Design Lab with Bon Ku

Did you know that the U.S. healthcare system is responsible for 10% of national greenhouse gas emissions? Learn how a pediatrician trained in landscape architecture is using clinical informatics and design to address the health impacts of climate change. Chethan Sarabu, MD trained in landscape architecture, pediatrics, and clinical informatics builds anastomoses across these fields to design healt...

Learn how an architect is setting the stage for better health by design, the relationship between neuroscience and architecture and design diagnostics.  Dr. Upali Nanda is Global Practice Director for Research at HKS, a 1500 person international architecture firm. She also teaches as Associate Professor of Practice at the Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning at University of Michigan...

Learn about how Dr. Susan Swick is challenging the paradigm of mental health, redesigning the future of behavioral health facilities and why every community needs a gym for building our mental health resilience.  Susan Swick, MD, MPH is the Executive Director of Ohana, designing and leading the development of this Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health at the Community Hospital of the M...

Thank you for supporting us through 100 episodes and getting us to 100,000 downloads! In this episode, Bon and Rob play back some of our favorite clips from early episodes and reminisce about all we have learned along the way. Guests featured in this episode: EP 1: Ellen Lupton, Sharing the Power of Design Listen on Apple Podcasts EP 2: Nzinga Harrison, Designing for Mental Health Listen on Apple...

How can we design for trust? What is the most transformative force in healthcare? On today's episode, you're going to learn how students at a design class at Stanford started Noora Health. Edith Elliott and Shahed Alam are Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Noora Health, an international non-profit that improves health outcomes and strengthens health systems by equipping patients and their loved ones with e...

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 advance...

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 Canad...

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 Yo...

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 Pub...

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...

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 Pers...

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 201...

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...

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 Pu...

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...

Does loneliness make us sicker? Do people who have more friends live longer? Why is loneliness a public health issue? Julianne Holt-Lunstad is a professor of psychology and neuroscience, and the Martin B. Hickman distinguished scholar at Brigham Young University. She is also the founding scientific chair of the U.S. Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness and Foundation for Social Connect...

Is there scientific evidence behind the daily decisions you make about your health? What role should clinician scientists and institutions play in debunking pseudoscience? Why does misinformation spread like a virus?  Timothy Caulfield is a Best selling author and Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and Research Directo...

Why do we hate disability?  Why does design neglect disability? How do disabled people tap into their creativity to make the world accessible? Laura Mauldin is a writer, sociologist, and interdisciplinary scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. She's currently an associate professor at the University of Connecticut. Her research focuses broadly on disability, care, and technology. Her first book, Made to H...

How do you define curiosity? Can it make us happier? Does curiosity have style? Perry Zurn is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University and the author of Curiosity and Power: The Politics of Inquiry.  Dani S. Bassett is the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2014.  They're the authors of the for...

Does creativity help physicians care for their patients? Can making space for stories improve healthcare? How does imagination come into play in the practice of Medicine? Jay Baruch is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he directs the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Scholarly Concentration. He's a practicing ER doc, writer and educator. His upcom...

How can we create a healthy work culture? What is equitable listening? How does making space for learning benefit organizations? Nina Bianchi is a Solutions Principal at Medallia with the regulated industry practice (government, healthcare, and life sciences). Prior to joining Medallia, she served as Chief of People and Culture at the U. S. Food and Drug Administration in partnership with the U. S...

How does design unlock your creative abilities? Why is it so hard for us to tolerate ambiguity? Can the fundamentals of design help us to learn more quickly? Sarah Stein Greenberg is the Executive Director of the Stanford d.school. She leads a community of designers, faculty, and other innovative thinkers who help people unlock their creative abilities and apply them to the world. Sarah speaks reg...

Sudhakar Nuti, MD, MSc is a primary care doctor and public servant who seeks to use clinical medicine, science, and policy to improve the health of disadvantaged people in America. He trained in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital during the height of the COVID pandemic and will start working in the New York public health care system later this year caring for people experiencing homelessne...

Katie Osborn’s passion for wayfinding is at the heart of improving people’s interactions with the built environment and is a believer in collaborating with experts to create ambitious, user-centered, and experiential design solutions. She is a regular speaker on wayfinding strategy and how it is “more than just signs,” sharing her expertise and passion for solutions that work for all people. She h...

Why is almost everything we know about pain wrong? How can we reframe our understanding of chronic pain? Is there a more effective way to treat pain outside of pills and procedures? Haider Warraich is a physician and researcher at the VA Boston Healthcare System and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. He has published more than 135 papers including in th...