Design Lab with Bon Ku

Latest Episodes:

EP 78: Designing Health Technology | Subha Airan-Javia Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

How can better designed healthcare tools decrease clinician burnout? Why does the EHR suck so bad? What are ways to improve data visualization in the medical record?

As a hospitalist and Associate CMIO at Penn Medicine, Dr. Subha Airan-Javia recognized the daily challenges clinicians faced due to inefficient workflows and poorly designed technology. Knowing there was a better way she decided to pursue a career in clinical informatics instead of cardiology and critical care medicine. Subha also has a passion for how to improve communication between teams in medicine. She developed Penn Medicine’s handoff training curriculum for students and trainees, as well as developed a curriculum to teach medical students how to incorporate technology into clinical care in a way that improves patient encounters instead of detracting from them. Over the next 15 years as faculty at Penn Medicine, Subha worked to bridge the gap between front line clinicians and the development of health technology. In that work, she and her team created CareAlign, a care team collaboration platform to help teams of clinicians work together to take better, more efficient care of patients. Seeing how CareAlign revolutionized clinical workflows at Penn, Subha knew the platform could bring the same value to other institutions – which is how CareAlign the company, came to be. She spun the platform out of Penn Medicine, and now works to bring care team collaboration to other health systems and care settings. With a driving mission of making it easier for clinicians to do the right thing for patients, Subha believes technology should facilitate healthcare delivery instead of making it harder.

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

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 77: Designing Stories in Medicine | Alessandra Colaianni Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

Can the practice of writing make better physicians? Why are stories essential to the practice of Medicine? How can you become a better storyteller?

Alessandra Colaianni is a writer and head and neck surgeon who specializes in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer. She writes creative nonfiction essays about the world of surgical training, medical ethics, medical education, and illness. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker online, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Examined Life Journal, Intima, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Hobart, and other venues.

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Episode website: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/alessandracolaianni

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

Ep 76: Designing Smell | Nancy E. Rawson Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

What is the relationship between smell and memory? Can our sense of smell improve our emotional health? Should a smell check be a part of our regular check-ups?

Nancy Rawson is Vice President of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and holds a master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Massachusetts and a doctorate in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her career spans academia and industry, including a faculty position at the Monell Center studying how age and health impacts taste and smell, and various roles in the food and ingredient industries where she built research teams from the ground up and received awards for new product innovation. Since 2016, she has been at Monell, working to catalyze and manage Monell’s relationships with nearly 40 corporate partners and lead strategic and operational planning activities to support the Center’s growth and success. She continues to advance research into taste and smell disorders, is a founding advisor for the Smell and Taste Association of North America and is committed to increasing awareness of the importance of taste and smell for our health and wellbeing.

Episode Mentions and Resources:

Abscent.org Smell training and other Anosmia (loss of smell) resources

Monell COVID-19 Resources

World taste and smell day is Sept 14th!

SCENTinel 1.0: Development of a Rapid Test to Screen for Smell Loss

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Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/nancyrawson

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 75: Designing Global Health | Tracy Johnson Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

What is a design anthropologist? How can design reframe challenges in global health? Why does Montreal have outdoor staircases?

Tracy Johnson is a Design Anthropologist at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she

leads a portfolio of interdisciplinary investments, integrating human-centered design with the social and behavioral sciences and data analytics to bring about a deeper understanding of vulnerability as a pathway to the delivery of more equitable health outcomes. She leads the DesignforHealth.org community and was the guest editor of the Global Health: Science & Practice special supplement entitled Design for Health: Human Centered Design Looks to the Future. She received her PhD in social and cultural anthropology from Columbia University.

Other Episode Mentions:

Video: Blinded by Empathy

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Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/tracyjohnson

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 74: Designing the Future of Everything | Phnam Bagley Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

What is the role of culture when designing for humans? How can you create a culture of creativity? Do you always need to do research before designing?

Phnam is a partner at Nonfiction, a San Francisco-based design firm that turns science fiction into reality for a better future. She is a French industrial designer, futurist and aerospace architect. Her focus is on designing and developing cutting-edge hardware in Wearables, Healthcare, Education, Renewable Energy, Robotics, Transportation, and Aerospace. She specializes in turning groundbreaking technologies into impactful, intuitive, and beautiful products that help humans become the best versions of themselves. With her partner Mardis, Phnam co-hosts Future Future, a video series about design and the future of everything.

