Design Lab with Bon Ku

Latest Episodes:

EP 19: Designing a Patient Revolution | Maggie Breslin and Victor Montori Jan 28, 2021

Show notes

Maggie Breslin is the director of The Patient Revolution, an action and advocacy movement for careful and kind care. She and her team work towards a vision of a healthcare future defined by unhurried conversations, seeing people in all their complexity, and care plans that make intellectual, emotional, and practical sense. Maggie has spent 15+ years as a designer and researcher in the healthcare space, including 7 years at the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Innovation. She has done extensive work on the development and implementation of communication tools and programs that aim to foster conversations in exam rooms, hospital rooms, homes and public spaces about our lives and our health. She also teaches in the Design for Social Innovation program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

Victor M. Montori, MD is a Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. An endocrinologist, health services researcher, and care activist, Victor is the author of more than 690 peer-reviewed publications and is among the most cited researchers in clinical medicine and in social science. He is a recognized expert in evidence-based medicine and shared decision making, and minimally disruptive medicine. He works in Rochester, Minnesota, at Mayo Clinic's KER Unit, to advance person-centered care for patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions. He is the author of the book Why We Revolt, and is leading a movement, a Patient Revolution, for careful and kind care for all.

Bon talks with Maggie and Victor about the language of care, industrialized health care and why they started The Patient Revolution.

EP 18: Designing a User Friendly World | Cliff Kuang Jan 21, 2021

Show notes

Cliff Kuang is a user-experience designer at Google and author of User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play, which was called a “tour de force” by the New York Times and was also named an Amazon Best Book of 2019. Previously, he was head of UX and product at Fast Company; the founder of Fast Company’s design site, Co.Design; and an editor at Wired. Under his leadership, Co.Design became an award-winning source of insight and inspiration for a generation of designers. Bon and Cliff talk about how Three Mile Island was the worst design fail in U.S. history, feedback loops and why most unsexy wicked problems actually demand the most talented designers.

EP 17: Trauma Responsive Design | Rachael Dietkus Jan 14, 2021

Show notes

Meet Rachael Dietkus. She’s a clinical social worker who has dedicated her career to trauma responsive practices in design. After a 10-year career working with social justice and human rights non-profits, she pursued a Master of Social Work and worked at Veterans Affairs across the patient advocacy, planning and construction, and housing and homelessness arenas. Since 2016, she has been working in higher education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Dean at the School of Social Work and the Associate Director of Programs at the new Siebel Center for Design. Bon and Rachael talk about how design and social work fit together, why designers should think more like social workers and about the journey of developing the field of trauma responsive design. You will also hear advice on how to respond to trauma that you may be experiencing during this pandemic.

EP 16: Health in All Design | Andrew Ibrahim Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

Andrew M. Ibrahim is an Assistant Professor of Surgery, Architecture & Urban Planning at the University of Michigan and Chief Medical Officer at HOK, a global design and architecture firm. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees education both with Honors at Case Western Reserve University with a year of coursework at University College London and The Bartlett School of Architecture. In addition to his health services research degree from the University of Michigan as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, he completed additional policy training as a Crile Fellow at Princeton University and as a Doris Duke Fellow at John Hopkins Hospital. Andrew’s research at the interface of healthcare, policy evaluation and architecture has resulted in numerous publications, book chapters, international presentations. Bon and Andrew talk about health in all design, failures in medicine, and so much more.

EP 15: Designing the Great Indoors | Emily Anthes Dec 31, 2020

Show notes

Humans are an indoor species; we spend about 90% of our time inside buildings. What makes a building sick or a living room healthy? Explore the science of indoor spaces with Emily Anthes, the author of The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Emily and Bon talk about the design of modern hospitals, evidenced-based design and tips on creating healthier indoor spaces.

EP 14: Jam Session featuring Mike Natter Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

In this special holiday edition of Design Lab, Dr. Mike Natter (from Episode 3) joins us as our return guest! In this fun meandering conversation, our producer Rob Pugliese asks Bon and Mike about their holiday plans, TikTok, quarantine puppies, Jeopardy, reducing pandemic stress and so much more. Enjoy and happy holidays!

EP 13: The Practice of Design in Health Care | MIYA OSAKI & TINA PARK Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

Miya Osaki and Tina Park solve wicked problems in health care through design. They are partners at NYC-based Diagram, a design studio that’s fully dedicated to the healthcare industry. In their spare time, Miya and Tina host “Ya, No”, an engaging podcast that explores new ideas in health care. In their work, they use role-playing, narrative storytelling and participatory design to improve the experiences for both patients and clinicians. Bon chats with Miya and Tina about how design can make healthcare more human-centered, the challenges of explaining the job of a designer to their Asian parents, and why all clinical teams need designers.

EP 12: Designing through Storytelling | Emily Silverman Dec 03, 2020

Show notes

Meet Emily Silverman. She’s an academic hospitalist in San Francisco and the founder of The Nocturnists, an independent medical storytelling community. Stories are her design medium. Emily has created a platform that invites healthcare workers to open up and share their stories, the good and the bad. She creates space for real talk, to bring taboos out into the open and transform the culture of medicine. Bon and Emily talk about tips to become better storytellers, fiercely protecting time for creativity, and challenging the status quo in healthcare to make room for humanity.

EP 11: Emancipatory Design | Lesley-Ann Noel Nov 26, 2020

Show notes

Meet Lesley-Ann Noel. She's a Professor of Design and her research practice is guided by an emancipatory philosophy. Lesley introduces design to nontraditional audiences and has presented her work all over the world: Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, Brazil, Germany, and France. Originally from Trinidad, she moved to Brazil to study Industrial Design and earned her PhD at North Carolina State University. Bon and Lesley talk about conducting design research during a pandemic, confronting biases through emancipatory design, and the challenges Lesley has faced being a black female designer.

EP 10: Designing Death | BJ Miller Nov 19, 2020

Show notes

BJ Miller, a palliative care physician, wants to redesign how we die. BJ is the co-author of A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death, his TED talk has over 11 million views and he’s been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Tim Ferris and Krista Tippet. Bon asks BJ about the role of design in reimagining the dying experience, helping people navigate illness during the pandemic through his new company Mettle Health, and why majoring in Art History has made him a better physician. Discover how you can live a fuller and more meaningful life by redefining your understanding of death.

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