HMC Architects has announced that Tarik D’Introno, Associate AIA, LEED GA has joined the firm’s healthcare practice as senior medical planner. Located in the firm’s San Diego studio, D’Introno will be essential in serving the firm’s healthcare clients and developing innovative ways to program, plan, and deliver healthcare projects. He believes that working closely with clients and understanding their complex needs yields successful, thoughtful, and effective solutions.

“It is an unprecedented time in healthcare architecture, with many unknowns,” said HMC Healthcare Practice Leader Christopher Naughton. “Because of these challenges, we are bringing in a planner who’s focused on the future, and someone who’s thinking about new models of care to transform the experience for owners, patients, and families.

D’Introno has more than 20 years of experience as a healthcare architect. He has worked on a variety of innovative healthcare projects, including Cedars Sinai Advanced Health Science Pavilion, Scripps Presbyterian Cardiovascular Institute, CHUM Montreal, and North Island Hospitals on  Vancouver Island. Before pursuing a career in architecture, D’Introno was a medical student. Although he was fascinated by the healthcare field, he knew that he could play a larger, more integrated role in the planning and design of healthcare facilities.

“We are born in, receive treatment in, and die in these complex facilities. They are profoundly important in the context of our lives, and our community,” he said. “The healthcare industry is adapting to our modern world quickly, more so these days with the influence of Covid-19. By working closely with clients to assess their vision and needs, we have an opportunity to bring even greater value to projects than ever before.”

He joins HMC at a time when the firm’s healthcare team has been engaged in an ongoing investigative research effort to better understand the long-term effects of COVID-19. The firm is committed to sharing all of its research findings with the industry in a series of white papers that focus on five main areas of Technology, Adaptability and Flexibility, Regulatory/Budgetary/Institutional Impacts, Space Needs/Reduction and Restructuring, and Impact to Wellness/Mental Health as they relate to the healthcare market. HMC has also released a cancer care study, Design for Empathy: How the Environment Impacts a Cancer Patient’s Journey. The main objective of the report is to understand the cancer care journey by identifying opportunities to enhance patient experiences and to implement lessons learned into the firm’s cancer care facility design and delivery process.