Herminia Machry

Herminia Machry, PhD, is an internationally-licensed architect with a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and a PhD in Planning, Design and the Built Environment from Clemson University. She also completed Postdoctoral training at the Georgia Institute of Technology (SimTigrate Design Lab) and was awarded the 2018-2019 AIA-AAH Tuttle fellowship in Health Facility Planning and Design. Her experience spans work in architecture firms, universities, and research centers. She worked as a design practitioner on several healthcare facility projects; as an adjunct professor at three universities; and as a researcher specialized on healthcare and evidence-based design studies. Her research mainly focuses on improving design for safety, engagement and cognition outcomes within healthcare environments. More specifically, her studies aim at understanding how the layout and interior design of settings such as ICUs and operating rooms can impact flow disruptions, risky behaviors, social interactions, environmental mastery and ergonomics. Herminia’s most valuable contributions to evidence-based design and healthcare design have been related to the design of operating rooms, Neonatal ICUs (NICUs), and the design of doffing spaces at ICUs treating COVID-19 patients. Since Fall 2022, Herminia is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, in the School of Architecture & Design, where she joined the Institute of Health & Wellness Design and continues her research and educational practices on human-centered and evidence-based design.