“Dochitect” Honored for her Research Contributions to the Profession of Healthcare Architecture

Diana Anderson, MD, MArch, FACHA, assistant professor of neurology, has been selected by the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) to serve on the Council of Fellows. As a “dochitect,” Anderson combines educational and professional experience in both medicine and architecture. She was chosen for this honor for her unique hybrid academic and professional career contributions, notably for pioneering a collaborative, evidence-based model for approaching healthcare from the medicine and architecture fields simultaneously.

Anderson, who also recently completed a research fellowship in geriatric neurology at the VA Boston Healthcare System under the mentorship of BU/VA faculty member Andrew Budson, MD, was a 2022 recipient of an Alzheimer’s Association Clinician Scientist Fellowship. She is a healthcare principal at Jacobs, contributing her thought leadership at the intersection of design and health. She has worked on hospital design projects globally, is widely published in architectural and medical journals and books and is a frequent speaker about the impacts of healthcare design on patient outcomes, staff satisfaction and related topics.

Anderson received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from McGill University in Montreal before pursuing her medical degree from the University of Toronto. She completed a residency in internal medical at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and a clinical geriatric fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

A past fellow at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, which launched her exploration into the ethics of built space, she continues to explore space design and ethics, especially in the context of nursing homes and institutional living for older adults. Anderson is also a co-founder of the Clinicians for Design group, an international network of leaders that inspires and accelerates the design of environments and systems.

The ACHA is the only certification organization related to the practice of healthcare architecture in the world. Elevation to the prestigious Council of Fellows by the ACHA Board of Regents is an honor held for those that exhibit and represent the highest standards of the profession. There are currently 590 healthcare architects in North America, 46 which are Fellows.