Jon Crane, FAIA, EDAC, LEED AP
Director of Translational Health Sciences
“It’s exhilarating to work with thought leaders from diverse areas such as innovation, science, clinical care, engineering, technology, sociology, and health policy. Transformation, although difficult, will impact the lives of patients and our health systems."
Jon has spent most of his 30-year career creating architecture that integrates clinical and basic research, science and medical education, and healthcare delivery — all targeted at improving health. By accelerating the process of discovery and development of treatments and therapies to ultimately embed them into the population, Jon strives to create architecture that enhances this non-linear process. For the past decade, he has focused on how organizational structure, culture, and the built environment can support this accelerated translation to help achieve better outcomes for patients.
In 1990, Jon was inspired by his leadership in the development of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center for the City of New York to believe facilities could impact health conditions. In this facility, just five years later, David Ho’s clinical and translational research discovered Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy. Overnight this therapy changed AIDS from a fatal disease to a chronic condition.
Jon’s intellectual curiosity and architectural vision has resulted in pioneering leadership in the development of new models for the design of public health and biocontainment facilities — enabling physicians and scientists to battle infectious diseases the world over. Jon has served as a consultant to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health and the Association of Public Health Laboratories for initiatives to improve global health.