a focus on compliance, fire safety, emerging technologies, and user experience.

Jordan Chow

Senior assistant manager, National University Health System, Singapore

Jordan is working in NUHS Corporate Infrastructure Office under the Engineering team where he focuses on integrating diverse building systems and elevating them through advanced digital technologies such as Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Preventive Maintenance, Digital Twins and AI applications. The aim is to improve operational efficiency, system reliability and better-informed decision making across healthcare facilities. Recently, Jordan had piloted the implementation of the Integrated Data Platform at NUH Medical Centre Levels 18 & 19. This project involves integrating of multiple building systems into a unified environment, enabling real time monitoring, deeper insights, and improves system efficiency. This pilot helps pave the way and setting the foundation for expansion and new hospitals in future.

Jorge Anaya

Principal Health Architecture, Jacobs, New Zealand

Jorge Anaya is a Health Architect with more than 20 years of experience, based in New Zealand, specialising in the planning and design of healthcare infrastructure across New Zealand and Australia. Working within a multidisciplinary team of architects and health planners, he focuses on programme-based approaches to hospital delivery and the integration of standardised design methodologies. Jorge is currently involved in the development and implementation of Health New Zealand’s Building Hospitals Better programme and its national Kit of Parts across multiple hospital campuses.

Joshua Igbineweka

Clinical Fellow and Pharmacy SME, NHS England, United Kingdom

Joshua Igbineweka, MPharm (Hons), PGDip, IP, is an experienced pharmacist and senior healthcare advisor specialising in strategy, design, and transformation. As Clinical Fellow in the NHS New Hospital Programme, he is chair of the programme’s patient safety working group. Joshua’s work also centres around harnessing innovation at scale, redesigning the hospital medicines management ecosystem for the future and advancing medicines optimisation in modern healthcare environments which integrates digital automation, robotics, and new ways of practice. Joshua has spent most of his clinical practice working as a specialist pharmacist in haematology and oncology at a major London teaching hospital, where he acquired his independent prescribing qualification.

Juan Manuel Herranz Molina

Co-founder Architect, Virai Arquitectura, Spain

Juan Manuel Herranz is an architect from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, specializing in sustainability, bioconstruction, and innovation applied to healthcare and social architecture. He is co-founder and co-director of Virai Arquitectura, leading projects recognized for their focus on natural materials, low environmental impact, and user quality of life. A prominent member of the Straw Bale Building Network, he has authored pioneering projects such as the Public Care Center for Dependent Older Adults in Meliana (Valencia), widely awarded for its design using wood, straw, and cork. Holding a Master’s in Heritage Conservation, he develops his professional practice through solutions that integrate traditional construction, sustainability, and social commitment. He participates as a guest lecturer in various postgraduate programs, contributing a vision of architecture as a driver of ecological transformation.

Juan Portuese

Partner, DIALOG, Canada

Juan Carlos is an award-winning architect with extensive experience delivering complex institutional projects across healthcare, civic, academic, and community sectors in Canada, the United States, and internationally. Juan’s work is grounded in a deep understanding of architecture as both a technical and cultural discipline. He has led and contributed to projects of significant scale and complexity, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to deliver environments that perform under real operational, regulatory, and social demands. His work focuses on projects where architecture carries real consequence, shaping how care is delivered, how institutions earn trust, and how communities experience clarity, dignity, and belonging. Juan Carlos balances rigour, accountability, and high-performance design with a strong commitment to environmental stewardship, pursuing architecture that endures, responds to climate, and supports a low-carbon future. Known as a collaborative leader, he unites clients, consultants, constructors, and communities around shared goals, creating distinct, context-specific solutions that advance both design excellence and architectural thinking.

Jude Stone

Programme Director, Sheffield Childrens Hospital NHS, United Kingdom

Jude leads the team of people who are bringing the National Centre to life and it’s a very exciting time for everyone at Sheffield Children’s and all the partners involved. Jude has been part of the NHS for 15 years, and more than 10 of those years have been working here at Sheffield Children’s. Throughout his career so far Jude has led on lots of exciting projects, often with a focus on transformation and innovation. He’s motivated by how we can make things better and has helped to improve the way we do things in the NHS by using quality improvement methods to build on systems and processes, often through a greater use of technology.

Juliane Stiegele

Artist, Designer, UTOPIA TOOLBOX International Art Collective, Germany, Germany

Juliane Stiegele is a German artist, designer, and author, and founder of the international collective Utopia Toolbox, exploring future societal spaces. She created the Portable University for All and the UTOPIA TOOLBOX publications to foster creativity for individuals and communities. Based in Augsburg, with satellites in Ann Arbor and Taipei, she has received multiple awards, including the Red Dot Award for graphic and interior design.

Karl-Robert Gloeck

Chief Architect, Western Cape Department of Infrastructure, South Africa

Karl-Robert Gloeck is a Chief Architect in the Chief Directorate Health Infrastructure of the Western Cape Government Department of Infrastructure, with a focus on implementing resilient, sustainable, and socially responsive public healthcare facilities in a South African context. His current role as project leader sees him manage healthcare projects of varying complexity from satellite clinics along the rural West Coast Winelands areas to a large regional hospital in the Cape Town Metropol. As a Green Building Council of South Africa Accredited Professional (New builds, Existing Building Performance and Net Zero) He also led a small internal team to certify existing buildings in the department’s portfolio including the first ever 4 star rated public building on the Existing Building Performance tool. His work aims to support long-term public-sector transformation by delivering facilities that balance environmental performance, operational practicality, and user-centred design. He lives in Cape Town.

Kate O’Mullane

Practice Director, BVN, Australia

As a Practice Director at BVN, Kate brings extensive experience across healthcare, with a strong focus on clinical planning, standardisation and user engagement. Kate joined BVN in 2006 and has contributed to projects across all stages of the design process, from briefing and schematic planning through to detailed design, documentation and site involvement. Her healthcare experience includes departmental and clinical planning, user group consultation, FF&E selection and scheduling, and particular expertise in developing consistent, well-resolved 1:50 room layouts that support compliance, efficiency and quality of care. Kate combines a strong understanding of complex healthcare standards with clear and confident communication, enabling effective collaboration with clients, clinicians and project teams.

Kathryn Foskett

Head of partnerships and solutions Northern Europe, GE HealthCare, UK

Kathryn is Head of Partnerships and Solutions Northern Europe for GE HealthCare. She has led strategic partnerships, government engagement, and large-scale transformation across the NHS, the UK, Ireland, and Northern Europe. Kathryn provides leadership at the intersection of policy, clinical pathways, and technology. She focuses on delivering sustainable system change, modernised diagnostics, and improved operational performance. She is recognised for shaping high-value alliances and accelerating early intervention models across complex health systems. Kathryn delivers board-level insight, cross-sector coordination, and forward-looking strategies. Her work improves patient outcomes, enhances efficiency, and strengthens the resilience of health systems.

Kathy Skelly

Director of women’s and children’s program, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

Kathy Skelly is the Director of the Women's and Children's Program at Trillium Health Partners, bringing more than 25 years of experience in healthcare focused on advancing the wellbeing of women, children, and youth. Throughout her distinguished career, she has developed extensive expertise across paediatrics, neonatal intensive care, birthing services, women's reproductive health, oncology, and emergency care. Her leadership is rooted in values-based principles and a deep commitment to fostering strategic partnerships that drive meaningful, system-wide improvements while championing integrated, patient-centred approaches that address the diverse needs of women and children.

Katie Wood

Director, Archus, United Kingdom

An experienced programme manager, project director and technical advisor, Katie has successfully led the development of strategy, business cases, planning and delivery for a wide variety of programmes and projects across the UK, Australia, Canada, Peru, Africa and Central Asia through her 34-year career. She is recognised as a leader in international healthcare infrastructure development. Katie brings together technical, people and process expertise and combines local capability with global best practice. Her project experience includes: ● Business cases, planning, design and implementation for large, complex healthcare facility developments; ● International Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Design Build delivery routes; ● Establishing and successfully implementing national healthcare programmes; and ● Transformational change covering organisations, people, processes and digital systems. ● Technical guidance leadership including World Bank IFC as well as UK Health Building Notes and Health Technical Memoranda

Kevin Bates

Director at STW Architects, Scott Tallon Walker Architects, Ireland

Kevin is a Director of Scott Tallon Walker Architects, with 25 years’ national and international experience and is a recipient of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland Triennial Gold Medal Award which is the highest honour in Irish Architecture. Kevin specialises in the design of complex, innovative healthcare, science, and research buildings and he leads the healthcare sector across the practice. He has played a key role in the design and delivery of award-winning projects such as the University College London Hospital Grafton Way Building, the National Forensics Mental Health Service in Dublin, and the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, recognised as Europe's leading research centre in integrated Information and Communications Technology. Kevin established and managed STW's Middle East office from 2010 to 2014 and was Design Director in our London Practice from 2014 to 2021, securing STW's place on the University of Oxford's Framework for large-scale projects. He is passionate about supporting and guiding the next generation of architects and has been a visiting tutor in Schools of Architecture in Cork and Waterford and King Saud University in Riyadh. He has also chaired the RIAI Scott Tallon Walker Student Excellence Award and in 2016 was a UCD Alumni guest speaker celebrating the contribution UCD architecture graduates have made in London.

Kevin Higgins

VP, Product, Austco Healthcare, United States

Kevin wears many hats within healthcare technology. Among them, he works with clinical teams to uncover needs and opportunities, and with the engineering team to bring products to life. He is a regular speaker and global product evangelist.

Kevin Real

Professor, University of Kentucky, United States

Kevin Real, (Ph.D., 2002, Texas A&M University) is Professor of Communication at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Real’s primary research focuses on communication in healthcare organizations with an emphasis on design and construction. His research on communication and healthcare design, health care teams, and patient safety has been published in Health Environments Research and Design (HERD), Health Communication, Handbook of Health Communication, American Journal of Infection Control, Advances in Neonatal Care, Journal of Nursing Administration, Critical Care Nursing Quarterly and Qualitative Health Research.

Kiara Corso

Research Assistant, Monash University, Australia

Kiara Corso is a health and design researcher with an interdisciplinary background in psychology, physiology and participatory design. She recently completed a Masters in Global Collaborative Design Practice at the University of the Arts London and Kyoto Institute of Technology, where her work explored the use of co-design tools to improve pain communication in clinical contexts. Kiara currently works as a Research Assistant in neurorehabilitation and neurodisability, contributing to projects in traumatic brain injury, chronic pain and health education. Her work employs mixed-method approaches, including participatory and creative workshops, qualitative interviews and systematic reviews, with a strong emphasis on collaboration with patients, caregivers, clinicians and multidisciplinary teams. Kiara’s research is nestled between healthcare, design and communication, with particular focus on patient-centred care, inclusive research methods and the translation of research into practice. She is predominately interested in developing interventions that enhance healthcare experiences, particularly for vulnerable and underserved populations.

