Feature image: Chris Pyke presents during the Energy and Health Nexus session.

USGBC participated in the National Institute of Health (NIH) annual Health in Building Roundtable (HiBR) in Bethesda, Maryland, from July 19 to 20. The HiBR conferences are a place for leading researchers, professionals and policymakers to congregate, share ideas, learn and support HiBR initiatives.

More than 100 architects, engineers, scientists and other industry professionals attended the 2018 HiBR to discuss how to translate academic research about occupant health in green buildings into actionable policy and practice.

Dr. Michael Gottsman, Deputy Director for Intramural Research at NIH, opened the conference with a captivating keynote presentation on the importance of diversity and inclusion. Dr. Antwi Akom, an HiBR scholar, Professor and Founding Director of UCSF and SFSU Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity, followed with an inspiring narrative on his journey of founding Streetwyze, an app to better navigate neighborhoods that is powered by locals’ knowledge. The HiBR Scholars Program strives to recognize and support underrepresented researchers and their accomplishments.

The panel discussions tackled several issues:

Innovative implementation by Harvard University of strategies for health in buildings
What it means to be human in the built environment
New certifications that provide incentive to make buildings healthier
Translation of science to practice and policy in school, office and health care settings.

Matt Trowbridge from the Green Health Partnership, a collaboration between the University of Virginia and USGBC, spoke about the need to define a systematic process planned around people-related systems to push for greater market transformation. The first day ended with a guided tour by Architect Jeff Welter and former Project Officer Frank Kutlak of the LEED Gold Porter Neuroscience Research Center.

The second day of the conference focused on companies sharing their approaches to the energy and health nexus at the micro and macro scale, community solutions to improve health, aligning building practices with health guidelines and emerging technologies to track and improve health. Among the major themes that emerged was the importance of designing and promoting healthy buildings for all, including those with fewer financial resources.

Panelist Chris Pyke, Research Officer at USGBC, emphasized using a social determinants framework to meet real and intentional health needs over time. Professor Andrew Dannenberg, author of Making Healthy Places, asserted that our goal should be to “make health-promoting design as routine and desirable as green building."

Taking concept to practice, the conference featured guided yoga routines and a lunch break poster session featuring the 2018 HiBR scholars. These young scientists presented their visionary work on a host of topics related to healthy buildings, green infrastructure and smart technology.

The combination of panel discussions and breakout sessions at the 2018 HiBR served as an excellent platform for attendees to engage across disciplines to learn about new research and brainstorm ways to transform it into actionable strategies for design, energy efficiency, community engagement and equity.

Learn more about the Green Health Partnership

USGBC takes part in Health in Building Roundtable 2018