Design Lab with Bon Ku

Latest Episodes:

EP 98: Designing the Future of Patient Safety | Michael Wang Nov 24, 2022

Show notes

Learn about the creative journey of a Chinese immigrant who served as a Green Beret and then started a medical device company that uses AI to make hospitals safer.

Michael Wang graduated from Emory University and Columbia University and is the founder of Inspiren, a clinician-led technology company that uses AI and computer vision to augment and improve clinical outcomes. He is a licensed advanced practice clinician specializing in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Acute Care. Prior to his entrepreneurial and medical career, he served as a Green Beret in the United States Army Special Forces.

Episode Links and Mentions:

Mike’s Link List:

Inspiren

The restaurant Mike would take you to:

Mógū: Modern Chinese Kitchen

Keep an eye out for Mike's forthcoming book, Unbeaten!

Follow Inspiren: Twitter | LinkedIn

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/michaelwang

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 97: Designing Nature Prescriptions | Melissa Lem Nov 17, 2022

Show notes

Is your health suffering from nature deprivation? Why are doctors prescribing park prescriptions? Can nature exposure prevent the onset of chronic disease?

Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician who also works in rural and northern communities within Canada. Director of PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program powered by the BC Parks Foundation, and President-Elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, she is an internationally recognized leader in the field of nature and health. As a widely published writer, climate change panelist on CBC Radio's Early Edition, in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver, and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation.

Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group.

Episode Links and Mentions:

Melissa’s Link List: https://lnk.bio/s5o7

A Prescription for Nature: PaRx

Books recommended by Melissa:

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Robert’s Rules of Order

The restaurant Melissa would take you to:

The Boathouse Restaurant

Follow Melissa: Twitter | Instagram

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/melissalem

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 96: Designing the Long Life | Ayse Birsel Nov 10, 2022

Show notes

Can we view life as a design project? What design principles can help us be more creative? Why should we start designing for the life we want as we grow older?

Ayse (pronounced Eye-Shay) Birsel is one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People 2017 and is on the Thinkers50 Radar List of the 30 management thinkers most likely to shape the future of organizations. She is the author of Design the Life You Love and gives lectures on Design the Work You Love to corporations. Ayse is the co-founder of Birsel + Seck, the award-winning design and innovation studio, and consults to Amazon, Colgate-Palmolive, Herman Miller, GE, IKEA, The Scan Foundation, Staples and Toyota, among others. Her work can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Episode Links and Mentions:

https://www.aysebirsel.com/

http://ayse-birsel.squarespace.com/

Birsel + Seck

Ayse’s new book: Design the Long Life You Love

Ayse’e first book: Design the Life You Love

Books recommended by Ayse:

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

The Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith

The Long Game by Dorie Clark

To be Honest by Ron A. Carucci

How to Begin by Michael Bungay Stanier

The restaurant Ayse would take you to:

Tonchin

Follow Ayse: Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/aysebirsel

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 95: Designing Environmental Health | Jennifer D. Roberts Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

How can we microdose nature into the built environment?

What are the benefits of green spaces and who has access to them?

What’s the story behind Billie Holiday’s song Strange Fruit?

Jennifer D. Roberts is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health at the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). Dr. Roberts is also the Founder and Director of the Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory as well as the Co-Founder and Co-Director of NatureRx@UMD, an initiative that emphasizes the natural environmental benefits interspersed throughout and around the UMD campus. Her scholarship focuses on the impact of built, social, and natural environments, including the institutional and structural inequities of these environments, on the public health outcomes of marginalized communities. More specifically, much of her research has explored the dynamic relationship between environmental, social, and cultural determinants of physical activity and using empirical evidence of this relationship to infer complex health outcome patterns and disparities as well as instigate a powerful shift that recognizes, breaks, and transforms these conditions and determinants of health.

Episode Links and Mentions:

https://jenniferdeniseroberts.com/

Article: Mental health initiative connects UMD students with the outdoors

Article: Advancing Health and Sustainability in Baltimore

Video: Designing on the Front Lines: Safer Spaces

Book Rec: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solution for the Climate Crisis

Restaurant Rec: Seoul Food

Follow Jennifer: Twitter | LinkedIn

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/jenniferroberts

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 94: Designing for Disaster | Sheri Fink Oct 27, 2022

Show notes

How might we better prepare for disasters?

What role did deadly design play in Hurricane Katrina?

