“The design process is not just about getting a building built. It is also an opportunity to create new models for delivering health care. For this reason, involvement of the entire care team is essential. At PHMI we use the design process to help practitioners analyze how they deliver care in their existing environs and to explore new models to increase their effectiveness. We’ve seen the greatest successes come when new operational models are developed in tandem with the building design process.”
Ms. Mitchell joined then-Harvard Medical International on a full-time basis in 2000 after serving for four years as a project consultant. As Director of Planning at Partners Harvard Medical International, she plays a lead role in projects focused on helping PHMI partners to realize their medical and educational objectives in infrastructure development. Ms. Mitchell consults with PHMI’s partners in the earliest stages of planning on real estate development strategies, master planning, and regulatory issues. Her experience also includes extensive involvement in all phases of building design from initial conceptualization through programming, detailed design development, equipment planning, construction, commissioning, licensure, and accreditation. She has consulted on the development of major medical centers in a variety of countries including Australia, China, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, India, Korea, Lebanon, Nepal, the Philippines, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.
Trained as an architect and planner, Ms. Mitchell enjoyed a long career with Tsoi/Kobus and Associates prior to joining HMI. At TK&A Ms. Mitchell specialized in the development of large, complex academic medical centers encompassing state-of-the-art secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care, ambulatory care, specialty centers of excellence, and technologically advanced medical education facilities. Her clients have included many of the most prestigious health care institutions in the U.S. today. Among them are Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, University of Chicago Hospitals, University of Vermont’s Fletcher Allen Healthcare, University of Pittsburgh Health System, University of Florida Hospitals, Tenet Healthcare, The University of Texas and M. D. Andersen.
Ms. Mitchell is a member of the American Institute of Architects and currently serves on the National Advisory Board to the American Institute of Architects Committee on International Practice. She has been a frequent lecturer at national conferences of the American Academy of Healthcare Architecture, the Society of College and University Planners, ASHE, Tradelines and the National Symposium on Healthcare Design. Ms. Mitchell received her Masters in Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. After completing her graduate studies, Ms. Mitchell served as a lecturer at M.I.T where she was recipient of the Lawrence B. Andersen Prize for excellence in design.