Magic and Design Hackathon: Reducing Children’s Anxiety in Healthcare Settings
At the intersection of creativity and problem-solving, design empowers us to tackle complex issues in innovative ways. This year, we take a design-centered approach to a challenge that impacts families everywhere: reducing children’s anxiety in healthcare settings. Participants collaborate to reimagine tools, technologies and approaches that transform stressful medical visits into moments of comfort and empowerment for kids. Throughout the day, ideas take shape through brainstorming and hands-on work sessions, culminating in final presentations where teams showcase their solutions.
CEO, AVVACare
Magician, Artist, Speaker; Co-Founder, The Magic & Medicine Lab
Director, Health Sciences Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Entrepreneurship Program Manager, Northeastern University Library
Associate Professor,
Art + Design, CAMD; Director of Masters Programs, CAMD
Assistant Professor, Art + Design, CAMD
Director, GoInvo; Lecturer, MIT
Program Director, Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Program; Bouvé College of Health Sciences; Co-Founder, The Magic & Medicine Lab
Photos by Rongrong (Juno) Zhu.
Bridging Gaps, Co-Creating Access:
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving
Rural Healthcare in Maine
Over the past two years, this interdisciplinary research team composed of collaborators from experience/service design, public health, nursing, architecture and communication has been partnering with a nonprofit clinic in rural Maine to identify, design, prototype and evaluate innovative models of rural, community-based care through a participatory research approach. In this presentation, they share their progress in addressing health inequities and access in rural areas through the design and implementation of a mobile healthcare van, as well as other operational and systemic interventions such as blueprints and frameworks to help healthcare providers replicate alternative ways to healthcare delivery.
Associate Professor, Architecture, CAMD
Associate Director, Center for Design
Graduate Research ad Teaching Assistant, CAMD
Assistant Professor, Art + Design, CAMD
Associate Professor, Communication Studies, CAMD
Clinical Professor and Associate Director of Health Programs, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, The Roux Institute
Using Participatory Design to Develop Voice User Interfaces with Older Adults
As Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) become more prevalent in everyday life, designing effective and engaging conversational AI for older adults requires a thoughtful, user-centered approach. Older adults have distinct needs, preferences and challenges when interacting with voice-based systems, making participatory design a crucial tool for creating intuitive and accessible experiences. In this talk, Dr. Smit Desai shares his expertise in designing conversational AI systems for older adults, developing systems that can serve as teachers, storytellers and exercise coaches. He discusses best practices for VUI design, strategies for effectively engaging older adults in participatory design workshops and key insights into how they perceive and interact with conversational systems. Through real-world examples and research-backed findings, attendees gain a deeper understanding of how to design VUIs that are functional and meaningful for older adults.
Assistant Professor, Communication Studies and Art + Design, CAMD