How does the concept of triage during a crisis reflect our values?

Sheri Fink is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated television producer and the author of the New York Times bestselling nonfiction book Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital about choices made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She is a producer of the Five Days at Memorial limited series on Apple TV+.

Fink’s work has often explored the impact of crises on health care and is informed by her background as an MD and former relief worker in disaster and conflict zones (she also holds a PhD in neuroscience).

Five Days at Memorial, the recipient of eight book awards, was based on an article investigating patient deaths at Memorial Medical Center. Co-published by ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine, the article won both a Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award.

As a news reporter, Fink extensively covered the Covid pandemic and, earlier, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, sharing Pulitzer Prizes in 2021 and 2015 with New York Times colleagues. Fink’s investigation into how the Ebola epidemic began in Sierra Leone and why it wasn’t stopped in time for the PBS Frontline episode Outbreak received an Emmy nomination for outstanding research in 2016.

Fink often lectures on topics ranging from emergency preparedness to journalism and is an adjunct associate professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She is at work on a book about the global Covid pandemic.

Episode Links and Mentions:

http://www.sherifink.net/

Article on the book via NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/books/five-days-at-memorial-by-sheri-fink.html

Article about the new show via Entertainment Weekly: https://ew.com/tv/tv-reviews/five-days-at-memorial-review-apple-tv-plus/

Follow Sheri: Twitter | Facebook | Insta

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/sherifink

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 93: Designing for Humanity | Platon Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

How does one of the world’s most renowned photographers humanize data?

Can ordinary people do extraordinary things?

What is true power?

Platon is one of the world's most renowned portrait photographers, having photographed more world leaders than anyone else in history, including six American presidents. He has photographed over 30 covers for TIME Magazine, including their 2008 Vladimir Putin Person of The Year cover, which was awarded 1st prize at the World Press Photo Contest. In 2008, Platon signed on as staff photographer to the New Yorker, winning a Peabody Award and two National Magazine Awards for his photo essays. He has published four books with subjects ranging from the power of world leaders to the dignity of those who serve in the US Military. In 2013, Platon founded The People’s Portfolio, a non-profit foundation dedicated to celebrating emerging leaders of human rights and civil rights around the world. The People’s Portfolio creates a visual language that breaks barriers, uplifts dignity, fights discrimination, and enlists the public to support human rights around the world. Platon is currently on the board for Arts and Culture at the World Economic Forum. Platon’s life’s work is the subject of a Netflix documentary, Abstract: The Art of Design. His first film, My Body Is Not A Weapon, features survivors of wartime sexual violence and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege. In 2020, Platon’s archive of prominent African American civil rights leaders and cultural leaders was acquired by the Smithsonian.

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/platon

Follow Platon: Twitter | Facebook | Insta

Episode Links and Mentions:

http://www.platonphoto.com

https://www.thepeoplesportfolio.org

https://www.mukwegefoundation.org

Originalportrait of Platon by Michele Murray

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 92: Designing Pandemic Survival | David France Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

Can we survive the next pandemic?

How does the Covid-19 pandemic parallel the HIV pandemic?

What lessons can we learn from the current global pandemic response?

David France is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning investigative journalist. His directorial debut, HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, received Academy and Emmy nominations and a Peabody Award. His 2017 film, THE DEATH & LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON, was awarded the Outfest “Freedom Award”. David premiered his third documentary, WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the special jury award for documentary editing. It received numerous awards, including BAFTA and Peabody. David's latest film, HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC, premiered at the 2022 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/davidfrance

Follow David: Twitter | Facebook | Insta | IMDb

Episode Links and Mentions:

David’s website: https://www.davidfrance.com/

Select Reviews of David's Films:

Review: Journal of a plague year via Boston Globe

Review: ‘This massive undertaking was invisible’: film glimpses behind the curtain as Covid vaccine was made via The Guardian

Review: ‘Welcome to Chechnya’ Review: A Vital Indictment of Mass Persecution via NYT

Review: ‘The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson’ Review: A Stonewall Hero Is Mourned In Fascinating Detective Story — Tribeca 2017 Review via Indie Wire

Review: A Story of AIDS, From the Beginning via NYT

More episode sources & links

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Follow @DesignLabPod on Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Facebook

Follow @BonKu on Twitter & Instagram

Check out the Health Design Lab

Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 91: Designing for Complex Systems | Valerie Casey Sep 29, 2022

Show notes

Valerie Casey is Senior Vice President and Chief Design Officer at Walmart where she leads a team of amazing designers creating the future of retail. Her team’s mission is to bring access and dignity through design excellence to everyone, regardless of their zip code or bank account balance. Valerie’s team uses design thinking and rapid experimentation to inspire and align cross-functional groups throughout the portfolio – from creating customer experiences and employee tools to designing digital products and in-store services.

