The Health Design Podcast

Professor Gary David returns to The Health Design Podcast to explore how we can design experiences that foster connection, belonging, and shared meaning — especially in healthcare settings.

Drawing on his background as a sociologist and experience designer, Gary discusses the concept of "communities of the moment" — how shared experiences, from ringing the bell after chemotherapy to using inclusive pronouns like "we" and "team," can elevate everyday interactions into something greater than the sum of their parts.

The conversation takes a deeply personal turn when Gary shares the story of his daughter's surgery at a Children's Hospital and the baffling, jargon-filled denial letter he received from his insurance company. It becomes a case study in systemic misalignment — where different parts of a healthcare system work against each other, leaving patients and caregivers confused, anxious, and financially vulnerable.

Gary introduces his upcoming book, The Un-Wow: Your Blueprint to Experience Design of All Kinds, which argues that the most meaningful experiences often come not from grand "wow" moments but from small, everyday acts — what he calls micro-affirmations. He makes the case that everyone in a healthcare system, from surgeons to coders to cleaning staff, plays a role in shaping the patient experience, and that technical competence alone doesn't make someone a good leader.

The episode closes with a reflection on workplace culture, the difference between doing and leading, and why experience design is ultimately a people business.

Learn more at theunwow.com and listen to Gary's podcast, Experience by Design.

Dr. Eugene Manley joins the Health Design podcast to share a harrowing personal experience navigating the US healthcare system after foot surgery. While on Medicaid, he encountered medical racism, falsified chart notes, and a hospital system determined to discharge him before he was ready — despite his surgeon's objections. He describes how physical therapists misrepresented his condition in his records, blocking his access to skilled nursing care and leaving him vulnerable at his most fragile moment.

The conversation broadens to explore how capable people are misread by systems not designed to understand them. Eugene discusses his late-diagnosed ADHD, the cognitive cost of masking in workplaces, and how neurodivergent individuals — especially those who are also Black or from underserved backgrounds — are forced to fit boxes that waste their potential. He and host Moyez Jiwa examine the economic and human cost when talent walks out the door because it doesn't conform, and the troubling rollback of DEI initiatives in the US.

Eugene also discusses the funding crisis facing Black and Hispanic-led nonprofits, the chilling effect on scientific research, and his upcoming book "Too Much and Not Enough: Neurodivergence, Race, and Broken Systems." A powerful, candid conversation about what happens when systems fail the very people they're meant to serve.

What happens when the surgeon becomes the patient?

In this episode of the Health Design Podcast, we revisit a conversation with Minas Chrysopoulo — world-class breast surgeon and returning guest — who shares the story of a sudden and life-altering diagnosis that changed everything.

In the summer of 2023, Minas woke up with stiffness and numbness in his hands. What followed was a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, a gruelling journey through six different medications, and ultimately the decision to stop operating entirely — a career that had defined him for three decades.

Minas opens up about the shock of losing the thing he loved most, the surprising ways colleagues, patients, and friends responded, and what it truly means to forgive. He reflects on the unexpected gifts that emerged from his darkest period: a deeper gratitude, stronger relationships, and a clarity about what really matters.

Now channelling his experience as a surgeon and a patient into healthcare access and patient empowerment, Minas shares his perspective on informed consent, the constraints patients face when navigating the medical system, and why technology may be the most powerful tool we have for closing the gap between what patients need and what they receive.

This is a rare and honest conversation about resilience, identity, and what it means to build a meaningful second act.

In this episode of the Health Design Podcast, host Moyez Jiwa speaks with Laura Morris, an interior designer at Perkins&Will who specializes in healthcare environments.

Laura shares her passion for designing spaces that support the whole patient — not just the clinical procedure — with a particular focus on women's health. The conversation centers on the Nemours Children's Hospital Advanced Delivery Unit in Delaware, a recently completed project for high-risk pregnancies that Laura describes as her most rewarding work.

Key themes covered:

Design as healing: How environment directly affects patient stress, blood pressure, and willingness to communicate openly with clinicians.

