Cohort 
2018

Greg Walsh

Life Science Executive

We need to translate evidence-based best practice building design for cognitive and sensory impairments into everyday design

Current Work

Greg is the co-founder of a social enterprise architectural practice that specializes in designing the built environment to enable people living with dementia, cognitive and/or sensory impairments to live independently longer with greater dignity while reducing health and care costs.

Personal Hero

His parents and grandparents

Words of Strength

Inspiring change

Vision

To reduce the scale and impact of dementia, we need to translate evidence-based best practice building design for cognitive and sensory impairments into the everyday design of all aspects of our built environment. A key starting place is the design of our hospitals, care homes, and housing.

Strategy

Greg co-founded an architectural practice that translates into practice evidence-based best practice dementia design. This knowledge is combined with a deep understanding of dementia, how it affects the brain and the person living with dementia gained from the research, mentorship, and clinical observations during his residential fellowship at the GBHI.

Impact

As an Atlantic Fellow, he has gained a deeper understanding of neuroscience and brain disease through learning and clinical observation. This combined with mentorship and discussions with other fellows has allowed him to build bridges between the world of architecture and healthcare professionals, as well as advance the global understanding of how the built environment can be designed to support people living with cognitive, sensory, and/or physical impairments.

Motivation

The built environment, from housing through hospitals and towns, can be designed to support people with dementia and those living with cognitive and/or sensory impairments to remain more independent and engaged in their communities longer while reducing health and social care costs of dementia.