Kirsten Reite

Principal, Kirsten Reite Architecture, Canada

Kirsten Reite is an Architect and Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC), with over 30 years of experience shaping the built environment across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. As the founder and Principal in Charge of Kirsten Reite Architecture (KRA), a Vancouver-based firm specializing in healthcare, institutional, and community-focused projects, Kirsten has led the delivery of more than 150 projects, ranging in scale of up to $4 billion in construction value. Kirsten is widely recognized for her expertise in alternative procurement models and her ability to deliver complex projects through innovative design, thoughtful planning, and meticulous project management. Her leadership on major healthcare projects includes the $898M Victoria Hospital Redevelopment in Prince Albert, SK, the estimated $3.9B New Edmonton Hospital (Compliance) in Edmonton, AB, and the Haida Gwaii Hospital and Health Centre in Daajing Giids, BC.

Kirstie Irwin

Principal, BVN, Australia

Recently appointed BVN principal, Kirstie Irwin has over 20 years’ experience delivering technically complex healthcare projects in Australia and the UK. She is a strong conceptual thinker who has played critical roles in developing designs for many notable health projects. Kirstie has successfully led clinical and architectural teams to deliver projects with clarity and attention to detail. Kirstie's expertise spans master planning, health, aged care, mixed-use residential, and commercial schemes. She brings local and international perspectives to a project's clinical planning and design, meeting key objectives whilst reflecting evidence-based design principles and best global practice. Every health project becomes an opportunity to enable collective thinking and embody a regenerative approach. Her goal is to achieve high-quality design initiatives that improve user experiences while enhancing the physical environment.

Kit Knowles

Sustainability Consultant, Ecospheric, United Kingdom

Kyle Basilius

PRINCIPAL, PARKIN ARCHITECTS, Canada

Kyle is a Principal and dual-licensed architect (Canada and U.S.), as well as a board-certified healthcare architect. With nearly 20 years of experience, he collaborates closely with clinicians and clients, specializing in the programming and master planning of healthcare facilities across the United States, Denmark, and Canada. Kyle is deeply engaged in the global healthcare design community. He serves on the Board of Regents of the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA), is helping to launch the North American chapter of the UK-based Design in Mental Health Network (DiMHN), and sits on the board of Rum for Æstetik, a Copenhagen art gallery that advances equitable access to experimental art for people of all ages and backgrounds. He has contributed as the Volunteer Technical Architect for the International Federation of Healthcare Engineering (IFHE) on the WHO and WFP-led INITIATE² Infectious Disease Treatment Module (IDTM) project, which creates a patient-centred design approach for rapidly deployable emergency modules; serves on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Health Care Facilities Standards Working Group; and has guest lectured at Texas A&M University on cultural and ethical considerations in global architectural practice.

Laia Isern

Partner Architect, Vitaller Arquitectura, Spain

Laia Isern. She joined Vitaller Arquitectura in 2006 and she is currently a partner. Architect by ETSAB-UPC and Master in Architecture, Organization and Management of Hospital Infrastructures by Universidad CEU San Pablo. Vitaller Arquitectura has developed projects in all their phases, from the creation of master and functional plans to overseeing the construction. They have more than 20 years of experience in healthcare and social care architecture. They have worked on the design of several medical care facilities, developing and creating proposals that foster the human scale, as well as the comfort and well-being of the users.

Laney Hyland

Research Assistant, Maynooth University, Ireland

Laney Hyland is a research assistant on the HIVE project within the Design innovation Department at Maynooth University. With a foundation in Product Design and innovation from her undergraduate studies, and a master’s in Design Innovation, she brings a rigorous, design led approach to research. Her academic work has been recognised through several awards, including the Project of the Year award within Maynooth Universities Design Innovation Department, The Spark Innovation Programme Student Scholarships, IDI awards in the Medical Device Design Category, and the Frank Devitt awards for academic achievement during her master’s programme. These accolades reflect commitment to excellence in design research and innovation. Her research interests centre on healthcare design, with a particular focus on patient experience and service design. She is passionate about applying human centred design methodologies to address complex challenges within healthcare systems. Through her role on the HIVE project, she continues to explore the intersection of design innovation and healthcare contributing to research that seeks to demonstrate how design thinking and human centred design methodologies can transform healthcare delivery, ultimately creating more responsive and effective systems of care.

Lara Gregorians

Postdoctoral Researcher of Architectural Cognition in Practice, ETH - Zurich , Future Cities Lab , Singapore

Lara is a postdoctoral researcher and module coordinator in the Architectural Cognition in Practice group. She holds a PhD from UCL, in which she sought to bridge the worlds of Spatial Cognition and Neuroarchitecture by exploring architectural experience as a combination of spatial, aesthetic and affective processing. Lara is experienced in analyzing subjective, physiological and neural responses to spaces, having run real-world behavioral studies and fMRI-neuroimaging studies on architectural experience. As part of the ACP group, Lara will be carrying out empirical research exploring person-environment interactions, as well as collaborating with industry partners to work on translating architectural cognition research into practice.

Lara Kaiser

Healthcare Design Leader and Principal, Perkins&Will, Brazil

Lara is an architect and urban planner with over 25 years of experience in healthcare architecture. She is the Principal, Director of Operations, and Healthcare Design Leader at the Perkins&Will São Paulo. With a Master's degree in Building Design for Health (London South Bank University) and a postgraduate degree in Project Management (Poli-USP), she worked for 10 years in the United Kingdom and taught postgraduate courses at the Albert Einstein Faculty. She is the co-author of the book "Healthcare Buildings" and holds a LEED GA certification from GBC Brazil. A frequent speaker at specialized events in the USA, Latin America, and Europe, Lara has led multidisciplinary teams on large-scale, internationally recognized projects such as the Teaching and Research Center at Albert Einstein Hospital, Prevent Senior Morumbi, Albert Einstein General Hospital Vila Mariana, and Sabará Children's Hospital.

Laura Bradshaw

Arts Programme Manager, CW+, United Kingdom

Laura joined CW+ as Arts Programme Manager in November 2023. She works across the arts programme, with responsibilities including managing collection activity and delivering art commissioning within the capital projects portfolio. Laura recently completed the MASc in Creative Health from UCL and her arts in health career began as the first NHS Arts Apprentice in 2019. Laura is especially passionate about the role of creativity for improving healthcare staff wellbeing. Prior to joining CW+ Laura worked as Assistant Arts Curator at UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and brings her experience of hospital arts programming to the role.

Laura Sen

Partner Architect, Vitaller Arquitectura, Spain

Laura Sen. She joined Vitaller Arquitectura in 2012 and she is currently a partner. Architect by ETSAB-UPC and BIM Expert. Vitaller Arquitectura has developed projects in all their phases, from the creation of master and functional plans to overseeing the construction. They have more than 20 years of experience in healthcare and social care architecture. They have worked on the design of several medical care facilities, developing and creating proposals that foster the human scale, as well as the comfort and well-being of the users.

Laurent Grisay

ir. arch. chairman, archipelago architects, Belgium

Laurent Grisay is an architect and civil engineer with more than a decade of experience in healthcare design, covering all project phases from the strategic vision or master plan to the monitoring of the construction site. He is Chairman of the board at archipelago Brussels and is responsible for some of the largest projects in the company’s broad healthcare portfolio, such as the CHU Helora network, the new Tarbes-Lourdes hospital, the new CHR Centre-Sud (Vivalia), the extension of CHwapi in Tournai, the circular reconstruction of IZZ Bracops, etc. He obtained in 2014 an Executive Master in Management of Large Construction Projects and cultivates his interest for innovation by regularly participating and sharing his experience in healthcare congresses.

Lee Boon Woei

Director, National University Health System, Singapore

He is a Director of NUHS Infrastructure Office and leads improvement and strengthening of engineering resilience, formulate solutions that enhance the resilience of services and optimize efficiencies. He is also Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer of NUHS Office of Sustainability and tasked to steer NUHS Green Plan to meet the evolving development in sustainability and roll out sustainability initiatives to get our healthcare facilities to transit towards a low carbon economy. Having worked in Building Consultancy for over 3 decades and witnessed the evolution of green, digital technologies and increased awareness of sustainability in the industry, he understands the importance of adopting innovation in our facilities to capitalize on technological advancement to improve building operational efficiency and decarbonize healthcare operations. IDP is a pilot project where digital solutions are adopted in building operation to develop machine learning operating algorithms that identify operating patterns, detect operational abnormalities and predict potential failures of equipment and systems.

Leonel Aguilar

Lecturer at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETH - Zurich , Future Cities Lab , Singapore

Leonel Aguilar is a Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the Cognitive Science group (COG) and the Data Science, Systems and Services laboratory (DS3), ETH Zürich. Previously he has held postdoctoral appointments at the Computational Social Science group (COSS), ETH Zurich, and the research center for Large-scale Earthquake, Tsunami and Disaster (LsETD, now CESERI) at the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, Japan. Leonel pursued his Ph.D. at the Computational Science and High-Performance Computing Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Previously, Leonel held a principal Lecturer appointment at del Valle University, Guatemala in both the Mathematics and the Civil Engineering departments. His research focuses on modeling and simulating social phenomena. In the context of an emergency evacuation, he has: studied the interaction between different modes of transportation (i.e. pedestrians and vehicles), created models based on these interactions, developed and optimized software to quantify large scale human mobility using high-performance computing infrastructure such as K computer, Oakleaf/bridge, and Euler. Recently, in order to create more accurate behavioral models and simulations, he has explored the evolutionary properties of abstract agents driven by deep and shallow reinforcement learning. Additionally, he has performed VR experiments to contrast the behavior of humans with that AI-driven agents. His current aim is to bridge the techniques and experiences from the engineering of pedestrian dynamics models and simulations, the high-performance computing techniques used to compute these models efficiently, the data science and machine learning techniques used to perform knowledge extraction and create data-driven models and the experimental design and knowledge gathered in cognitive science about human behavior and decision making.

Lianne Knotts

Director, Medical Architecture Inc., United Kingdom

Lianne is a Director of Medical Architecture and a senior architect with 18 years’ experience in healthcare design. She has substantial knowledge of the health sector, with expertise in the areas of stakeholder engagement, health planning, feasibility studies, design and construction. Lianne specialises in the design and planning of mental healthcare buildings and is a Trustee of the Design in Mental Health Network. Her strength in the user-consultation process has led Lianne to work collaboratively with local architect and clinical teams worldwide, including recently in Toronto and Prince Edward Island, Canada. Lianne’s project portfolio has received awards from RIBA, Building Better Healthcare, Design in Mental Health, and the International Academy for Design & Health.

Lilian Leistad

Hospital planner, Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency /Sykehusbygg HF, Norway

Lilian has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since 2017. The job covers early planning of hospitals (including estimating future hospital activity and capacity needs) and pre- and post-evaluation of hospitals and monitoring through the phases of a project. Additionally, the job includes developing evaluation tools and guidelines, in cooperation with internal and external actors, including health authorities and other relevant institutions. Previous work has been related to research within molecular medicine and epidemiology, including health registries and health studies, as well as biological material and contribution to public reports (e.g. National health and hospital plan). She has a Master`s degree in cell biology and holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. The thesis was about the role of inflammatory mediators in rheumatic diseases.

