March 2008

Dr. Xiabo Quan

As a Research Associate for The Center for Health Design, Dr. Quan works closely with the Director of Research to collaborate with Pebble partners, planners, designers, and other researchers on Pebble Project research efforts. He examines the impact of the built environment on human behaviors and healthcare outcomes, evaluates the effects of Evidence-Based Design (EBD) innovations, and disseminates research findings through presentations and publications.

Dr. Quan has been actively engaged in healthcare environment research. Before joining The Center, he worked as a Senior Researcher and conducted healthcare environment research at Karlsberger Companies in Columbus, OH.

He earned a PhD in architecture and a Certificate in Health Systems & Design from Texas A&M University. His doctoral dissertation investigated how healthcare design affected occupants' behaviors, hospital-acquired infections, and the social support for patients. He played a crucial role in a comprehensive search and review of the current research evidence on the effects of physical environment on healthcare outcomes, which was a collaboration between Texas A&M University and Georgia Institute of Technology and was sponsored by The Center for Health Design and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, he made critical contributions to several other behavioral, psychological, and healthcare research projects.

Dr. Quan is also an experienced professional architect. He holds an M. Arch. and a B. Arch. from Southeast University in Nanjing, China. He worked as an architect at East China Architectural Design & Research Institute and Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group, a world renowned architectural design firm based in Shanghai, China. Dr. Quan is the recipient of design and multiple academic awards.