Program Format
All components of the Health by Design certificate program will be competed online.
Work through the different stages of the design process through 5 live workshops. In between these workshops, 4 live studio sessions will offer space for you to work on assignments in groups, ask questions, and brainstorm.
Preliminary readings and videos will be available before the program begins to introduce the learning platform and program goals.
Program Schedule
- Immersion and Design Research: Thursday, January 15, 2026 (12 – 2 pm ET)
Get oriented to health design mindsets and assess your own creativity and innovation starting point. Reflect on ways you want to grow your design muscle. Launch into the course project challenge and start to build empathy for real end-users using powerful ethnography tools. - Studio Session Thursday, January 22, 2026 (12 – 1 pm ET)
Gain hands-on experience with design ethnography tools, such as photojournals and AEIOU charts to better understand patient and provider perspectives, uncovering both explicit and unspoken needs to inform more empathetic and effective healthcare solutions. - Sensemaking and Data Synthesis: Thursday, January 29, 2026 (12 – 2 pm ET)
Explore how to make reasoned, interpretive leaps from your research data. Use journey maps to help imagine the present experience of a persona and then pinpoint identify a range of user needs. - Studio Session Thursday, February 5, 2026 (12 – 1 pm ET)
Learn to transform complex healthcare challenges into actionable design opportunities using personas, journey maps, and creative techniques (analogy, metaphor) that spark innovative, patient-centered solutions. - Creativity and Prototyping: Thursday, February 12, 2026 (12 – 2 pm ET)
Dive into ideation to imagine a range of novel ways of meeting an identified user need using structured brainstorming methods. Work with simple materials to create and share ideas. Develop your creative abilities and confidence. Prioritize ideas to discern promising solutions that are desirable and feasible. - Studio Session: Thursday, February 19, 2026 (12 – 1 pm ET)
Strengthen your ability to creatively prototype and test healthcare solutions by designing feedback strategies, articulating assumptions, and building structured approaches to evaluate impact with users. - Learning in Action: Thursday, February 26, 2026 (12 – 2 pm ET)
Rapidly test your prototype in the field. Make sense of feedback from others to calibrate your understanding of the challenge and what solutions are needed. Reframe, recreate, and remix your work to refine your idea. Reflect on what you hope to learn from testing the next version with others. - Studio Session: Thursday, March 5, 2026 (12 – 1 pm ET)
Learn how to turn design research into a compelling story and visually engaging presentation that resonates with stakeholders. We’ll also explore practical ways to bring design solutions to life in healthcare settings, bridging the gap between insight and implementation. - Project Pitch: Thursday, March 12, 2026 (12 – 2 pm ET)
Share your ideas with your peers and a group of healthcare leaders and health designers. Get inspired about the potential for making change through health design thinking and overcoming barriers. Reassess your own creativity and innovation. Reflect on how you will continue to grow your design abilities beyond the course.
Studio Sessions Information
The studio sessions can be envisioned as online design studios — space where participants can interact with each other and with faculty. Apply new skills and knowledge through guided activities and work on assignments in small groups during semi-structured time. The studio sessions provide opportunity for mentorship in health design and dedicated time to collaborate with colleagues. While studio assignments can be completed independently, we strongly encourage learners to attend and make the most of the 4 sessions to work with your peers, brainstorm, explore ideas, and approach your work in new ways.
Certificate Eligibility:
To be eligible for the Certificate of Completion, learners must attain a minimum of 80% class attendance (of synchronous sessions offered) and complete all required assignments.
Assignments:
Learners are required to complete all assignments to meet the certificate of completion requirements for the program. These assignments may be submitted upon conclusion of the live synchronous sessions (specific deadlines will be provided by the instructor) and will require learners to apply skills learned throughout the program. Learners are required to create a 5-minute presentation about their design journey or about their design research and proposed solution. This may be completed independently or in a small group. Additional details will be provided upon introduction to the program.