Dr. Sara Bayramzadeh is an Associate Professor and the Elliot Professor in the Healthcare Design program at Kent State University, where she has served since 2018. Her research focuses on psychiatric unit design, operating room environments, and healthcare facility design to improve patient and staff safety, satisfaction, and efficiency. She is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and bridging research with professional practice to advance evidence-based healthcare design solutions. 

Dr. Bayramzadeh has collaborated with leading design firms including HGA Architects and Engineers and BBH Design. Her research has been published in journals such as HERD, Applied Ergonomics, and BMJ Quality & Safety. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the 2016 Joel Polsky Academic Achievement Award and the 2018 Applied Ergonomics Best Paper Award. She holds a Master of Architecture from Miami University and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. 

Dr. Hui Cai is a Professor of Architecture and the Executive Director of the SimTigrate Design Center at Georgia Tech. Cai earned her Ph.D. degree from Georgia Tech. Dr. Cai's research applies evidence-based design to examine how healthcare environments influence nurses' experience, patient safety, and infection control. She integrates environmental behavioral studies, human-centered research, and simulation tools such as space syntax analysis and simulation, to study the complex interaction between the built environment, human experiences, and health outcomes. Dr. Cai has led multi-site post-occupancy evaluations in several major academic and community hospitals and community hospitals, such as Penn Health, the University of Kansas Health System, the SSM Health System, Emory Healthcare, and Rush University Medical Center. Her work has produced numerous peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, supported the development of design guidelines and white papers, and being recognized with multiple national and international research awards, including the International Academy Award for Best Research Project, the AIA-AAH/AAH Foundation Burgun Fellowship, and Wilbur H. (Tib) Tusler, Jr. Health Design Research Prize from the Foundation for Health Environments Research in 2022 and 2024, and HCD 10 Healthcare Design Educators in 2021. 

Dr. Anjali Joseph, EDAC, is the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Endowed Chair in Architecture + Health Design and Director of the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing at Clemson University. A leading scholar in evidence-based design, she conducts research at the intersection of human factors, healthcare environments, and patient safety. Dr. Joseph has served as Principal Investigator on major federally funded projects, including AHRQ-supported patient safety learning labs focused on improving safety in emergency departments and operating rooms. Her work has shaped national conversations on integrating the built environment as a key component of safer, more supportive healthcare systems through rigorous research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and human-centered design.  

Dr. Rutali Joshi is the Vice-President and 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. With a PhD and MS in Architecture and Health from Clemson University, along with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Mumbai University, she brings a global perspective and depth of expertise to her work. Rutali specializes in creating design solutions that prioritize safety and elevate human experiences across healthcare environments. Dr. Joshi is also passionate about mentoring the next generation of healthcare designers and researchers. Rutali is also a sought-after international speaker and published researcher. 

Dr. Sharmin Kader is an Assistant Professor in the Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University. Her research focuses on therapeutic healthcare environments, evidence-based design, and mixed-method post-occupancy evaluation methodologies. Dr. Kader earned her Ph.D. in Architecture through the Health and Wellness Program at the University of Kansas and received her master’s degree from Texas A&M University, along with a Certificate in Health Systems and Design. She also served as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Healthcare Design Program at Kent State University.

She developed the Hospice Environmental Assessment Protocol (HEAP), the first post-occupancy evaluation tool for hospice care environments. The tool has been widely cited and used internationally and was later adopted in federally funded Canadian research. Dr. Kader has received numerous awards and recognitions. She previously served as Chair of the Board of the Environmental Design Research Association and currently co-chairs a subcommittee of the Academy of Architecture for Health Webinar Committee.

Herminia Machry, PhD, is an internationally-licensed architect with a PhD in Planning, Design and the Built Environment from Clemson University, and her experience spans work in architecture firms, universities, and research centers. She also completed Postdoctoral training at the Georgia Institute of Technology (SimTigrate Design Lab) and was awarded the 2018-2019 AIA-AAH Tuttle fellowship in Health Facility Planning and Design. She worked as a design practitioner on healthcare facility projects and as a researcher on healthcare and evidence-based design studies, which mainly focused on design for safety, engagement and cognition within healthcare environments. Herminia is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, Architecture program, where she continues her research and educational practices on human-centered and evidence-based design focused on healthcare. 

Manjiri’s first experience with healthcare design began during her internship, where she conducted a post-occupancy evaluation of a hospital, This experience revealed to her that the true measure of design success lies in the users feeling valued and cared for in the spaces they inhabit. Her commitment to a person-centered approach in health planning and design has been instrumental in delivering impactful projects of various scales and phases, both domestically and internationally. 

Manjiri combines a solid academic foundation from Texas A&M University with 18 years of dedicated experience in healthcare planning, design, and research.  

With an ability to navigate both micro and macro perspectives, Manjiri can break down challenging problems, transforming data and analytics into engaging narratives and compelling scenarios. This empowers clients to make confident decisions that resonate deeply with the communities they influence. 

Dr. Ellen Taylor’s expertise includes architecture, business, and research, holding a BArch from Cornell University, EMBAs from Columbia University and London Business School, and a PhD from Loughborough University. She is a co-editor of the Health Environments Research & Design (HERD) Journal and holds leadership roles with The Center for Health Design, Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI), and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). Passionate about the relationship of design and outcomes, she is the recipient of the FGI Pioneer Award and HCD10 Award. She previously served on the Board and as president of the AIA AAH. 

Dr. Xuemei Zhu is a Professor in the Department of Architecture and a Faculty Fellow in the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University. She is also a Presidential Impact Fellow and the holder of the Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA & Joseph Sprague, FAIA Chair in Health Facilities Design, and the Co-director of the research group on Design Research for Active Living. Dr. Zhu’s scholarship investigates the impacts of built environment on public health and social equity, with a specific focus on active living, healthy communities, evidence-based healthcare design, school design, and workplace design, using interdisciplinary approaches. Her research is supported by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), with a total support of about $7.4 million. She has published extensively in the fields of environmental design and planning, environment-behavior research, and public health.