Clemson appoints new endowed chair in health care architecture
November 10, 2014
CLEMSON — Clemson University’s School of Architecture has appointed Anjali Joseph as the first Endowed Chair in Architecture + Health Design and Research.
Joseph joins Clemson after nine years with the Center for Health Design in California as the director of research and more recently as the director of grants and research advisory services.
“I look forward to contributing to the program and building the Ph.D. program with a focus on health and wellness in the built environment,” Joseph stated. “I hope to collaborate actively with other endowed chairs, faculty, as well as industry organizations to develop and execute a multidisciplinary research agenda. I look forward to building a strong research program at Clemson that bridges research, practice and education and produces high-quality research to advance the design of environments that promote health and well-being.”
As endowed chair, Joseph will anchor an approved multi-institutional SmartState initiative in health facilities design and testing and collaborate with other endowed chairs, faculty and industry collaborators at the Medical University of South Carolina, Health Sciences South Carolina member institutions, as well as the health care and design community at large. The position is funded through the Commission of Higher Education’s SmartState Program and a gift from Spartanburg Regional Health System.
“We are very excited to have Dr. Joseph join the Architecture + Health Program at Clemson and look forward to having her increase our research capacity,” said David Allison, director of Graduate Studies in Architecture + Health and Clemson University Alumni Distinguished Professor. “Her work to date with the Center for Health Design aligns well with our already expanding research activities. Anjali brings valuable experience for the role she will be playing at Clemson and for expanding collaborative research initiatives with partners throughout the state and beyond.”
Joseph earned a Ph.D. in architecture at Georgia Tech, a Master of Architecture from Kansas State University and a Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, India.
“My work at the Center for Health Design focused on understanding the relationship between the health care built environment and health care outcomes,” Joseph stated. “Specifically, I focused on developing tools and guidelines that support the implementation of built environment research in health care practice to result in improved outcomes for patients, staff and families.”
Joseph has extensive research experience as both a project leader and principal investigator. She has published widely in her field and has been invited to lecture and present her work at conferences and colloquia across the United States and in Europe, India, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
Architecture + Health at Clemson University
Within the framework of the Master of Architecture degree, the Architecture + Health concentration includes seminar courses and studio work appropriate for a general professional degree. The intent of the A+H concentration, which is the most structured and established program of its type in the United States, is to develop the generalist-specialist graduate who can work creatively in both modes. The curriculum concentration includes both the study of health facility design and the study of relationships between architectural settings and their impact on human health and well-being. The primary purpose of the concentration is to study how architectural environments impact health and how to create architectural settings that support the health and well-being of individuals and larger populations.