The Nemours ADU project: A unit serving mothers who know their babies will need immediate medical care at birth. The design balances state-of-the-art clinical functionality (labor rooms, operating rooms with resuscitation areas, direct NICU corridors) with hotel-like comforts — spa-style bathrooms, nature views, personalized lighting, and even spaces for staff-hosted baby showers.

Sensory design: Patient-controlled lighting and color-changing artwork, digital signage replacing paper signs, noise-zoned corridors, and frosted windows bringing daylight into operating rooms.

Staff wellbeing: How good design improves staff retention and morale, with the nursing director reporting she still smiles walking in every morning.

Urban hospitals: Practical strategies for inner-city facilities without idyllic settings — borrowed light, biophilic elements, printed window shades, and accessible staff respite spaces.

Three lessons: Collaboration and shared vision, fighting for good design decisions, and proof that speed (18 months for 30,000 sq ft) doesn't have to compromise quality.

When Doctors Become Caregivers: Supporting Carers, Community Health, and the Limits of Quick Fixes

On the Health Design Podcast, Moyez Jiwa speaks with physician Tyson Garfield about how his perspective on patient experience shifted after his partner was diagnosed with a mucinous borderline ovarian tumor, underwent radical surgery, and faced a prolonged recovery that felt fractured despite good surgical care. Tyson describes the emotional labor, uncertainty before pathology, and using the AI tool OpenEvidence, as well as the need for caregiver support through primary care access and “the village,” noting the healthcare system funds individuals but not unpaid carers. They discuss rural and urban aging challenges including transport dependence, food deserts, limited internet, clinician retention, and fragmented community ties, and highlight community-focused care models like PACE and the importance of social workers. They also debate rising demand for semaglutides/GLP-1s, concerns about long-term effects such as sarcopenia, and the need for clinicians to be more vocal advocates for healthy aging and evidence-based information.

00:00 Welcome Back Tyson

00:39 Partner Diagnosis Shock

03:55 Recovery Gaps Exposed

05:09 Emotional Labor Uncertainty

09:13 Caregiver Needs Support

10:51 Supporting the Carers

12:04 Why Village Unfunded

15:14 Rural Aging Tasmania

19:48 Building Rural Care Models

22:09 Keeping Doctors Rural

26:28 Urban Isolation Caregivers

30:33 Sharing Info Legal Risks

32:56 Ethics What Matters Most

34:51 Social Drivers Physician Role

37:46 Food Deserts GLP1 Debate

42:13 Advocacy Against Quick Fixes

45:06 Closing Thanks Farewell

Dr. Tim McLerran is a physician-turned product leader with a mission to bring human and machine intelligence together in the service of clinical challenges. During a research fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, Tim co-developed methods to rapidly measure the molecular milieu of human blood using mass spectrometry. This exposed him to the massive volume of data in precision medicine, and precipitated a realization that artificial intelligence would have to be a part of medicine in order for us to make full use of the data available for each patient. As an entrepreneur and product leader, Tim has developed and deployed systems which provide AI support to clinicians in diagnosis, management, documentation, and patient communication. He is dedicated to the quadruple aim of healthcare, practices user-centered design, favors lean and agile methods of software development, and actively advocates for the ethical principles laid out by the American Medical Association in their November 2024 statement "Augmented Intelligence Development, Deployment, and Use in Health Care".

Jill Wener, MD is a board-certified Internist, ICF-certified professional coach, certified EFT/tapping practitioner and trainer, anti-racism educator, DEI consultant, trauma specialist, allyship coach, and expert in physician wellness. Jill is passionate about helping people take responsibility for their problems and teaching them practical, easy, rewarding, and trauma-informed tools to take self-improvement to the next level. Jill is the co-creator of the CME-accredited Conscious Anti-Racism training programs, the host of the Conscious Anti-Racism podcast, and the co-author of the best-selling Conscious Anti-Racism book. She has created CME-accredited EFT/tapping and meditation courses.

Jill has worked with clients such as Georgia Aquarium, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Yale University, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Centene, Santa Clara Medical Society, Rush University Medical Center, ChenMed, the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health, Emory University, Atkins Global, and the National Alliance for Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.