Lily Lee-Yi Lau

Principal Engineer, Building MEP, WSP (Asia) Limited, Hong Kong

Ms Lily, Lee-Yi Lau is a building services consultant with various experience in new development projects for both educational, residential, commercial, healthcare and hospital buildings. She has been working in WSP for more than 11 years since graduated from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2014 with a degree of BEng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering. She also obtained the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Development in 2021. Lily currently works for the Tuen Mun Hospital New Operating Theater Block Extension and Renovation, and the New Acute Hospital at Kai Tak Hong Kong. She has great passion for engineering and building construction. In 2023, Ms. Lily Lau was certified as a Charted Engineer of IET and Engineering Council. She was also certified as the Member of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers in 2024. With increasingly working experience, MS Lily Lau started thinking of social responsibility and inner-personal growth, she joined the Hong Kong Agency for Volunteer Service and obtained silver price for individual member in 2025.

Linda Ryan

Assistant Professor, Maynooth University, Ireland

Dr. Linzi Ryan is an Assistant Professor in Design Innovation and the PhD Director for the Department of Design Innovation at Maynooth University. Her academic focus is on the implementation of design methodologies to address complex societal and organisational challenges, particularly in public sector reform and healthcare. Dr. Ryan's award-winning doctorate research progressed the study of Product Service Systems (PSS), examining the cultural and structural transitions required for organizations to move from product to service-orientated models. She has applied her expertise to significant projects, including leading an INTERREG project that resulted in a permanent change to dementia services in the North West of Ireland, and training over 170 public sector staff in service design, leading to direct improvements in service delivery. Her recent projects include co-leading evaluation work for the national HSE Spark Innovation Programme and the development of a cooling sole for people with EBS. She continues to consult and collaborate with public bodies, leveraging design thinking to improve internal processes and service innovation.

Lucia Devitt

Consultant, BDO Austria, Austria

Trained originally as a biochemical researcher with a PhD in molecular medicine, she now applies her training to healthcare consulting. Her main area of projects involves strategy development for the public healthcare sector in Austria as well as workforce planning and staffing.

Lucy Symons-Jones

Net Zero Director, Lexica, now WSP, United Kingdom

Lucy is the Director of Net Zero at Lexica where she is liaising at executive level with public sector organisations – particularly in health and life sciences and leading suppliers and innovators to reach national net zero targets. Trained in public administration and practised as an entrepreneur, Lucy knows how to make big ideas happen. She has worked on the business and policy of the national rollout of heat networks, electric vehicle charging and demand-side response and has close connections in the clean technology industry from her time liaising with cabinet ministers on behalf of members of the Association for Decentralised Energy.

Luis Esteban Alberdi

Architectural Head, SACYR, Spain

Luis is the Architectural Head of Sacyr and ARB Membership, with a vast professional experience in design, construction, maintenance, repair of large-scale developments across the Hospitality, Commercial, Residential and Healthcare sectors. He joined SACYR more than 25 years ago and has always been responsible for the complete management of project construction works on some of Sacyr’s largest and most complex and challenging projects. Luis has built more than 6.0M SF as Design Manager on site, and has also led relevant Health Care International Bidding Competitions, of Design and Built with SACYR, many of which also included the O&M scope, in Spain, Portugal, Italy, UK, Chile and Canada. That’s why he has become one of the most experienced specialists in Health Care and singular Buildings construction within the company. His core expertise lies in shaping complex projects from early strategic definition through to full delivery, commissioning and operational readiness. He is recognised for strong analytical thinking, decisive problem-solving and the ability to align diverse stakeholders around clear, achievable outcomes.

Luke Le

Principal, NORR Architects and Engineers Limited, Canada

Luke Le is a Principal in the Health Sciences sector at NORR Architects & Engineers, with over two decades of experience delivering complex healthcare redevelopments across major Canadian hospitals. Specializing in highly constrained renovations within active clinical environments—including operating theatres, hybrid ORs, MRI suites, and critical care facilities—he is a trusted advisor to hospital executives navigating capital transformation, regulatory compliance, and operational risk. Luke has led and scaled high-performing design teams, served as Principal-in-Charge for Vendor-of-Record portfolios at Sunnybrook, Hamilton Health Sciences and SickKids, and overseen more than 2 million square feet of technically rigorous healthcare projects. His recent leadership of the M Wing Modular OR Feasibility Study positions him at the forefront of Modern Methods of Construction, demonstrating how volumetric modular strategies can reduce on-site disruption, enhance quality assurance, and accelerate operational readiness in high-acuity clinical environments. Driven by a commitment to advancing patient-centred design, emerging technologies, and resilient healthcare infrastructure, Luke continues to shape how hospitals plan, adapt, and grow within the constraints of aging facilities and increasing clinical demand.

Lynn V. Monrouxe

Professor of Healthcare Professions Education Research, The University of Sydney, Australia

Lynn is an experienced academic professional with a career spanning multiple roles in higher education, international journal editorial work, and student supervision. Her work has taken her across different cultural and institutional landscapes, including the UK, Taiwan, and Australia, allowing her to bring a truly global perspective to healthcare education and research.

Magda Matuszewska

Assistant Professor, Poznan University of Technology, Poland

Dr Magda Matuszewska is an architect, researcher, and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Poznań University of Technology, specializing in healthcare architecture. She leads the interdisciplinary postgraduate programme “Investments and Design in Healthcare”, developed in collaboration with Poznań University of Medical Sciences, integrating design, clinical, and investment perspectives. Her doctoral research developed methodological frameworks for evaluating hospital environments, contributing to the advancement of evidence-based assessment in healthcare design. The work was recognised with a prize from the Polish Ministry of Development and Technology for excellence in architecture-related doctoral research. She holds degrees from the Royal College of Art in London, Poznań University of Technology, and SWPS University. Her work integrates design, research, and emerging technologies to advance therapeutic, inclusive, and participatory healthcare environments. She develops original methodologies incorporating AI to support the evaluation and transformation of healthcare settings. Her research is presented and published internationally, strengthening evidence-informed approaches to the design of healthcare environments.

Majd Ebwini

Principal Medical Planner & Head of Healthcare Planning, Dar (a Sidara Company), Jordan

Senior Architect, Healthcare Planner, and PMP-Certified Professional with 30 years of experience, including 24 years specializing in clinical, operational, and facility planning. I have led the design and planning of more than 60 healthcare facilities across the Middle East including Jordan, the GCC, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and African countries including Angola, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Applying evidence-based design to create efficient, patient-centered environments. I bring a refined design vision reinforced by deep technical expertise, with project experience spanning nearly all clinical disciplines. My scope of work includes developing comprehensive space programs in accordance with international and local guidelines and standards, as well as leading concept design, estate planning, and master planning activities.

Manuel Schmid

Physician, University Hospital Augsburg, Germany

Profile Physician and basic scientist in cardiovascular medicine with expertise in research-based design practice, specializing in co-design processes for healthcare architecture projects. Education Since 2025: Resident physician in Internal Medicine / Cardiology, University Hospital Augsburg 2017-2024: Doctoral student in cardiovascular Medicine, TUM Graduate School Munich 2021-2023: Master of Science, Healthcare and Design, Imperial College London/Royal College of Art 2018-2019: Medicine – practical year, Technical University of Munich, University of Verona 2014-2018: Medicine – clinical training, Technical University of Munich 2012-2014: Medicine – preclinical training, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Research experience 2020-2024: Toepfer Lab, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford 2016-2017 Seidman Lab, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston

Margo Kyle

GM National Health Facility Planning, Health New Zealand, New Zealand

With over 25 years of experience in the health sector and more than a decade dedicated to health infrastructure, Margo is a passionate and purpose-driven strategic health planner committed to creating sustainable, efficient, and patient-centered healthcare environments. Margo's work is guided by a deep understanding of clinical needs, operational realities, and long-term community outcomes transforming health services through strategic planning and thoughtful infrastructure development. Her focus is on ensuring health infrastructure is standardised, resilient, and future-ready. Margo brings specialist expertise in interpreting and evaluating health services and data to inform strategic briefing and physical planning processes. She excels at aligning clinical requirements with functional design outcomes, ensuring a seamless integration of operational needs into the built environment.

Maria Paz Godoy Casas

Project Design Manager , SACYR, Spain

Paz Godoy is an architect with extensive professional experience in the design and construction of healthcare facilities. She joined Sacyr in 2005. Paz has extensive knowledge of international healthcare planning, design and construction, acquired throughout her professional career. For more than 14 years, she has led the planning, design and management of large hospital projects as part of the teams that built some of Sacyr's largest hospitals. Paz has directed the design of more than 600,000 m² of hospital facilities that Sacyr has developed in Chile, under a design and construction model. Her personal and professional background allows her to bring a wide variety of solutions and resources to any project which, together with her professionalism, represent great added value. She has become one of the most experienced specialists in the design of healthcare and unique buildings within the company.

Marie Kristine Schultz

Head of commissioning and relocation, North Zealand Hospital, Denmark

Holds a Master’s degree in Nursing and brings over 20 years of experience in the hospital sector. As a Program Director, i specializes in organizational development, project and program planning, with a strong focus on large-scale transformation initiatives such as hospital relocations. I am committed to driving strategic change, optimizing processes, and ensuring high-quality outcomes in healthcare systems.

Mark Healey

Director, Bates Smart, Australia

Mark joined Bates Smart in 2003, spending his early years in the company working abroad on large scale hospitality projects in the UK and Asia. On his return to the Melbourne studio, he became the lead interior designer on the award-winning Royal Children’s Hospital – a world-leading paediatric hospital – and has since gone on to lead several high-quality healthcare projects such as Tweed Valley Hospital, Bendigo Hospital and the new Peninsula University Hospital. As well as healthcare, Mark has significant multi-residential, civic and commercial experience, and consistently demonstrates his ability to deliver high quality and coherent design solutions to complex briefs. Mark is an open and intuitive designer who seeks to distil a client’s vision into a reductive, minimal aesthetic, imbued with a strong sense of materiality. He believes in using the positive qualities of nature, in particular natural light, to enliven his work and create empathetic human centric spaces we want to inhabit.

Mark Walker

Director, Healthcare, Stantec, United Kingdom

Mark is a highly experienced Chartered Engineer with more than 40 years in the construction industry, specialising in the delivery of complex healthcare projects across the UK and internationally. As Stantec’s Healthcare Sector Lead in the UK, he provides strategic direction and technical leadership across a wide portfolio of hospital and clinical infrastructure programmes. Mark is a registered Authorising Engineer with IHEEM for both medical gases and ventilation and serves as Chair of the CIBSE Healthcare Group, contributing to industry standards and best practice. A strong advocate for building safety, Mark champions rigorous governance, improved compliance culture, and earlystage risk mitigation to ensure safer, more resilient healthcare environments. He is committed to advancing decarbonisation within the healthcare sector and promoting design solutions that reduce backlog maintenance. His work focuses on creating sustainable healthcare facilities that minimise risk and address the growing impacts of climate change, ensuring safe, efficient environments for patients, staff, and communities.

