Mary Therese Hankinson, MBA, MS, RD, EDAC, FACHE

Mary Therese Hankinson, MBA, MS, RD, EDAC, FACHE, serves as the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine Project Manager for Research Program and Evaluation in support of Creative Forces®: National Endowment for the Arts’ Military Healing Arts Network. Ms. Hankinson retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs after 43 years of service.

Prior to retirement, she served as the Chief, Patient Centered Care & Cultural Transformation at VA NJ Healthcare System (VA NJHCS) and Program Administrator for VISN 2 Whole Health Flagship. She is passionate about advancing a whole health model and expanding creative arts to improve health and wellbeing of military and veteran populations. She received VA grant funding to implement creative arts, healing environments, horticulture therapy, integrative health and nutrition/culinary initiatives at VA NJHCS, and was a faculty member for VHA Arts in Healing Symposiums and Arts and Humanities Workshops where she presented VA NJHCS creative arts innovations and design thinking to advance arts and humanities.

Ms. Hankinson is certified in evidence-based design (EDAC), presents nationally on human-centered design for behavioral health environments and has published in Health Environments Research & Design Journal and Healthcare Design Magazine. She is also a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.