Dr. Lattisha Bilbrew is a board-certified Orthopaedic Surgeon specializing in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery and the first Black woman to become a partner at Resurgens Orthopaedics—Georgia’s largest orthopedic practice. She is one of fewer than five practicing Black female orthopaedic surgeons in the entire state, breaking barriers in a field where fewer than 2% of surgeons are women of color. Born in Birmingham, England to Jamaican parents, Dr. Bilbrew’s story is one of resilience, faith, and purpose.

Dr. Bilbrew’s research interests include diversity and inclusion within orthopaedic surgery. Her work on racial disparities in the treatment and evaluation of carpal tunnel syndrome has been published in peer-reviewed medical literature.

An advocate for health equity, Dr. Bilbrew travels annually to Washington, D.C., representing the AAOS before members of Congress on issues such as Medicare reform, prior authorization, and physician-owned hospital access. Her leadership and influence have earned her numerous honors, including recognition in The Atlantan Magazine as one of Atlanta’s Top Orthopaedic Surgeons, Georgia Trend’s “Top 40 Under 40,” and Modern Luxury’s “Most Powerful Women of Atlanta” and “Influential Atlantans in Medicine.”

Episode Description:

Dr. Bilbrew shares her powerful journey into medicine, inspired by a personal family experience that shaped her mission to lead with empathy and compassion. As one of the few Black women in orthopedic surgery, she reflects on embracing identity, breaking barriers, and navigating bias with pride in her Jamaican heritage. She discusses how individual empathy and systemic advocacy work hand-in-hand to advance health equity, from patient-level connection to policy-level change. Dr. Bilbrew also highlights the importance of mentorship, community engagement, and preparing future clinicians to serve with purpose, integrity, and understanding.

Dr. Bilbrew is the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller, Yes, I Am The Surgeon: Lessons on Perseverance in a World That Tells You No, a compelling memoir of resilience, representation, and faith. Her forthcoming book, Measure Twice, Cut Once: Lessons on Confidence in a World That Tells You No, explores the power of preparation, purpose, and self-trust in overcoming adversity.

Simply Estate Services exists to take executors from overwhelmed to fully supported, and our work reflects the lived experience behind that mission. April grew up navigating three contested grandparents estates, and those years shaped the foundation of what we do today. Executors often inherit responsibility without guidance, and the weight of decisions, timelines, and family dynamics can stop progress for months. We step in as the end to end partner who keeps momentum steady, clarifies every next step, and manages the entire process of preparing a property for market.

We specialize in working with lawyers, notaries, real estate agents, and executors, and our role goes far beyond clearing contents. We organize belongings, coordinate repairs or maintenance, manage redistribution of items, oversee trades, and handle every detail required to bring a home to sale readiness. Our focus is on realistic value rather than imagined value, on clarity rather than assumption, and on ensuring the executor remains in control while no part of the workload falls on their shoulders.

Executors trust us because we reduce emotional strain, shorten timelines, and provide a single point of coordination that keeps estates moving forward with confidence. Our work has become a vital support system for families and legal teams, and we are proud to bring order, compassion, and professionalism to a process that is often confusing and isolating.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-fluevog-jr-761aa23/

Website: www.fluevogfilms.com

In this episode, Dr Michelle Ossmann, nurse practitioner and socio-spatial scientist, explores hospitality in healthcare, ICU design, and evidence-based healthcare architecture. Dr. Ossmann is the global research director for MillerKnoll. Trained as a socio-spatial scientist and nurse practitioner, she leads the research team to investigate front-end innovation and back-end organizational outcomes across a range of place types. She serves in an advisory capacity for various Fortune 500 companies, health systems, and academic and professional programs, and publishes and presents widely. Dr. Ossmann received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing and her MBA from Emory University, and her PhD in Architecture from The Georgia Institute of Technology.

For more information on research discussed on today’s podcast, visit millerknoll.com. You can also connect with Dr. Ossmann on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-ossmann/, where she shares additional research and insights.