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Meet the Team
Executive Team
Debra J. Levin, EDAC
Debra’s trailblazing efforts in the field of healthcare facility design research, education and advocacy have propelled The Center for Health Design (CHD) into industry consciousness and the forefront of healthcare design.
Under Debra’s leadership, our flagship research initiative, the Pebble Project, has gained international recognition and grown from four participants to more than 70. Debra led the creation of the annual Healthcare Design and Environments for Aging conferences, which are produced by Vendome Group, LLC, in association with CHD. She has forged successful partnerships with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, California Health Care Foundation, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other prestigious healthcare organizations.
Also under Debra’s watch, our membership has expanded to include a rich, multidisciplinary group of architects, interior designers, healthcare executives, healthcare professionals, researchers, product manufacturers, educators, students, futurists and more.
Debra’s commitment to CHD dates back to 1989 when she was hired to produce the Symposium on Health Care Interior Design. The Symposium quickly developed a reputation as a forward-thinking, people-focused, idea-generating conference. When CHD was founded in 1993, we continued to produce the Symposium and Debra’s role expanded to include managing CHD’s growing research and advocacy efforts.
Debra has a master's degree in management and organizational leadership from the John F. Kennedy School of Management and a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University's College of Architecture. She serves on advisory boards for the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers, and Arizona State University Healthcare Design Initiative. A Fellow of the Jim Whittaker Discovery Camp for Innovation and Leadership, Debra was named one of “Twenty People Making Healthcare Better” in 2007 by HealthLeaders magazine.
Sara O. Marberry, EDAC
Sara has been with The Center for Health Design from the start. A member of the original Symposium on Health Care Interior Design Advisory Board that was established by our founders in 1988, Sara now oversees our day-to-day operations and works directly with the management team to fulfill the strategic vision set for CHD and each of our initiatives. Her primary responsibilities include oversight of program operations, office management, human resources and marketing.
Sara has held a variety of leadership roles within our organization, including acting president and consulting director of communications, and she has made significant contributions to our global growth and expansion. Sara developed strategies that brought us international recognition, increased membership and revenue, and helped bring unfamiliar terms such as evidence-based design and healing environments to the healthcare and design industry consciousness.
Sara’s passion for healthcare facility design developed while she was Editor-in-Chief of Contract Magazine. A blogger, tweeter, and frequent speaker at healthcare and design industry events, Sara has edited and authored numerous books, journals and other publications. She is the editor of Improving Healthcare Through Better Building Design, Healthcare Design: An Introduction, and Innovations in Healthcare: Selected Presentations from the First Five Symposia on Healthcare Design. She authored Color in the Office: Design Trends from 1950-1990 and Beyond and co-authored The Power of Color: Creating Healthy Interior Spaces. Sara has a bachelor's of arts in communications from Northwestern University, where she has served on the School of Communication’s Alumni Board.
Jess Gutierrez
Jess ensures that our finances are on track and in compliance with our 501(c)3 status so that we can carry on smoothly with furthering our mission.
Prior to coming to work for our organization, Jess held senior management roles with financial institutions, technology businesses and non-profit organizations. He has more than 25 years of experience working with growth-oriented companies.
In addition to his work with CHD, Jess is a consulting CFO with CFOs2GO Partners and a member of the board of directors of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. He obtained his M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University.
Mark Goodman
Mark has mastered the art of establishing successful partnerships and identifying new business opportunities. He drives the growth of our major research initiative, Pebble Project. Under his watch, the project has expanded to become an internationally recognized initiative.
Prior to joining our organization, Mark served as President and CEO of Medquest Communications, LLC, which was the original founder and producer, in association with The Center for Health Design (CHD), of HEALTHCARE DESIGN magazine and the annual Healthcare Design conference. Under his leadership, Medquest launched numerous publications, educational events, websites, trade publications and medical journals.
Mark’s achievements have contributed to the advancement of healthcare environments nationwide, including environments for healthy aging. He launched DESIGN for Senior Environments magazine. Mark obtained his bachelor of sciences in political science from the University of Cincinnati.
Staff
Donna Deckard, EDAC
A consultant to The Center for Health Design (CHD), Donna directs the continual development and growth of our Evidence-based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) program. Her strategic oversight and industry experience helped propel EDAC to become widely accepted by top architectural firms throughout the country, and worldwide. She also directs our recently launched Built Environment Network program.
Donna has more than three decades of healthcare leadership experience, including executive roles with Kaiser Permanente (KP). She contributed to the Global Health and Safety initiative, which launched an open source website and database holding organizational design specifications correlated to outcomes and research, now known as CHD’s RIPPLE database. For the national KP Health Connect project, she helped lead the implementation of one of the largest and most complex technical installations of software in the healthcare industry.
Donna has her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Northern Colorado, and master's degree in public and health administration from University of Colorado.
Anjali Joseph, Ph.D, EDAC
Anjali is our top research professional, and her work has been published in many academic journals and magazines. Often quoted in the print and online media, Anjali is also the author and co-author of many of our research papers.
