Episode #230 Creating Opportunities for Health Through Design with Abbie Clary, Executive Director, Health for All

Can design be a determinant of health?

We often think about the quality of the clinical care patients receive in our hospitals, the outcome metrics that determine funding and quality and safety rankings, the readmission rates that tell us how well we’re helping people get healthy and stay that way. But one thing we overlook is the quality, accessibility, and care in the buildings those same patients visit, the parking lots, the cafeterias, the sights, the sounds, the space as a whole. 

Our guest today is an architect who looks at existing and possible solutions through a unique lens: Who was this designed for? Abbie Clary is CannonDesign’s Executive Director of Health for All where she leads strategy at the intersection of design, health equity and systems change. She has spent nearly 30 years impacting the healthcare system most directly across over $5 Billion in healthcare projects, including work with Memorial Sloan Kettering, University of Chicago Medicine, MD Anderson, Fred Hutch, Kaiser Permanente Shirely Ryan AbilityLab and more.

Her perspective that “design is bigger than buildings” is changing healthcare by creating opportunities for health in and around the spaces we as people inhabit in our daily lives. By building in those opportunities on the front end, Abbie believes there will be greater access, better outcomes, and an overall shift in health and wellness for all.