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Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/phnambagley

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 73: Designing for Mars | Melodie Yashar May 26, 2022

Show notes

As Director of Building Design & Building Performance at ICON, Melodie Yashar oversees the architectural direction of ICON’s built work as well as the performance of ICON’s building systems. Collaborating across technology and construction teams, the goal of Building Design & Building Performance at ICON is to deliver optimally-performing structures enabled by 3D-printing and shift the paradigm of homebuilding on Earth and beyond.

Prior to ICON, Melodie was a Senior Associate Researcher in human factors with San Jose State University Research Foundation at NASA Ames, a co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+), a group developing human-supporting concepts for space exploration, as well as a professor of design at Pratt Institute and Art Center College of Design. As a co-founder of SEArch+, Melodie collaborated with ICON on design schematics for a permanent Lunar base for Project Olympus. Melodie has worked as a design architect at Locatelli Partners, Pentagram, AvroKo, and Studio Geiger Architecture & Design.

Episode Mentions:

Mars Dune Alpha

Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies (MMPACT)

Jobs at ICON

Spacearchitect.org

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Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/melodieyashar

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 72: Designing on the Front Lines, Part 3 | Safer Spaces May 12, 2022

Show notes

This is part 3 of a special 3-part virtual talk in partnership with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the Health Design Lab at Thomas Jefferson University. Architects are reimagining the places where we live, work, and gather. Many modern indoor spaces are sealed shut and climate-controlled. The pandemic prompted people to open the windows, move activities outside, and control the flow of indoor air. From plastic sneeze guards to graphics for social distancing, new norms sprang quickly into place. What worked and what didn’t? How can everyone have access to healthier spaces?

Panelists include Jennifer D. Roberts, University of Maryland School of Public Health; Jennifer Tobias, Researcher, New York City Streateries; and Andrew M. Ibrahim, University of Michigan and HOK

The panel was moderated by Morgan Hutchinson and Ellen Lupton. Video archives of the series are also available at CooperHewitt.org.

Watch videos of previous episodes of DOTFL Season 1 and Season 2

Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/dotfl3

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 71: Designing Recovery Through Surfing | Thad Ziolkowski May 04, 2022

Show notes

Is surfing the most addictive sport? How did surfing help a writer with a substance use disorder enter into recovery? What activities can be a form of therapy for you?

Thad Ziolkowski is a lifelong surfer, person in recovery, and the author, most recently, of The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery, which was published in 2021 by Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins. His memoir On a Wave (Grove/Atlantic) was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003 and his novel, Wichita (Europa Editions) appeared in 2012 to critical acclaim. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure, Interview Magazine and Index. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University.

Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/thadziolkowski

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 70: Designing Civic Tech | Sha Hwang Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

How does an architect end up working on Obamacare?

What are the differences between designing with data and physical materials?

Why does the government need more designers?

Sha Hwang is COO and co-founder at Nava, a public benefit corporation working to make government services simple, effective, and accessible. Founded as a part of efforts to help fix HealthCare.gov, Nava now works on projects across Medicare, Department of Veterans Affairs, and at the state level on large efforts to improve government digital services.

A failed architect and accidental entrepreneur, Sha has worked with clients such as the New York Times, the Harvard Library Lab, CNN, MTV, Flickr, and Adobe. Prior to Nava, Sha worked at Stamen Design and later co-founded the company Movity, which was acquired by Trulia. Sha has spoken frequently at events including the White House Datapalooza, Webstock, Eyeo Festival, and Visualized.

Follow Sha Hwang: Twitter | LinkedIn| Instagram

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Episode website link: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/shahwang

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Production by Robert Pugliese

Cover Design by Eden Lew

Theme song by Emmanuel Houston

EP 69: Designing a Covid-19 Vaccine for the World | Maria Elena Bottazzi Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

What is an open source vaccine?

How are vaccine and beer production similar?

Are D.I.Y. vaccine starters kits the best strategy to vaccinate the world?

Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi is an internationally recognized tropical and emerging disease vaccinologist, global health advocate and co-creator of a patent-free, open science COVID-19 vaccine technology that led to the development of Corbevax, a COVID-19 vaccine for the world. She pioneers and leads innovative partnerships for the advancement of a robust vaccine development portfolio tackling diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest populations, making significant contributions to catalyze policies and disseminate science information to reach a diverse set of audiences. In 2022, alongside vaccine researcher Peter Hotez, she was nominated by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher of Texas for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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