Prior to Walmart, Valerie was Chief Product Officer at Samsung NEXT, and an executive leader at world-renowned design studios IDEO, frog design and Pentagram. She is the founder of the Designers Accord, the largest global community of designers working together to create positive social and environmental impact. Valerie was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. She has served on several boards, including the Ford CX Board, WEF Entrepreneurship Council, and the Kleiner Perkins Design Council. Casey was named: 100 Most Creative People in Business, Fast Company; Guru of the Year, Fortune magazine; Hero of the Environment, Time magazine; Master of Design, Fast Company; one of the World's Most Influential Designers, Businessweek. She holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MED from Yale.

Episode Mentions:

http://valcasey.com/

Website: Designers Accord

Website: Core77: Adopt the Designers Accord

Article: Walmart Made An Incredibly Sharp Move This Month Hiring Valerie Casey

Video: Brainstorm Design 2022 - Designing A Regenerative Company

Follow Valerie: Twitter | LinkedIn

Episode Website: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/valeriecasey

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 90: Designing for Long Covid | Lekshmi Santhosh Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

How do you design care for patients with Long Covid? Will the pandemic lead to a redesign of medical education? Can design principles create safer standards in healthcare?

Dr. Lekshmi Santhosh specializes in adult pulmonary and critical care medicine with a focus on medical education. She attends in the Medical ICU, the Neuro ICU, on the Internal Medicine teaching wards, and has a clinic at the Pulmonary Outpatient Faculty Practice at UCSF-Parnassus. She is the founder and Medical Director of the multidisciplinary OPTIMAL Clinic (pOst-covid-19/PosT-Icu MultidisciplinAry cLinic) at UCSF Health.

She serves as the Associate Program Director for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship and the Assistant Site Director for the Internal Medicine Residency at Parnassus. She also is the Director of the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds. She obtained her Master's in Health Professions Education from UC-Berkeley. Her primary interests in medical education research are related to ICU transitions of care, women in leadership, clinical reasoning, and subspecialty career choice.

Episode Mentions:

Interview w Lekshmi: What We Do — and, Frustratingly, Don’t — Know About Long Covid

Article: Long Covid-19 may remain a chronic condition for millions

Article: On the Long Road to Understanding Long Covid, This UCSF Initiative Leads

Article: Feeling Dismissed? How to Spot ‘Medical Gaslighting’ and What to Do About It.

Follow Lekshmi: Twitter | LinkedIn

Episode Website: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/lekshmisanthosh

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Check out the Health Design Lab

Production by Robert Pugliese

Edit by Fernando Queiroz

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032

EP 89: Designing Intellectual Antibodies | Seema Yasmin Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

Can we design intellectual antibodies?

How does misinformation spread like a virus?

Why do our brains cling to biases?

Dr. Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, Pulitzer prize finalist, medical doctor and Stanford and UCLA professor as well as a CEO coach working with Corporate Edge. Dr. Yasmin served as a disease detective in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the CDC, as a science reporter for The Dallas Morning News and medical analyst for CNN. The author of five books, her reporting appears in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, WIRED, Scientific American, and on the BBC, NBC and other news networks. Dr. Yasmin’s unique combination of expertise as a dually-trained physician and medical journalist have been called upon by the Vatican, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and the White House. Yasmin is director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University, and visiting professor of crisis communication at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. She trained in journalism at the University of Toronto and in medicine at the University of Cambridge. Her newest book, What the Fact?! is a navigation guide for teens (and adults!) on how to survive the murky worlds of misinformation and disinformation and become savvy consumers of information.

Episode Mentions:

Seema’s Website: https://seemayasmin.com/

Website: Stanford Health Communication Initiative

Seema’s New Book: What the Fact!? (Book drops on Sept 20th, 2022)

Article: Must-read books coming out in Sept 2022

Article: Doctors are spreading COVID disinformation. California needs to do something about it

Follow Seema: Twitter | Insta | TikTok | LinkedIn

Episode Website: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/seemayasmin

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