Jaynelle F. Stichler, DNS, RN, EDAC, NEA-BC, FACHE, FAAN and D. Kirk Hamilton, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC have been named as the 2016 Changemaker award recipients by The Center for Health Design. Given annually at Healthcare Design Expo & Conference, the award honors individuals or organizations that have demonstrated exceptional ability to change the way healthcare facilities are designed and built, and whose work has had broad impact on the advancement of healthcare design. 

Recognized as renowned thinkers, innovators, and longtime leaders in the healthcare design community, Kirk and Jaynelle co-founded and currently co-edit the Health Environments Research & Design, (HERD) Journal.  HERD Journal is a top international, inter-professional publication that provides students, researchers and design practitioners with peer-reviewed research and methodology papers, theory articles, case studies, and book reviews, focused on the effects of health environments and evidence-based design on patient, provider, and organizational outcomes.

Instrumental in defining the term “evidence-based design”, Kirk is a Fellow of the Center for Health Systems & Design and a Professor of Architecture at Texas A&M University. He focuses his academic research on the relationship of evidence-based health facility design to measurable organizational performance. A board certified healthcare architect with 30 years of active practice and a founding principal emeritus of WHR Architects, Kirk has completed healthcare projects in 20 states and eight countries and is a past president of the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health. He has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal by the ACHA and is one of only a few architect members of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. 

Acknowledged for her pioneering work as one of the nation’s first nurse consultants in the design of healthcare environments, Dr. Jaynelle (Jan) Stichler’s research focuses on the effect of the work environment, including facility design and leadership, on organizational performance and patient and provider outcomes. She is Professor Emerita of Nursing at San Diego State University, Consultant for Research and Professional Development for Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns, and a Fellow in both the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Healthcare Executives. With extensive experience in the healthcare design industry as a healthcare executive and nurse consultant, Jan has worked with hospitals, both nationally and internationally, in strategic planning, program development, and hospital and outpatient design and  is a founding member of the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design.

“The educational impact that Kirk and Jan have had on our industry, both as separate professionals and as the co-founders and co-editors of the HERD journal, has provided so many with inspiration”, said Frank Weinberg, M.S., Board Chair, The Center for Health Design. “It is their dedication, vision and expertise that created this essential industry resource and makes both rigorous research from academic sources and applied research from practice, accessible. Our industry has become both more knowledgeable and more connected through the HERD journal - quite a remarkable feat. The journal provides a place where as a community, we can read, discuss and share healthcare innovations and design, using our key learnings to address daily challenges to improve patient outcomes and enhance the work environments of healthcare professionals worldwide. It is this community that now wants to recognize and thank both Kirk and Jan with this award.”

Jan and Kirk will officially accept the Changemaker Award and be the keynote speakers on Monday, November 14, 2016, at the Healthcare Design Expo & Conference, in Houston, Texas.