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Equitable Healthcare Action Lab Director Kim Erwin featured on DBBD from Design Observer

January 11, 2023

Kim Erwin on the Design of Business | The Business of Design
The Design of Business | The Business of Design podcast focuses on design and healthcare

Kevin Bethune and Dana Arnett interview Associate Professor of Healthcare Design and Design Methods Kim Erwin on Design Observer‘s The Design of Business | The Business of Design podcast.

Kim is Director of ID’s Equitable Healthcare Action Lab, which has partnerships with UChicago Medicine and Rush University, among others.

In the podcast episode, Kim discusses her path, from philosophy to design, and into healthcare. Later, she contextualizes how design itself has evolved, and the role it plays today:

“
Now we have design switching to being more of a purpose-driven field. There's this whole other level of training that is the generalist tool set of design that is about solving some of the larger problems that humanity faces. And I think that this is very attractive to people. It's an opportunity to make a difference.
—Kim Erwin

Kim gets specific on how design can be of service to healthcare, and she shares the particular challenge of innovating in the healthcare space:

“
Anything that you create that's outside the system by design is of no interest in the system. These are the limitations of traditional innovation methods applied to healthcare.
—Kim Erwin

Listen to the full episode or read the transcript at Design Observer to learn more about Kim’s pioneering design work in healthcare.

More from Kim and others soon on our own With Intent podcast.

Kim Erwin and Tomoko Ichikawa Work with National Academy of Medicine

Kim Erwin appointed Visiting Scholar at UChicago Medicine

Bridging the Communication Gap: Healthcare Service Design for Asthma Patients

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