Shabboo Valipoor, Ph.D., EDAC, Associate professor and graduate coordinator, College of Design, Construction, and Planning, University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida)
For nearly a decade, Shabboo Valipoor has been a driving force in integrating research-driven insights into healthcare design education, helping to elevate the field and shape future industry leaders. Most recently, she’s furthered this impact by refining two key teaching principles–applying evidence-based design solutions to real-world challenges and promoting multidisciplinary learning in and out of the classroom.
In fall 2024, she co-led a senior-level healthcare design studio for interior design students at the University of Florida, whereby students collaborated with RLF Architects on an outpatient clinic project focused on digestive health at Orlando Health. The process allowed participants to engage with cutting-edge research in healthcare design, including a recently completed study on flexibility in healthcare environments that she led, with funding from the Foundation for Health Environments Research.
Additionally, students received critiques by professionals from healthcare organizations and architecture and design firms and engaged with industry suppliers and design leaders during a field trip to Dallas, offering firsthand exposure to current design challenges and industry expectations.
She’s also shaping healthcare design education at the graduate level through her “Inclusive Design in the Built Environment” seminar. Now in its fourth year, the program attracts master’s and doctoral students from architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban and regional plan-
ning disciplines.
In 2024, students partnered with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in Jacksonville, Fla., to propose evidence-based design interventions for under-resourced communities facing health disparities, crime, and aging infrastructure. Their projects included a mobile women’s health clinic and evidence-based improvements to a community library aimed at enhancing social determinants of health.
Beyond the classroom, Valipoor mentors students in empirical research on critical healthcare design topics, including nurse burnout, supportive third places in hospitals, active aging in senior living, and empathy in design pedagogy. She was recently named a Term Professor (2021-2024) at the University of Florida, an honor that acknowledges her innovative contributions and long-term influence in shaping the field.
By integrating real-world projects, professional critiques, and practice-based and academic research, she’s ensuring students develop both technical expertise and a broad perspective on healthcare challenges.
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