DEBORAH WINGLER, PH.D., MSD-HHE, EDAC

Dr. Deborah Wingler is a well-known passionate patient and family advocate for healthcare design, researcher, speaker and published author. She holds a Ph.D. from Clemson University in Healthcare Architecture and earned a M.S.D. in Healthcare Design from The Herberger Institute of Design at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on improving the patient and staff experience through research studies that utilize real-time data collection techniques to elicit insight into patient and staff physiological, psychological and neural responses to high stress healthcare environments. In her role at HKS, Deborah collaborates with research and design teams to develop and implement research initiatives that drive innovation and achieve a measurable impact across the healthcare practice globally. 

Prior to joining HKS, Dr. Wingler was a Research Assistant Professor with the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing at Clemson University where she contributed to multiple large grant funded projects, working with multidisciplinary teams to develop and test built environment solutions for improving patient safety, user experience, and operational efficiencies. Dr. Wingler was also the founder and president of Healing Design Integration where she worked with some of the most forward-thinking healthcare organizations, manufacturers, and design firms in the industry to support their respective research agendas. Both in practice and academia, her research has focused on the integration of research into the design process at varying scales, from the development of emerging models of care through multi-year capital projects, to the development of tools to support evidence –based design decisions, and the design of products and platforms to support the delivery of care. Today she serves as an Adjunct Faculty for Clemson University, a member of the Center for Health Design Research Coalition, and as a reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals and industry competitions.