Mark Wiltshire

Director | Architect, Wiltshire Swain Architects, Australia

Mark has had a number of careers prior to architecture. He trained and worked as a Registered Nurse within a range of areas including Paediatrics, Critical Care and Emergency care. He also undertook a Fine Art degree majoring in photography and print making, with his work represented in several public and private collections including the Art Gallery of South Australia. He established Wiltshire Swain Architects in 2005 with Co Director Andrew Swain, focussing on healthcare, education and projects that require a high degree of technical resolution. The focus of this abstract is a project that brought his past careers together.

Marsha Spencer

Vice President , Cannon Design Ltd. , Canada

Marsha Spencer’s approach to architecture extends far beyond the basics of building functionality. She emphasizes the importance of considering the psychology of space, believing that when a building is conceived through the lens of human experience, it becomes more personal, functional, and rooted in its community. With more than 25 years of experience, Marsha leads the Cannon Design Toronto team through a wide range of projects, including consultations, renovations, expansions, and new multi-million-dollar constructions. Her expertise as a registered architect and project manager allows her to seamlessly integrate architectural vision with effective project management. Marsha is recognized for her ability to make clients feel comfortable and confident, expertly facilitating the design process, accommodating evolving conditions, and partnering with clients from a project’s inception to its successful completion.

Marta Parra Casado

Co-founder Architect, VIRAI ARQUITECTURA SLP, Spain

Marta Parra is an architect and an international reference in the humanization of hospitals and spaces for older adults, pioneering the application of Person-Centered Design, Neuroarchitecture, and Sustainability in highly vulnerable contexts. She is co-founder and co-director of Virai Arquitectura and has developed award-winning projects such as the ALS Day Care Center in Madrid and the maternity area at Hospital Nuevo Belén. Recognized as “Architect of the Year 2018” by the Spanish Council of Architects (CSCAE), she was appointed Global Community Professor at the University of Monterrey (UDEM) in 2024. A specialist in Universal Accessibility, Marta combines professional practice with teaching in universities and master’s programs, and with her advocacy work on architecture as a tool for care. She is co-founder and Architecture Coordinator of the Master’s in Hospital Engineering and Architecture at the University of Cádiz. Her latest book, “Arquitectura de Maternidades”, reflects her research as co-author on the design of spaces for childbirth and birth.

Matthew Blair

Principal, BVN, United Kingdom

Matthew is an architect, technologist and Principal at BVN, acknowledged for his cross-sector expertise and his ability to apply current and novel technologies and future of work knowledge to redefine spaces across industries such as health, education, and science. With a career spanning Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, North America, and the UK, Matthew now leads BVN’s UK Studio, bringing a global perspective to his work. Passionate about driving change, Matthew also steers many of BVN’s transformational and innovation initiatives, collaborating with universities, start-ups, and other architectural practices to expand the boundaries of what architecture can achieve. His work reflects a deep understanding of how insights from workplace design can inform and enhance other sectors, from healthcare to life sciences, creating environments that foster collaboration, adaptability, and human connection.

Matthew Custance

Partner, Burrum River Advisory, United Kingdom

Matt is the founder of Burrum River Advisory, a specialist firm advising on the financing, structuring, and delivery of major healthcare infrastructure. He has over thirty years’ experience in hospital business cases, private finance, and commercial strategy, working with both public and private sector clients on complex capital programmes. His work includes the new Royal Papworth Hospital and the proton beam therapy centres in London and Manchester. He has advised on numerous PFI and privately financed schemes, as well as wider healthcare portfolio and corporate structures. Before founding Burrum, Matt was a Partner at Grant Thornton and KPMG, where he led advisory teams on large-scale healthcare and infrastructure projects across the UK.

Matthew Groome

Regional Associate Director, CCL Solutions, United Kingdom

Matthew Groome; Regional Associate Director CCL Solutions

Matthew Palmer

Director, Building Structures, WSP, United Kingdom

Matthew Palmer is a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a passionate multidiscipline project director. Over his 25-year career he has designed and led the engineering of a number of landmark regional, national and international healthcare schemes. His passion for holistic design has led Matthew to adopt WSP’s award winning early-stage optimisation platform, Daisy, and elevate its healthcare specific capability to create a step change in the performance led design of healthcare buildings and estate optimisation.

Maya Kylén

Associate Professor, Lund University, Sweden

Dr. Maya Kylén is an associate professor in health science. Her research in environmental gerontology examines how the physical environment impacts ageing in place and well-being. She explores how indoor and outdoor spaces can be designed to support independence in older age. Her work also investigates economic and policy-related factors that incentivize or discourage relocation among older adults, providing insights that inform both urban planning and policy.

Meera Ruparelia

Senior Manager Pharmacy Subject Matter Expert, Health Delivery Partnership, United Kingdom

Meera is a registered pharmacist with over a decade of hands-on clinical experience, seamlessly integrated with 7 years dedicated to driving digital transformation initiatives. This dual expertise provides a comprehensive understanding of both healthcare operations and technological innovation, enabling the development and implementation of strategic digital solutions that enhance efficiency, optimise patient care, and streamline complex healthcare operations.

Megan Angus

Senior Vice President, Strategy & Digital Services, H.H. Angus & Associates Ltd., Canada

Megan Angus, RN, MBA, Lean, EDA. Megan Angus is a Registered Nurse, healthcare strategist, and digital innovation leader whose work bridges clinical practice, technology, and capital redevelopment. As Vice President of Strategy & Digital Services at Angus Connect, she brings close to 25 years of experience guiding hospitals through digital transformation, IMIT strategy, and the planning of next-generation care environments. Grounded in clinical insight and systems thinking, Megan specialises in translating emerging technologies—AI, virtual care, digital twins, and real-time sensing—into practical, compassionate, and sustainable models of care. She has led digital strategy and operational readiness planning for major acute, paediatric, mental health, and oncology projects across Canada, helping organisations design smart hospitals that anticipate patient needs and support frontline teams. With a background in Lean methodology and a strong foundation in evidence-based design principles, Megan is a sought-after speaker on AI-readiness, smart hospital planning, and the digital infrastructure required for resilient healthcare systems. She is deeply committed to shaping care environments that are agile, equitable, and profoundly human.

Megan Phelps

PhD student, The University of Sydney, Australia

Megan is a specialist paediatrician and educator from Sydney undertaking a PhD in the School of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney. She has worked mostly in Sydney, Australia, and Paris, France. Her experience in workplace learning and clinical education has intersected with an interest in the built environment to inspire her doctoral work.

Melanie Robson

Associate, Okana Global, United Kingdom

Melanie specialises in digital information management and leads Okana’s strategic advisory service. Driven by the need for cultural change throughout the built environment, she works closely with clients to unlock operational efficiencies within their organisation and achieve transformative outcomes across their estate. Melanie is an award winning thought leader and regional lead for Women in Building Information Modelling (BIM).

Mette Stokholm

Design director , Center of properties, Denmark

Architect Maa Master in Architecture Royal Danish Academy, design director and executive member of the project management of New North Zealand. I have been working with health care design as a professional client in the last 15 years advocating for hospital settings of high functional and architectural quality for the benefit of both patients and staff.

Michael Binder

Chief Medical Officer, Wiener Gesundheitsverbund, Austria

Trained as a medical doctor at the Medical University of Vienna, with a specialization in dermatology, he pursued research at MIT and Harvard University in Boston. He now holds the position of Chief Medical Officer at the Vienna hospital association.

Michael Street

Senior Principal, HDR, United States

With over 25 years of experience, Michael has been instrumental in the design of numerous healthcare facilities. His healthcare experience encompasses a broad spectrum of domestic and international projects in both the ambulatory and acute care environments, as well as comprehensive facility master planning. He also has extensive experience using contemporary computer technology to communicate design ideas, which simplifies decision-making, expedites project development and provides continuous visual quality assurance throughout the project. With a focus on designing surgical, interventional, imaging and other procedural centers, Michael has developed an interest in how architecture can enhance infection control measures and how, in health facility design, form follows flow.

Michael Toner

Regional Director, AECOM, United Kingdom

TBC

Michael Weinbren

Consultant Medical Microbiologist, New Hospitals Programme, United Kingdom

Consultant medical microbiologist and infection control doctor with over 40 years’ experience in the NHS. Currently working as Specialist Adviser for Microbiology to the New Hospital Programme. Key areas of interest include water and wastewater systems, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and occupant safety. Publications include membership of national guidance groups, including the NHS England technical bulletin on Mycobacterium abscessus, and author of Safe Water in Healthcare.

Michael Woodford

Partner and Director, White Arkitekter, United Kingdom

Michael is an Architect, Partner and Director of White Arkitekter’s London Studio. He brings over 20 years of design leadership to the team. Having designed, delivered and led multi-award-winning buildings in the UK and the Netherlands, Michael has a broad and thorough understanding of the architectural, cultural, and commercial contexts of architectural practice. Michael is responsible for White’s UK healthcare portfolio which includes the new Velindre Cancer Centre. Under Michael’s leadership, White’s London Studio is leading the way with low carbon design and the implementation of regenerative and biobased materials.

Michelle Draper

Director of Mental Health and Addictions, Trillium Health Partners, Canada

Michelle Draper is the Director of the Mental Health and Addictions Program, bringing over seven years of dedicated experience in mental health, alongside a distinguished 25-year career in healthcare leadership. Her journey has spanned acute care and long-term care settings, with previous leadership roles including Director of Flow and Director of the Emergency Department. Michelle is a progressive and compassionate leader, deeply committed to enhancing patient care through meaningful engagement with individuals who have lived experience. She champions evidence-based practices and fosters environments that prioritize recovery, dignity, and holistic support for both patients and their families. Michelle leads with empathy, innovation, and a relentless focus on designing therapeutic spaces and experiences that promote healing.

Michelle Howard

Clinical Design and Innovation Lead, HSE, Ireland

Dr Michelle Howard is the Clinical Design and Innovation Lead at the HSE Spark Innovation Programme. Michelle holds a Doctorate in Educational, Child and Adolescent Psychology. With over 14 years clinical experience working as a Psychologist and further post graduate qualifications in Healthcare Innovation and Service Design, Michelle has developed a unique perspective on the challenges within the healthcare system, focusing on how psychological insights can drive meaningful change. Michelle’s work traverses clinical practice, innovation and research, with a particular focus on using Human Centred Design (HCD) to create impactful, scalable solutions that address the real-world challenges of healthcare delivery. As Clinical Design and Innovation Lead Michelle is dedicated to exploring and understanding new ways of applying design to improve patient care, enhance healthcare outcomes, and streamline processes within the system. With her expertise in psychology, design, innovation and clinical research, Michelle brings a holistic and data-driven approach, supporting healthcare professionals to develop capability within the system and work collaboratively to achieve sustainable results. Her commitment to advancing healthcare innovation reflects her ongoing drive to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients and healthcare providers.