Since she joined The Center for Health Design, Anjali has spoken at events worldwide to make our name and work more well-known and accepted throughout the industry. Entrenched with our Pebble Project partners, Anjali guides them to develop their research agendas and communicate the results of their work.
Anjali’s work focuses on understanding how the environment influences the health and well-being of occupants. Her areas of expertise include activity-friendly environments, qualitative and quantitative research methods and research applications in design. She has collaborated on research projects with Texas A&M University, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.
A trained architect, Anjali obtained her Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology, master's degree from Kansas State University and bachelor’s degree from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, India.
Jennifer Wilcox
A consultant to The Center for Health Design, Jennifer manages the strategy, design and execution of our conference educational programs and webinars. She keeps everything on track and makes sure that our conference programs offer the best and brightest ideas in the industry.
Principal and founder of Cotter/Wilcox, LLC, Jennifer has more than 20 years of experience in the association and non-profit communities. She has successfully led large-scale change management processes focused on technology implementation, new product development, leadership development, customer service and brand repositioning and management. She has taught membership development courses at the University of Maryland and facilitated retreats for associations and not-for-profit groups.
Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in political science and public policy from Hartwick College.
Xiaobo Quan, Ph.D, EDAC
Xiaobo focuses his efforts on special research projects, as well as our major research initiative, the Pebble Project. Working closely with our Director of Research and Pebble Project partners, planners, designers and other researchers, he examines the impact of the built environment on human behaviors and healthcare outcomes, evaluates the effects of evidence-based design innovations and disseminates research findings through presentations and publications.
Previously, Xiaobo worked as a senior researcher, conducting healthcare environment research at Karlsberger Companies. He also worked as an architect at East China Architectural Design & Research Institute and Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group. Xiaobo obtained his Ph.D in Architecture and a certificate in Health Systems and Design from Texas A&M University, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in architecture from Southeast University in Nanjing, China.
Ellen Taylor, AIA, MBA, EDAC
Ellen brings more than 20 years of experience in architecture, research and business to our research team. A registered architect and member of the American Institute of Architects, she has been a guiding force for the research efforts of many of our Pebble Project partners. Experienced in both the owner's and consultant’s sides of the table, Ellen has been responsible for large-scale program management, capital planning, service standards planning, brand management, developing and conducting design research for the built environment and extensive cross-departmental coordination.
Ellen has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning and Global Executive MBA degrees from Columbia University and London Business School. She has completed doctorate-level coursework in multivariate analysis. Ellen serves on our Environmental Standards Council and our Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) Advisory Council.
Carolyn Quist, MA, EDAC
Carolyn is the liaison to our industry experts who are dedicated to CHD's mission. She works closely with them to publish valuable tools and resources for evidence-based design (EBD) practitioners. As the manager of our various volunteer councils – Environmental Standards Council, Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) advisory council and Research Coalition – she keeps each group focused on their respective goals by planning meetings and consults with them on how to grow our educational programs.
Carolyn has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from University of Washington, Tacoma, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Western Washington University. During her advanced studies, she examined the sociological, psychological and cultural impact of the hospital environment on patients and staff. A former AmeriCorps member, she served at the American Red Cross, providing emergency housing and support to victims of local disasters.
Callie Unruh, EDAC
Callie keeps our membership, educational and grant-funded research programs running smoothly. Her congeniality remains an asset to the growth of our programs as she helps us maintain high standards of service with our customers and clients.
Prior to joining CHD, Callie was a Project Manager at TestAmerica, an environmental testing lab based in Portland, Oregon. She began her role in client services and was later promoted to project manager, responsible for managing clients in the Northwest and Alaska. Callie holds bachelor's degrees in bible theology and journalism from Multnomah Bible College.
Matthew Jelen, EDAC
Matthew is our main point of contact on the Pebble Project, our flagship research initiative; and coordinates the various details and logistics of our educational events and awards programs. He also supports the development and maintenance of the educational curriculum for our conferences.
Matthew has a B.A. in sociology and M.A. in practicing and teaching sociology from Humboldt State University. While earning his degrees, he co-authored a study on resistance to genocide for the Altruistic Personality and Pro-Social Behavior Institute, and he participated in community-sponsored research projects for the Center for Applied Analysis and Education.
Catherine Ancheta
Catherine is the glue supporting our general office operations, project managers, and executive staff. Among other things, she helps plan meetings, schedule conference calls, and create and tabulate surveys. It’s her pleasant voice that you hear when you call CHD, and if you need help, she’ll know exactly where to direct you.
Catherine has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Davis.
Alan Puccinelli
Alan’s expertise in web development has brought a new level of focus to our online marketing efforts. As part of the marketing team, he has played a major role in the re-development, re-design, programming and launch of our new website to make it more user friendly, interactive and engaging.
Alan is also founder and owner of Puccinelli Digital, which provides web development and consulting services to local businesses and agencies. He has a bachelor's of sciences in industrial technology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
