This post is in a series where we talk to healthcare interior designers about their work as interior designers in the healthcare market.

Marleen Milligan is a Senior Interior Healthcare Designer at Cuningham Group. She is certified by the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers (AAHID).

What is one book, person, or talk that has been most influential in your career?

Receiving a copy of Jain Malkin’s Hospital Interior Architecture book early on in my healthcare interiors career. That one book affirmed that I was on the right path and knew that this was my calling being a healthcare interior designer.

What products have you been excited about recently?

Like many interior designers and architects in our field, privacy visually and acoustically is a challenge with clients wanting more open spaces. I am seeing a lot of products that include sound absorbing properties.

Do you have any go-to design solutions or techniques for creating healing environments?

I always visualize the space when it’s done at the beginning. Visualizing myself using the space from different points of view, the patient, staff, family helps me to focus on creating the “experience.”

If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

Don’t panic about every error that you make. It’s a part of learning. You have to learn from them and gain experience.

What is one product that doesn't exist but should?

I love technology that is an integral part of healthcare. We design in combination with it. Why don’t we have something yet that Dr. McCoy uses on Star Trek to diagnose and treat a patient with a handheld device? Hopefully, we will get there soon. That will be a part of a new evolution in how we design for healthcare which is exciting.

We've also talked to Michelle Clark (REES Associates), Jennifer Fink (BDA Architects), Lindsay Hampton (Pulse Design Group), Melinda Avila-Torio (THW Design), Lilliana Alvarado (UPHEALING), Ashleigh Pfluger (TJNG Partners Inc.), Jane Rohde (JSR Associates), John DuBard (Boulder Associates), Lisa Cini (Mosaic Design Studio), Susan Clark (Clark Patterson Lee), Crystal Hill (Odell Associates), Dr. Debra Harris (RAD Consultants), Libby Laguta (L2D.Design), Kristin Ellingsen (Office Furniture Group), Kimberly Bernheimer (PF&A Design), Melissa Perry (Inventure), Kelley Dorsett (HDR), Christin Troutman (MCA), Keith Stanton (Thoma-Holec Design), Clairanne Pesce (Array Architects), and Linnea Rehnke (Advocate Aurora Health).

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