EP 43: Designing Acute Care | Monique Smith

Design Lab with Bon Ku

Dr. Monique Smith is the Founding Executive Director of Health DesignED: The Acute Care Design + Innovation Center at Emory University, an emergency physician at Grady Memorial Hospital and a thought leader on design thinking in healthcare. With expertise nationally and across the globe in service design and systems strengthening, Monique leverages design to reimagine the spectrum of acute care within a large health system from the moment patients experience symptoms to long after they walk out of the hospital’s sliding glass doors. Dr. Smith has appeared in the New York Times and CNN and currently serves as a health equity and COVID-19 advisor for Fortune 100 companies. Prior to joining Emory, she advised early stage companies on tech-enabled care for seniors, digital vaccines, and virtual care platforms. Globally, she has worked across five continents to deploy data and technology in expanding access to care, addressing supply chain challenges, and systematically tackling health inequity. Monique is an innovation leader passionate about cross market solutions that drive equitable tech enabled care. Bon and Monique chat about the importance of understanding people’s lived experiences, health equity, and approaching problems in healthcare through a design lens.