March 2020

Bon Ku, MD, MPP is the Assistant Dean for Health & Design at Thomas Jefferson University. A practicing emergency medicine physician, he is also the Director of the Health Design Lab and created the first design thinking program at a medical school. His Lab teaches future physicians to apply human-centered design to healthcare challenges and tackles healthcare inequalities as a form of social justice. Their work toward building healthier cities and redesigning medical education has been featured in The New York Times, CNBC, Architectural Digest, Fortune, and Wired Magazine. Dr. Ku is the recipient of the Cambridge Health Alliance Art of Healing Award and healthcare innovation awards from The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Business Journal. He has spoken at conferences, academic medical centers, and universities around the world. Recent venues include SXSW, TEDx, Mayo Clinic Transform, Yale School of Management, American Institute of Architects, and Singapore Design Week. Dr. Ku was a regular panelist on the primetime television show Chasing the Cure Live with Ann Curry and his book, Health Design Thinking, co-written by Ellen Lupton, was published by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and MIT Press in March 2020.

During his residency, Dr. Ku gave a public talk entitled "Making Health Care Beautiful by Design," conducted a convergence class with students from Chemistry, Biology, and Art Studio, and hosted a lunch with students interested in careers in medicine and medical design.