Designing Trust into Healthcare

Healthcare design researcher and former nurse Terri Zborowsky shares how her clinical background led her to champion design as a tool for healing, dignity, and equity. Drawing on stories from her career, Terri illustrates how environments profoundly influence patient and caregiver experiences, from the need for sensory-inclusive spaces to the importance of co-designing with marginalized communities. She emphasizes that design communicates values, shapes systemic change, and can either foster or undermine belonging. The conversation highlights practical lessons—from activating community health needs assessments to recognizing power dynamics in engagement—and underscores Terri’s call to see design as never neutral, but as a powerful force for equity, compassion, and human connection