Miyoung Hong

Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, United States

Miyoung Hong (Ph.D., EDAC, NCIDQ, LC, LEED AP, WELL AP) is a design researcher and educator focused on evidence-based design for healthcare and learning environments. Her research links design decisions such as spatial layout to occupant health and organizational performance. Hong brings commercial interior design experience across South Korea and the United States. This practice background informs both her research and her teaching. She has presented at the Healthcare Design Conference and Expo, IDEC, and EDRA conferences.

Mohammed Ul Haq

Associate Healthcare, HLM Architects, United Kingdom

Mohammed joined HLM in 2016 and leads our healthcare sector with a wealth of experience in the design and delivery of healthcare buildings, both nationally and internationally. Mohammed’s recent experience includes the delivery of a 25,000m2 rehabilitation hospital in Abu Dhabi and the multi-phased redevelopment of a live acute hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Overseeing a team of accomplished and experienced healthcare architects, designers and technicians, Mohammed champions excellence and innovation in clinical design and healthcare Architecture, promoting the need for a holistic approach to healthcare design and understanding how the built environment and good healthcare design can positively contribute to prevention as well as cure. Mohammed is also responsible for developing HLM’s elderly care sector. Approaching the sector with a healthcare led design ethos combined with our expertise in residential placemaking to encourage ageing in place sooner and flexibility for occupants through the years.

Monika Purschke

Architect, Albetr Wimmer ZTGmbH, Austria

Architect Monika Purschke studied at the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Michigan. She is a partner at Albert Wimmer ZTGmbH and an expert in urban planning and the architecture of healthcare buildings. She manages large-scale healthcare projects in Austria and abroad. She is particularly interested in patient-centered design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovative future models of hospital planning. She lectures at the Medical University of Graz, the Technical University of Vienna and the Ergotherapy Academy in Freiburg.

Neil Whatford

Director, Gilling Dod Architects, United Kingdom

Neil is an award winning designer of health, well-being and science facilities, with a strong track record over the last 20 years of delivering high quality patient focussed environments in the NHS, Private Healthcare, Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences sectors. Experienced in engagement at all levels and across all scales of projects, Neil is a strong communicator, keen collaborator and a passionate advocate for considered people centric design. Neil has been involved in a wide range of notable projects during the last twenty years, principal among these being the new Surgical Neonatal Unit at Alder Children’s Hospital, CityLabs 2.0 at the Royal Manchester Infirmary and Stratford Ambulatory Hospital in South Warwickshire. As a Director and senior leader within Gilling Dod, Neil’s is passionate about sharing his strong belief in the ability of architecture to positively change the way we deliver improvements in health and social care, enabling people to take control of their own health and wellbeing.

Nick Baker

National clinical lead for health service delivery planning, Te Whatu Ora, New Zealand

Dr Nick Baker is chief medical officer for Nelson Marlborough and a community and general paediatrician. He has held leadership roles, including president of the Paediatric Society of New Zealand, chair of the Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee, and interim national chief medical officer. His interests include health system design, clinical leadership, child health policy, and advocacy. Nick is currently on a secondment into the role of National Clinical Lead for Health Service Delivery Planning.

Nicole Pope

Implementation Support Lead, Monash University, Australia

Dr Nicky Pope is an experienced researcher, accredited Implementation Support Practitioner, and Implementation Support Lead at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI). With a background in paediatric nursing, she brings strong expertise in clinical practice, research, and systems thinking. At MCHRI, Nicky leads initiatives focused on translating evidence into action to improve health outcomes, equity, and system performance. Her work spans co-design, capacity building, and the application of implementation science frameworks, supporting organisations to embed sustainable change through training, coaching, and strategic guidance. Her expertise includes child and family health, paediatric pain and chronic conditions, caregiver engagement, and digital health innovation. She has led national and international research projects, contributed to policy and program development, and lectures in implementation science. As Chair of the Pain in Child Health (PICH) Australia network, Nicky is dedicated to bridging research, policy, and practice to ensure evidence leads to meaningful system and life-level impact.

Nirit Pilosof

Head of research in innovation and transformation, Sheba Medical Center; Faculty member, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Nirit Pilosof, PhD, is an architect and researcher exploring the intersection of healthcare, technology and architecture. She is a Faculty member at the Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University, and an Associate of Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) at the University of Cambridge in the UK. She is also Head of research in healthcare transformation at Sheba Medical Center, a Fellow of Cambridge Digital Innovation (CDI) at the University of Cambridge, and the Executive Member of Israel at the International Union of Architects (UIA) Public Health Group. Dr Pilosof holds a PhD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, a Post-Professional MArch from McGill University, and an Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) from the Center for Health Design in the USA. She gained experience in the design process of major medical facilities as a project manager at leading architecture firms in Israel and Canada and won international awards, including the prestigious American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architects for Health Award, the American Hospital Association (AHA) graduate fellowship, the McGill graduate fellowship and the Azrieli Foundation fellowship.

Panos Mavros

Assistant Professor in Ergonomics, Design and Digital , ETH - Zurich , Future Cities Lab , Singapore

Panos Mavros is Assistant Professor in Ergonomics, Design and Digital in the INTERACT team (Interaction, Technology, Activity) of the Economics and Social Sciences department. He studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece and Digital Media at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He completed his PhD at The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London, where he specialised in the perception and experience of urban spaces, focusing on spatial cognition research, and the use of psychophysiological methods, such as mobile EEG, as way to understand the interaction between people and the environment. Subsequently he worked as a postdoctoral researcher for several years at the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) of the Singapore-ETH Centre, conducting research on the topic of Cognition Perception and Behaviour in Urban Environments. He now also serves as Co-I on the module, Architectural Cognition in Practice at FCL.

Paul Barach

Professor, Thomas Jefferson University; Imperial College London, United States

Professor Barach is an internationally recognized clinician-scientist and leader in patient safety, healthcare quality, human factors and high-reliability design. A featured speaker at the European Healthcare Design Congress, he brings decades of global experience advancing safer, more resilient healthcare systems through evidence-based design and systems thinking. He is a practicing clinician and former hospital Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer, grounding his research and policy work in frontline care delivery. He has played a pivotal role in shaping hospital design standards internationally and advised on design of 10 hospitals. He has collaborated with the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) in the United States and previously served as Head of Research for The Center for Health Design, strengthening the scientific foundation of healthcare facility design. He teaches healthcare design and safety at Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI). His leadership extends to disaster preparedness and public health systems resilience through the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). As head of public health accreditation at Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA) and a former board member of the International Academy for Design and Health, he bridges public health policy and the built environment. Funded with over USD 100 million in federal European, British and American research support, he has authored more than 350 publications, cited over 17,000 times. At the 2026 Congress, he will present “Redefining What Healthcare Architecture Research Can Do for Society,” demonstrating how research-driven design advances disaster readiness, equity, and system-wide performance worldwide.

Paul Bell

Principal, Ryder Architecture, United Kingdom

Paul completed his architectural education at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow in 1992 and has led several high profile urban design, health and infrastructure projects. In 2006 he established Ryder’s Glasgow office and led the early development of the Hong Kong office. Prior to joining Ryder, he worked with Terry Farrell for 11 years in London and Hong Kong. Paul has spoken around the world on sustainable healthcare design and blurring the boundaries of healthcare to address health equity. Paul brings his expertise of leading integrated project teams to successfully deliver major healthcare projects. His passion for delivering design of the highest quality is recognised by excellent client testimonials and project award nominations.

Paul Grotens

Program Manager – Construction Projects, Project Office at Radboudumc, Radboud UMC, The Netherlands

Paul, Program Manager for Construction Projects at Radboudumc, played a crucial role in the design and delivery of the Radboud project. He is also Deerns’ main contact for discussing data and lessons learned from the design now operating in reality. Paul will be presenting with us, and we aim to involve other parties who contributed to the design and construction of Radboudumc.

Paul Yeomans

Director, Medical Architecture, United Kingdom

Paul has over 19 years of experience in healthcare design. He has substantial knowledge of the sector in areas of strategy, planning, design and construction and a proven track record of delivery. He has led the design of numerous healthcare buildings with a project portfolio receiving awards from the RIBA, Building Better Healthcare, Design in Mental Health and European Healthcare Design. Paul is a Director, leading our Newcastle Studio alongside Lianne Knotts. He is a Design Ambassador for the Design in Mental Health Network and member of their Advisory Group and Design Awards Jury. Through this role, he contributes to best practice guidance in mental health facility design to raise standards across the sector and improve the experience of patients and staff across the UK and internationally. In 2022 he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts for his leadership in healthcare design. Paul is a regular speaker at conferences and uses this platform to promote good quality healthcare design. He is currently leading the design of a new regional hospital in Moldova and a major new Women and Children’s Hospital.

Penny Calvert

ArtCare Team Coordinator, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom

Pernille Olsbro Adamsen

Head of Development, New Nord Zealand Hospital, North Zealand Hospital, Denmark

Brings more than 35 years of experience in hospital management, specializing in organizational development, project and program leadership, and complex transition processes. I have a deep expertise in change management, with a particular focus on the interplay between implementing new workflows and driving the essential organizational and cultural changes that determine the success of any transformation. My current focus as head of department is transformation and collaboration regarding the use and relocations of New Zealand Hospital.

Peter Ball

Head of Business Development, Austco Healthcare UK, United Kingdom

Peter has over 40 years’ experience working with client teams throughout Europe, Middle East, Far East and the UK in the design and delivery of advanced hospital communications systems for acute hospitals.

Peter Dodd

Project Director, Integrated Health Projects, United Kingdom

Peter Dodd; Project Director; Integrated Health Projects

Peter Hall

Reader, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom

Dr Peter A. Hall is Reader in Graphic Design at Camberwell College of Arts and Chelsea College of Arts. His research focuses on mapping and data visualisation as critical and participatory design practices. He is currently co-writing a critical guide to data visualisation with Bloomsbury Academic. He is the UAL lead for Plastic Justice, a pan-European collaboration involving five art and design institutions that investigates microplastics pollution and the role of design in communicating new knowledge, awareness, and responses to the issue. Previously, Dr Hall has held academic leadership and teaching roles internationally, including Course Leader of BA Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, Programme Director of BA Design and Design Futures at Griffith University Queensland College of Art, Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, and Lecturer in Graphic Design at Yale School of Art. He is co-founder of DesignInquiry, a non-profit organisation dedicated to researching design through intensive, team-based educational gatherings. His writing appears in leading design publications, and his books include Else/Where: Mapping – New Cartographies of Networks and Territories and Sagmeister: Made You Look.

Peter-Willem Vermeersch

ir. arch. partner, archipelago architects | KU Leuven, Belgium

Peter-Willem Vermeersch is engineer-architect partner at archipelago architects, Belgium in the Research & Innovation Circle; and visiting professor at KU Leuven in the Research[x]Design group and. He obtained his MSc and PhD degrees in Engineering: Architecture from KU Leuven. His research focuses on how the lived experience of (disabled) people can inform architectural design practice, via ethnographic research methods, co-design and post-occupancy evaluation He investigates how to connect lived experience and well-being with sustainability frameworks of sufficiency and performance based design to lower the environmental impact.

