September 11, 2019

Exciting Updates From Our Houston Team

It has been an exciting month for our Houston office as our team members have celebrated numerous professional milestones and spoke at key industry and national events. As we enter the holiday stretch, I wanted to call attention to some of these accomplishments.

Professional Accomplishments
Many of our team members have taken impressive steps professionally in recent months, here are some key achievements:

  • Shelby Papp and Shannon Dupras received their Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) from The Center for Health Design. Evidence-Based Design (EBD) draws on scientific research, such as health outcomes data, in the process of designing a building or physical environment. We’ve used EBD principles on projects such as Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and UC San Diego Health, Jacobs Medical Center.
  • Hua Lin earned her American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) certification, which recognizes the expertise of architects with significant experience in all aspects of healthcare architecture.

  • Diane Osan, leader of our pediatric health practice, will be honored as one of Houston’s Most Influential Women in Commercial Real Estate at the inaugural Power Women Event on Weds, Dec. 11.

Thought Leadership
Our teammates have also seized numerous opportunities to share their expertise and local and national industry events, including:

  • Steve Kopp joined two leaders from Texas Children’s Hospital to present a case study on their Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower. The presentation looked at key takeaways and lessons learned one year after this 19-story tower opened for critical care and heart services in Houston. The session looked at how critical care units that were doubled in size per bed improved patient care and family satisfaction.

  • PJ Glasco, principal and healthcare market leader, spoke on inclusion and equity in the workplace at the Texas Society of Architects Conference in Galveston. PJ’s presentation focused on the programs firms are implementing to advance equity, diversity and inclusion within design professions and progress that has been made. As a key leader on CannonDesign’s Diversity & Inclusion committee, PJ shared her own experiences as a firm leader and initiatives she’s been involved with that have been successful.
  • Donna Coussons, our Houston business development leader, was a guest lecturer in Professor Harold Adams’ Professional Practice & Ethics class, part of the Master of Architecture program at Texas A&M University. Her lecture, “MBA in a Day,” gave students an idea of project team management, business behavior and ethics, marketing vs. business development, developing a client-focused view and more. Donna plans to continue working with graduate students and provide real-world experience into architecture business development.

Office Happenings
As an office team, we’ve also had some key achievements I’m extremely proud of at the moment.