Jeri Brittin, Ph.D., Director of Research at HDR, will serve a 3-year term with the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA) Design and Health Leadership Group (DHLG).

The AIA DHLG was founded in 2012 and provides strategic direction to the Institute and its staff relating to the design and health portfolio, now part of the AIA’s larger sustainability strategic initiative. The group is comprised of architects, public health researchers, physicians, academics, policy experts and planners who collaborate to build awareness of the impact of design and the built environment on health outcomes, and creating tools and resources necessary to meet the demand for healthier places to live, work, learn and play.

“The built environment affects every aspect of peoples’ lives, including health and well-being. Therefore, we must purposefully design the built environment, across scales and building typologies and population groups, to improve such outcomes for people,” Dr. Brittin said. “The AIA has taken an extraordinary step in bringing together individuals from multiple essential disciplines, including architecture and public health, to engage toward this goal.”

“A public health scientist who also has a design and business background, Jeri has envisioned and implemented cross-disciplinary collaboration at HDR that is empowering our teams to design with outcomes in mind and to become smarter about what really works,” said Scott Foral, Director of Consulting at HDR. “I know she will bring invaluable perspective to the AIA DHLG.”

This three-year appointment for Dr. Brittin holds opportunity for work on special projects and workgroups. The DHLG intends to foster knowledge within the profession through education and promote expertise within the AIA.