Pippa Yeoman

Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney, Australia

Pippa is an educational ethnographer and academic developer, with a passion for instructional and architectural design. As a Senior Lecturer (Learning Spaces) on the Educational Innovation team, she takes a central role in translating and implementing strategic initiatives related to the university's built environment.

Pollie Boyle

Senior Healthcare Planner, Mott MacDonald , United Kingdom

Pollie is a qualified doctor and a consultant working for the Healthcare Planning Team at Mott MacDonald. She has more than 25 years of healthcare strategy and planning consultancy experience. She fuses this knowledge and her clinical background to deliver solutions and improve pathways for both patients and staff on a number of high-profile projects, including two years working with the UK New Hospital Programme. Pollie’s areas of expertise include stakeholder engagement, demand and capacity modelling, clinical briefing, decant planning, estates strategies, evidence based clinical pathway redesign, and the development of schedules of accommodation. Pollie has a particular interest in data analysis and will use her clinical expertise to interpret trust data intelligently.

Raluca Șoaita

Founder, TESSERACT Architecture, Romania

Arh. Raluca Șoaita is the founder of TESSERACT ARCHITECTURE, the only architecture studio in Romania specialized in the medical sector. Together with her team, she has signed off on over 1 million square meters of hospitals and medical clinics, including some of the most significant recent large hospital projects in Romania. Raluca consistently promotes topics such as the humanization of medical spaces, the optimization of healthcare processes, and sustainable hospital design solutions in the public sphere. In fact, the entire approach of TESSERACT ARCHITECTURE is based on innovation, long-term vision, and a multidisciplinary approach throughout the entire hospital design process for the future of healthcare in Romania. Raluca has been part of the technical expert team involved in a large-scale World Bank project in Romania, "Healthcare Sector Reform – Improving the Quality of the Medical System in Romania." In addition to her collaboration with the World Bank, she has also provided consultancy and expertise to other major international institutions, including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), contributing to the development and modernization of healthcare infrastructure across the region.

Richard Mann

Head of Social Infrastructure, AECOM, United Kingdom

Richard has 25 years' experience gained while working for client organisations, contractors and design consultants. During this time he has worked in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, delivering a number of high profile projects across a variety of sectors. He is passionate about good building design. Richard brings the knowledge from the diverse projects he has delivered to ensure process improvement; quality and value driven efficiency in design are at the core of the projects he supports.

Richard McAuley

National Specification Manager, Brandon Medical Co LTD, United Kingdom

Richard McAuley is a highly experienced professional with a comprehensive background in technology, IT and audio-visual systems. His healthcare portfolio includes cutting-edge projects such as surgical skills labs, integrated operating theatres, MDT facilities, endoscopy suites, and mortuaries across the UK. Notable collaborations include WMSTC, Newcastle Freeman Hospital, Keele University, and Leeds St James’s Hospital. At Brandon Medical, Richard authors master specifications that seamlessly integrate advanced technologies with the needs of healthcare professionals, estate owners, and end users, ensuring optimal outcomes for modern healthcare design.

Ridhi Shah

Net Zero Analyst, Lexica, now WSP, United Kingdom

With 2+ years of consultancy experience in sustainability, Ridhi graduated with a BA in Human Geography and worked in ESG consultancy across sectors including transport, mining and agriculture. Ridhi is experienced in writing Environmental and Social Impact (ESIA) reports as compliance for financial institutions and various net zero, climate and decarbonisation projects in healthcare sustainability for organisations including the NHS.

Rob Copeland

Senior Principal Landscape Architect, Tract Consultants, Australia

Rob Copeland is a highly accomplished Landscape Architect and Urban Designer with extensive experience delivering complex health precincts that integrate therapeutic landscapes and functional urban design. With a career spanning Australia and the UK, Rob combines visionary design with technical precision to create inclusive, sustainable environments that promote wellbeing. His expertise extends to stakeholder engagement, multidisciplinary collaboration, and managing large-scale projects to meet cost, quality, and client expectations. Rob’s approach prioritizes context-responsive design, robust detailing, biodiversity, and public art, ensuring spaces are both beautiful and purposeful. His work sets benchmarks for healthcare landscapes that enrich communities and elevate care.

Roelof Gortemaker

Architect, Director, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, The Netherlands

Roelof is an architect-director and one of the three partners at Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects. He has been working as an architect for over 35 years, delivering a wide range of projects including hospitals, psychiatric facilities, healthcare buildings, offices, and educational facilities. Roelof has been the project lead on dozens of projects, both new-build and redevelopment, in the Netherlands and abroad. Notable examples include St. Antonius Hospital (NL), Máxima Medical Center (NL), Institut Roi Albert II (BE), Institut de Psychiatrie Intégré (BE), Centre Hospitalier Emile Mayrisch (CHEM) Südspidol LUX and Centre Hospitalier d'Antibes (FR).

Rutali Joshi

Research Lead, HKS, United States

Dr. Rutali Joshi is the Research Lead for Health at HKS, driven by a passion for evidence-based, data-driven design and dedicated to translating research into impactful, actionable insights for the design industry. Rutali specializes in creating design solutions that prioritize safety and elevate human experiences across healthcare environments. Rutali has been actively involved in research conducted in a variety of settings ranging from domestic violence shelter homes and homes for the aging population to emergency departments, operating rooms, and ambulatory surgery centers. She is extremely passionate about developing visual means to translate complex research concepts and findings to recommendations that can be implemented by designers easily.

Sannah McColl

Principal, Architectus, Australia

As a Principal at Architectus, Sannah brings more than 25 years experience in designing and delivering major hospitals across Australia. She is a strategic thinker and meticulous planner who is focussed on both the practical and the beautiful in all her projects to drive innovation and best practice outcomes.

Savina Taouki

Smart Building Advisor, Deerns, The Netherlands

Savina Taouki is a Smart Building Advisor at Deerns in The Hague, specialising in digital strategies for hospitals to create sustainable, future-proof facilities. Originally from Greece, she holds a Master’s in Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens and a Master’s in Building Technology from TU Delft. With a strong background in architecture and building technology, Savina helps healthcare organisations navigate the complexity of digitalisation. She facilitates interactive workshops with hospital stakeholders to define smart ambitions and co-create solutions, and she is involved in projects through the full lifecycle, from strategic planning and functional design to implementation and delivery.

Sebastian Crutch

Professor of Neuropsychology, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, United Kingdom

Sebastian Crutch PhD CPsychol is Professor of Neuropsychology at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and Director of the Rare Dementia Support service (www.raredementiasupport.org) which aims to empower, guide and inform people living with a rare dementia diagnosis and those who care for and about them. His research focuses on rare and young onset dementias, especially posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), the so-called ‘visual variant’ of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The work has led to improved understanding of dementia-related visual impairment and the causes and consequences of atypical AD more generally. He has developed several interdisciplinary research themes collaborating with experts in social science, environmental engineering, occupational health and ophthalmology (to ameliorate the effects of vision loss in dementia), computational statistics, virtual environments and human-computer interaction (to enhance cognitive assessment), neurorehabilitation (designing an app to facilitate reading), neurophysiology, engineering and neuro-otology (to understand balance problems in AD), and artists, scientists and people with dementia (directing the Created Out of Mind residency at The Hub, Wellcome Collection). Seb was awarded the 2015 Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Research Leader Award, and 2012 British Neuropsychological Society 10th Elizabeth Warrington Prize.

Sebastian Klawiter

Architect, Studio Sebastian Klawiter, Germany

Sebastian Klawiter is an architect, interior architect, master carpenter, and researcher working across architecture, craftsmanship, urban design, art, and cultural practice. He co-founded the award-winning collective Stadtlücken e.V., collaborated internationally, and was a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude. His career includes work at Asif Khan Studio and numerous built, curatorial, and research projects. Since 2022, he collaborates with Fanti Baum and is appointed Interim Professor of Design at Stuttgart State Academy.

Semir Zubcevic

Architect, Albert Wimmer ZTGmbH, Austria

Education 1982-1987 University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Architecture 1989 Università di Venezia (IUAV) Practice 1985 Member, Sarajevo Architects’ Association 1986-1991 worked for various architects in Sarajevo 1989 Professional exam in Bosnia-Herzegovina 1991 joined Atelier Albert Wimmer 2005 Partnership, Albert Wimmer ZT GmbHSpecial areas of expertise Specialist in healthcare and hospital planning, residential construction, master plans Expert in architecture and general planning Expert in the integration of technical specialist planning into building construction planning Coordination of specialist planners, consultants and architects

Sharon Cook

Architect and Healthcare Lead, P+HS Architects, United Kingdom

A Senior Architect at P+HS and one of the Practice's Healthcare Leads, Sharon has over 12 years experience of working on projects in the Healthcare sector. Sharon’s expertise covers a wide range working for a cross section of NHS Trusts and private clients, leading on projects ranging in scale from small refurbishments through to larger new build schemes. Equipped with a broad range of skills Sharon has a passion for stakeholder engagement and also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Construction Project Management. Recent experience includes Pathology labs, Endoscopy Departments, and Urgent Treatment Centre as well as a new build Health and Care Academy encompassing a Primary Care centre, nursing school, training and conference facility and is also currently working on a new clinical trials unit for Cancer research.

Simon Corben

Director and head of profession, NHS Estates, NHS England and NHS Improvement, UK

After some 16 years in the private sector, advising the NHS and successfully growing and managing a team of property, clinical planning consultants and analysts, Simon returned to the Public Sector in 2017 to lead the Estates and Facilities function across the NHS which now includes both the secondary and primary care sectors. The role at NHS England is one that he relishes, building on the Carter Implementation Programme and Naylor Review. Following initial success delivering the Model Hospital and efficiency savings, he is taking forward and broadening out the NHS estates agenda. This includes the Primary Care Estate, The Procure 23 construction framework and delivery of the Health Infrastructure Programmes announced by the Prime Minister in 2019. Most recently, he has led the NHS Estates response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the delivery of 7 Nightingale hospitals alongside improved clinical infrastructure resilience across the existing estate. Since joining the NHS in May 2017, Simon has recruited a team aligned to the seven core Initiatives, of Commercial Acumen, Policy, Workforce, Sustainability, Operational Efficiency, Standardisation, Strategy and Capital and Operational Delivery. In doing so, Simon and the team have: • Delivered both additional capital funding and investment into the NHS; • Reinstated the NHS estates Standards and Guidance programme; • Improved assurance of NHS estate safety, effectiveness and governance through the updating and mandatory implementation of the NHS Premises Assurance Model (NHS PAM); • Reconfigured and expanded the NHS Estates Division to cover Primary Care and Regional teams; An accredited Gateway Reviewer and Project Director, Simon understands the need for commercial, innovative and deliverable solutions. In his role at NHS England he is using his skills and experiences to bring fresh ideas and drive to improve the quality and efficiency of Estates and Facilities Management across the NHS.

