Hui Cai, Ph.D.

Dr. Hui Cai is the Associate Professor of Health and Wellness Program at the School of Architecture Design, and Planning. Prior to joining the faculty, she taught at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She also served as the Health + Science research leader and designer at RTKL Associates in Dallas. Cai received her Ph.D. degree in evidence-based design from the Georgia Institute of Technology after several years of architectural education and practice in China and Singapore.

Dr. Cai’s current research focus is using a performance-driven and evidence-based design approach to analyze the relationship between culture, human behavior, and the physical environment, especially in healthcare settings. Since 2012, she has developed a series of post-occupancy evaluations (POE) with the focus on evaluating the impacts of the decentralized nursing unit typology on patient, staff, and organizational performance.

She has both presented at several international conferences and published several papers in peer-reviewed journals. In 2011, the International Academy of Design and Health recognized her with the prestigious International Academy Award in Research for her work in linking spatial configurations of decentralized nursing units with communication and coordination among care givers.