CEO
Dr. Stephanie Taylor received her MD from Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts in 1984. For the next several decades, she practiced clinical medicine and did academic research in cellular growth mechanisms.
During this time, she became increasingly concerned about patients who were harmed by new infection during their in-patient treatment. Determined to gain a better understanding of the impact of the built environment on patient well-being, she returned to school and obtained her Master's Degree I Architecture and Engineering from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. After working for several years in a healthcare design architecture firm, she founded Taylor Healthcare Consulting, Inc., in order to focus on designing, building and maintaining hospitals to better support patient healing. She quickly learned that many of the building and indoor air characteristics that affect people in hospitals also influenced the health of all people in buildings.
Dr. Taylor is currently working at the intersection of architectural design, indoor air management, the microbiome of the built environment and occupant health. She finds the impact of buildings on our health startling! Managing the built environment and indoor air with the goal of decreasing diseases from acute infections to chronic inflammation to cognitive impairment, is a very underutilized yet powerful approach to disease prevention. She finds that her physician insights and biological research helps her understand the science behind the interaction of buildings, human physiology and energy consumption.
Dr. Taylor has designed hospitals globally, from the United States to Papua New Guinea to Vietnam. In addition to her Taylor Healthcare Consulting work, she is a member of the Harvard Medical School Incite Health Fellowship. This program brings together multidisciplinary teams from across the US, trains them in design thinking and entrepreneurship, and gives them the tools and resources to guide the future of medical care.
To communicate her work and understanding about the fascinating convergence of human health, microbiology and architecture, Dr. Taylor writes monthly columns and bi-annual feature articles for Engineered Systems Magazine and publishes in other healthcare journals. She is an active member of ASHRAE, ASHE and national and international medical associations. When not working elsewhere, Dr. Taylor lives in beautiful Stowe, Vermont with her husband and eight dogs. One of her favorite activities is skydiving, which she finds is great practice for staying outside of her comfort zone!
Our health is our number one resource, yet current building codes tend to focus on regulating energy consumption and averting catastrophic building events such as fires. This presentation shows research and science supporting the relationship between building design and occupant health, not just comfort, providing sound evidence for the importance of indoor air quality in residential, academic and commercial buildings. IAQ which supports optimal health and productivity for all people decreases job absenteeism, improves student learning and lightens the financial and human burden of chronic illness and acute infectious disease.
Active participation from the audience will be requested throughout the presentation as Dr. Taylor communicates medical and scientific information in a clear and sometimes humorous fashion, leaving the audience excited about the value of building design and maintenance in preserving health. They will also have clear take-away strategies to manage their own surroundings to improve their health and productivity.