Simon Fraser

Principal, Hopkins Architects, United Kingdom

Simon joined Hopkins Architects in 1990 and is one of the four Design Principals leading the practice. His early work included pioneering sustainable projects such as Inland Revenue and the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus. In the early 2000s he initiated the practice’s international work, beginning with GEK’s headquarters in Athens and later establishing Hopkins Architects’ Dubai studio in 2004. He has since overseen several major projects across the Middle East, Asia and more recently, the USA. His portfolio spans a wide range of building types, including a large residential development in Zekeriyakoy, Istanbul, an office tower complex in central Tokyo, the Buhais Geological Museum, the World Expo 2020 Dubai Thematic Districts Masterplan and architectural projects for Highgate Cemetery. Simon is currently leading several major healthcare commissions such as Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute in Ohio, USA. The 1millionsqft facility will house 210 beds, 18 operating theatres, and 15 outpatient clinics.

Simon Trotter

Project Director, Health NZ, New Zealand

Simon Trotter is a Project Director within Health New Zealand’s Infrastructure and Investment Group, leading major hospital redevelopment projects across the country. He plays a key role in shaping national procurement and delivery strategies under the Building Hospitals Better framework, with a focus on standardisation, staged delivery, and building long-term strategic partnerships. Simon’s background spans complex capital projects, commercial strategy, and governance. Outside of Health NZ, he serves as Deputy Chair of the Council for Volunteer Service Abroad, bringing a strong commitment to service and community impact.

Sophia Hami

Advisory Leader - EMEA, HKS, United Kingdom

Sophia Hami is a Health Advisory Leader at HKS. As a leader for the EMEA region, she has experience working across several clinical specialties in both NHS and private healthcare in the UK. Her goal is to support healthcare clients to provide high-quality, safe and sustainable services for their patients.

Sophie Noll

Manager, BDO Austria, Austria

Trained originally as a licensed physiotherapist with a Master’s degree in Healthcare Management and Digital Health she collaborates on the organizational management team at BDO Austria’s Healthcare and Life Science Advisory division. Her main area of projects involves process development and organisational optimisations in hospitals and similar healthcare facilities as well as staffing requirement calculations and workforce planning.

Stacey Mearns

Director Primary Health Care, Resolve to Save Lives, United Kingdom

Dr Stacey Mearns is a public health physician with 17 years of experience across global health, including more than a decade working in humanitarian emergencies and outbreak response. She has led and supported major emergency health operations in over 20 countries, delivering both clinical care and large‑scale public health programmes in some of the world’s most challenging environments. Her experience spans senior roles with international NGOs, the World Health Organization, and the UK Government, where she has contributed to strengthening health systems, improving preparedness, and advancing equitable access to essential health services. Dr Mearns’ work focuses on translating evidence into operational practice, building resilient health responses, and supporting communities affected by conflict, instability, and disease outbreaks. In 2021, she was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to humanitarian assistance. She continues to shape global health policy and practice through her leadership, technical expertise, and commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable populations.

Stephanie Costelloe

Principal, BVN, Australia

Stephanie is an experienced architect specialising in major healthcare infrastructure across Australia and Asia. She excels in master planning, briefing, and delivering complex health precincts, integrating architectural, technical, and health planning expertise. From 2015 to 2022, Stephanie led key projects in Hong Kong’s 20-year Hospital Development Plan, including the New Acute Hospital in Kai Tak. She also served as project principal for the New Shenzhen Children's Hospital, overseeing master planning and concept design. Her expertise in large-scale, high-value projects makes her well-suited for leadership roles. As a Principal at BVN, she ensures critical project decisions are made efficiently while maintaining design excellence. With a proven track record in both Australian and international healthcare projects, she brings invaluable insight and strategic direction to every endeavour.

Stephen Herbert

Regional Director of Healthcare Architecture, AECOM, United Kingdom

As the Regional Director of Healthcare Architecture at AECOM, Stephen leads a team of talented architects and designers who deliver innovative and sustainable solutions for a diverse range of healthcare projects in the UK, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He has over 25 years of architectural experience, with a focus on healthcare for more than 15 years.

Stuart Elgie

Partner, DIALOG, Canada

Stuart Elgie is an Architect and Partner at DIALOG. Stuart’s experience as a client-side design advocate and design-build team leader enables him to identify opportunities and mitigate short- and long-term risks. Ultimately, what drives him is the pursuit of great design and the iterative actions leading up to its realisation. Stuart believes design begins by listening to the client before identifying the possibilities and working within a team to find the best answer. For him, this is the fun part of being an architect. Stuart has been project architect responsible for design, design development and contract documentation on many large, complex projects throughout his career, primarily in the institutional and healthcare sectors. Stuart is the Partner-in-charge for DIALOG’s design team for the $1.1 billion Toronto Western Hospital – New Surgical and Patient Tower site for University Health Network, scheduled to open in 2028. Stuart also serves as a member of the DIALOG Governing Council, an elected body within the Partnership, responsible for the stewardship of the long-term interests and wellbeing of the organisation.

Sue Peleg

CEO, Modus Health , Israel

Sue Peleg is a service and systems designer and founder of a health design consultancy advancing new operating models for patient activation within complex healthcare settings. Working at the intersection of strategic design, behavioral insight, and change management, she partners with hospitals to transform inpatient and rehabilitation services from passive, clinician-led care into structured, self-directed recovery ecosystems. With 20 years of experience in qualitative research, innovation development, and strategic consulting, Sue has spent the past three years leading system-level transformation initiatives across rehabilitation inpatient settings. Using co-design methods, she integrates spatial interventions, structured family training programs for care partners, and workflow redesign into cohesive operating models. Sue holds an M.Des. in Design and Innovation Management from Bezalel Academy of Arts and an MA in History from Tel Aviv University. At European Healthcare Design, she will present a framework for embedding self-rehabilitation into routine care, demonstrating how design-led strategy improves patient engagement, staff connectivity, and system efficiency.

Sumandeep Singh

VICE PRESIDENT, SENIOR MEDICAL PLANNER, STUDIO PRACTICE LEADER -HEALTH, HKS, Singapore

Sumandeep is Vice President and Senior Medical Planner at HKS, with over 18 years of experience in planning and delivering large and complex architectural projects over a wide variety of typologies especially healthcare. He has worked across various geographies such as India, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and China. He is extremely flexible to changing cultural environments which affect healthcare settings and is driven by the meaningful service to the community by designing efficient and well-functioning hospitals. He gains trust with clinical users which has resulted in repeat clients over the years. He is effective in engaging clinical users and translating their vision into thoughtful design. He holds accreditation as an EDAC professional from the Centre for Health Design, California. His expertise extends to winning international hospital design competitions such as the Shenzhen Children’s Hospital in China which was widely acclaimed globally. He has been recently certified in 'AI for Healthcare' from the National University of Singapore, he works at an intersection of Planning, BIM, AI, Automation and Technology in healthcare design. Suman is currently Based in HKS's Singapore Studio. His recent notable projects as Senior Medical Planner include:   1. Parkway Gleneagles hospital in Hong Kong (500 beds, 550,000 sq.ft.)   2. Parkway Gleneagles hospital Shanghai (450 beds, 600,000 sq.ft.)  3. Parkway Gleneagles hospital Chengdu (400 beds, 450,000 sq.ft.),   4. Eastern General Hospital in Singapore (1500 beds, 3,000,000 sq.ft. , USD 2 Billion)  5. Grantham Hospital and HKU Research labs in Hong Kong (500 beds, 1,500,000sft USD 2.2 Billion)  6. Macau Island Health Services Complex and Laboratory complex (1000 beds, 1,800,000 sft)   7. National University Hospital Redevelopment, Singapore, (1500 beds 3,000,000 sq.ft )

Susanna Nordin

Senior Lecturer, Dalarna University, Sweden

Dr. Susanna Nordin is a registered nurse and senior lecturer at Dalarna University. She holds a PhD in medical science from Karolinska Institutet. Her main research interests involve the relationship between the design of the physical environment in healthcare settings and the well-being of older adults with frail health. Dr. Nordin is also engaged in research focusing on contact with nature and outdoor stays for the older population.

Taja Quigley

Partner , SmartCo Future Health, United Kingdom

Taja Quigley is a Partner at SCFH and a recognised leader in shaping the next generation of digitally enabled health systems. She works with healthcare organisations and public sector leaders across the UK and Europe to design hospitals that are technologically advanced and fundamentally reimagined around data, connectivity and human experience. Her work focuses on the intelligent integration of infrastructure, digital platforms and clinical pathways, creating environments where technology strengthens decision making, improves productivity and enhances patient outcomes at scale. She is particularly interested in how smart design can enable resilience, sustainability and workforce transformation within increasingly complex health systems. Bridging strategy and implementation, Taja supports leaders to move beyond incremental change towards future ready models of care. She is known for her systems thinking and her ability to unite policy, clinical and digital perspectives to shape hospitals fit for the decades ahead.

Tal Amalia Sicsic

Product and Service Designer, Modus Health, Israel

Tal Amalia Sicsic is a Product & service designer and an architect, specializing in the development of assistive technologies and environments for individuals with disabilities and war-related injuries. She works as a rehabilitative designer in hospitals on patient challenges, in close collaboration with multidisciplinary clinical teams. She develops and leads user-centered, inclusive and empathic design processes grounded in co-design methodologies and a holistic perspective. Her main focus is translating patients' needs and wishes, as experts on their own lives, into tailored physical and environmental solutions. Her leading approaches considers objective medical criteria as equivalent to “soft” and emotional criteria that promote independence and participation. Tal has a B.Arch degree in architecture and city planning and a M.Des degree in industrial design, in the design and innovation management track, from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

Tara Graham-Cochrane

Principal Landscape Architect, Tract Consultants, Australia

Tara Graham-Cochrane is an award-winning Principal Landscape Architect with over two decades of experience shaping therapeutic environments that foster healing and wellbeing. A nationally recognized leader in healthcare landscape design, she applies evidence-based principles to create restorative spaces proven to reduce stress and improve clinical outcomes. Tara’s approach integrates sustainability, innovation, and human-centered design, delivering landscapes that balance beauty with measurable benefits. Her portfolio spans major and country hospitals, aged care and mental health facilities, setting benchmarks for collaboration and functionality. Passionate about connecting people with nature, Tara transforms outdoor spaces into vital extensions of care, enriching lives across Australia’s health sector.

Tara Veldman

Managing director and principal health lead, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

Tara is the Managing Director and Health Sector Leader instrumental in the expansion of BLP. She brings 25 years of experience and a dedication to designing a healthy world in a cross-section of spaces, including hospitals, health hubs, education precincts, high-tech research labs, and residential communities. Combining her interests in psychology, art, and architecture, Tara is fascinated by how buildings and spaces make people feel. Her passion for sustainable architecture is inspired by her time living in Australia, the Netherlands, Frankfurt, and the Middle East. These life experiences have driven her to create designed environments and places that work and complement their urban setting while using and integrating nature and the natural landscape where possible. Underpinning projects with Evidence-Based Design, Tara's work exemplifies innovation, strategic thinking, and best practice. She is a regular contributor to health design conferences and seminars, presenting alongside some of the world's most respected thought leaders in the sector both at home and abroad. Grounded in research and insight, Tara's human-centred design approach and active stakeholder engagement allow the voices of those who will occupy the spaces to be heard. Design outcomes are considered and impactful and exceed both her clients' and the end 'users' expectations. In 2025 Tara was honoured with the inaugural Australian Health Design Council Gold Medal in recognition of her visionary leadership, a commitment to excellence and her significant contribution to the healthcare design industry.

Teva Hesse

Design Director, 4D Studio Architects, United Kingdom

Teva Hesse is an architect and design leader working internationally in Scandinavia, North America and the UK. From 2002 onwards, he has been based in London. Focusing primarily on the cultural and healthcare projects, Teva led the design and delivery of major projects such as the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum, the Sammy Ofer Wing at the National Maritime Museum and the Springfield University Hospitals, new mental health hospitals in South London which have completed in 2023. After more than a decade of engaging with patients, staff, clinicians and stakeholders on mental health design, Teva is committed to improving and de-stigmatising mental health facilities. Teva was the head of the London office of C.F. Moller Architects from 2002 until 2022. He is currently working as a design director at 4D Studio Architects and as design advisor for several NHS Trusts.

Thomas Hardin

Senior Associate, Perkins&Will, United Kingdom

Thomas is a Senior Designer at Perkins&Will with over 20 years’ experience across the US and UK. His expertise spans large-scale placemaking, adaptive reuse, healthcare, life-science and education projects, working across scales from masterplans to interiors. Thomas brings a collaborative, global perspective and values open dialogue across cultures and disciplines. He has a passion for finding innovative solutions to complex problems, working across scales and project stages. He balances respect for the past with confidence in innovation, maintaining the belief that thoughtful design strengthens communities and creates lasting value.

Thomas Kwok-Cheung Chan

Executive Director, Building MEP, Hong Kong & China, WSP (Asia) Limited, Hong Kong

Prof. Thomas Kwok-Cheung Chan received his education in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. He has over 40 years of experience in the field of power and building services engineering. He has been active in various professional and academic community services and has held the office of: President of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), Chairman of the IET Hong Kong, Chairman of the CIBSE Hong Kong Region, Chairman of Engineers Registration Board, Vice Chairman of IHEEM Hong Kong Branch and Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Building Services Engineering of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prof. Chan is a Chartered Engineer, Registered Professional Engineer and Fellows of CIBSE, HKIE, IET and IHEEM. He has been the Chairman of Electrical Safety Advisory Committee, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Government of HKSAR; Honorary Professor to the School of Science and Technology of the Hong Kong Metropolitan University; and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology of Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). Prof. Chan has been acting as Project Director for various green building award and intelligent building award projects in HKSAR and is currently the Project Director of several healthcare projects in Hong Kong including Redevelopment of Kwong Wah Hospital, Redevelopment of Princes Wales Hospital, Phase 2 (Stage 1), Redevelopment of Grantham Hospital, Phase 1, New Acute Hospital Development in Kai Tak, Expansion of North District Hospital and Chinese Medicine Hospital.

Threase Finnegan-Kessie

Assistant Professor, Maynooth University, Ireland

Dr Threase Finnegan-Kessie is Assistant Professor in the Department of Design Innovation at Maynooth University and Programme Director of its Masters Programmes. She earned her PhD in Anthropology and subsequently conducted post-doctoral research on user-centred design for connected health technologies at University College Dublin. Threase applies human-centred design and ethnographic methods across sectors, including healthcare, higher education, and restorative justice, to address complex social challenges. Her recent projects include co-leading evaluation work for the national HSE Spark Innovation Programme and co-creating the 2025–2028 strategic plan for Restorative Justice Services in Ireland. Through publications and workshops, Threase explores how human centred design and interdisciplinary methods can lead to innovation and organisational change.

Tim Hoffman

Director Redevelopment Sydney Children’s Hospital Network , Sydney Children’s Hospital Network , Australia

Tim Hoffmann is a Director Redevelopment at The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, based in Westmead, New South Wales. He has extensive experience in both clinical nursing and operational management positions within NSW Health. Over the last 13 years, he has transitioned into planning, redesign, and redevelopment-focused roles. Tim has qualifications in nursing, health management, and public administration, and is passionate about transforming the healthcare system. He joined the Network in 2011, leading clinical planning and later redesign and integrated care portfolios. In 2016, he was appointed as Director of Planning and has since been working as an Executive team member leading planning and redevelopment. His role involves leading the planning and redevelopment program across the Network, utilizing the program to deliver new models of care and facilities that enable research-led care, education, and excellence.

Ting Wang

Senior manager, National University Health System, Singapore

Wang Ting is a Senior Manager in Engineering Division under NUHS Corporate Infrastructure office, specializing in smart and digital healthcare with a focus on building operational smart applications that translate innovative technology into daily hospital operation and maintenance practice, with her background as a Mechanical Engineer by training. She integrates and turns data into actionable insights with AI/ML, designing applications that streamline workflows to solve real-world challenges in space and resource allocation, hospital operation optimization and predictive maintenance. She piloted an Integrated Data Platform (IDP) for NUH Medical Centre L18&19 in 2025 and saw big opportunities in scaling up to other hospital functions and operations in future infrastructure development.

Tom Potter

Associate director and healthcare lead, P+HS Architects, UK

With over 20 years of architectural experience, Tom is an Associate Director and Healthcare Lead for P+HS Architects. An enthusiastic and conscientious Architect, Tom has led an extensive portfolio of projects, focusing on sustainable primary and acute healthcare developments. Recently working on some of the Practice’s largest acute schemes, Tom has led the architectural delivery of several new Urgent and Emergency Care schemes across the country, whilst other projects have included paediatric assessment, surgical departments, major trauma wards and endoscopy services. Alongside the acute schemes, Tom has worked on many primary care schemes across the country, working with developers and GPs to adapt existing buildings or provide sustainable, new-build premises. As part of the cross-office team of Healthcare Leads, Tom is passionate about the sector, promoting exemplary design and emerging trends, sharing best-practice and specialist knowledge across the industry.

Tracy Lord

Principal | Health Lead, Billard Leece Partnership, Australia

Tracy Lord is a Principal and Health Lead at Billard Leece Partnership (BLP), one of Australia’s leading architecture firms and global experts in social infrastructure design. An award-winning multidisciplinary practice, BLP designs for a healthy world by delivering people-based solutions which translate evidence-based research. With a career spanning 25 years in health design, Tracy has established her credentials in delivering health projects across multiple scales in Australia and New Zealand. Tracy is the Region IV director of the UIA Public Health Group. In addition to working across architecture and project management, Tracy has a particular interest in contributing to thought leadership in the architecture community. She is passionate about inclusive design, as well as creating healthier built spaces that improve people's lives — whether that be through designing hospitals, looking at the inclusion of health care within mixed use precincts or using biophilic principles to improve commercial and urban environments.

Úna Cunningham

Head of Transformation & Executive Lead, Strategic Projects, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Ireland

Úna is Head of Transformation and Strategic Projects at one of Ireland’s largest academic teaching hospitals. Together with her team, she promotes a culture of inter-professional collaborative practice and collective leadership, adopting a lean, person centred philosophy and design principles. In 2021, Úna completed her PhD as part of the Co- Lead programme https://www.ucd.ie/collectiveleadership/. Through application of her research findings to practice, she continuously demonstrates how interventions to improve quality and safety of care can be made more effective when conditions are created for interdisciplinary teams to flourish. Úna lectures on transformational systems level change and team interventions at University College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She is also a leadership mentor with the Irish Management Institute. Her work has been published in BMC Health Services Research, BMC Medical Research Methodology, BMC Medical Education, BMJ Open and the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health.

Unni Dahl

Hospital planner, Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency), Norway

Unni has been working in Sykehusbygg HF (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) since 2015. The job covers early planning of hospitals, pre- and post-evaluation of hospitals and monitoring through the phases of a project. Additionally, the job includes developing evaluation tools and guidelines. Previous work includes collaboration between hospital and primary health care services, developing specialist health care services for patients with chronic diseases, patient education programs and patient participation. Unni has background as a nurse and has a Master’s degree in pedagogics where the thesis was a study of the doctor – patient communication. She holds a PhD in Medicine. The thesis was about coordination of health care services and follow-up among elderly and chronically ill patients after hospital discharge.

Valentina Chisci

Senior Associate Architect, Healthcare Project Lead, Perkins&Will UK, United Kingdom

Valentina Chisci is a Senior Associate at Perkins&Will with more than 20 years of international experience in healthcare architecture spanning the UK, Italy, and Chile. Her work is driven by a commitment to establishing strong design foundations from the earliest stages of a project, ensuring that clinical needs, patient experience, and operational efficiencies are embedded from the start. Valentina collaborates closely with clinicians, healthcare organisations, and multidisciplinary teams to create environments that genuinely support healing, enhance staff wellbeing, and enable high‑quality care delivery. Specialising in early‑stage strategic planning and concept design, she helps clients articulate clear project visions and transform them into spaces that are functional, future‑ready, and rooted in evidence‑based design principles. Valentina brings a thoughtful, analytical, and human‑centred approach to every project, ensuring that design solutions respond intelligently to context, complexity, and the evolving demands of modern healthcare.

Wassim Jabi

Professor and Chair of Computational Methods in Architecture. , Cardiff University, United Kingdom

Professor Wassim Jabi is Course Director of the MSc Computational Methods in Architecture at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK. He received his M.Arch. and PhD from the University of Michigan and taught at several universities in the United States before moving to the UK in 2008. While in the U.S., he secured a $250,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant as Principal Investigator. He has published extensively on parametric and generative design, spatial representation, the role of light in architecture, and building performance simulation. He is the author of Parametric Design for Architecture (Laurence King Publishing, London). In 2013, he obtained £70,000 in internal competitive funding to acquire a 6-axis high-accuracy industrial robot for research into digital fabrication processes. More recently, he led a £300,000 Leverhulme Trust–funded project investigating spatial topology in Building Information Modelling (BIM), resulting in the development of the Topologic software library.

Wayne Walker

Executive Director, Mental Health and Addictions Capital Planning, Government of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada

As Executive Director, Capital Planning, Mental Health & Addictions for the Government of Prince Edward Island, Department of Health and Wellness, Wayne offers over 30 years of healthcare expertise in driving strategic planning frameworks, building government relationships, and delivering top stakeholder satisfaction. With SickKids Hospital for 23 years, and previously as the COO at Confederation Centre of the Arts and Director of Capital & Facilities Planning at Grand River Hospital, he demonstrated exemplary leadership in strategic operational planning, budget management, and stakeholder engagement. His experience as both a development lead for mental health facilities and his past work with patients with lived experience brings a unique fully-rounded perspective to his approach for a recovery model of care.

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