Sharon Woodworth is an architect with over twenty-five years of experience planning, conducting, and driving change in healthcare operations through architectural design. In 2014, Drs. Fleming and Fisher created a new UCSF degree program for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and healthcare professionals to earn an M.S. in Healthcare Administration and Interprofessional Leadership; acknowledging the interprofessional intent of the M.S. HAIL program, Ms. Woodworth was invited as an architect to develop a course exposing graduate students to healthcare architecture. As an appointed faculty member, Professor Woodworth has created the only known course for an academic medical institution teaching students how the environment impacts healthcare access, safety, affordability, and quality.

After careers in nursing and journalism, Ms. Woodworth received her master’s degree in architecture and focused her career on healthcare facility design. With over eleven million square feet of healthcare facility planning and design experience, she is knowledgeable about a wide range of hospital operations and continuum-of-care issues from pediatrics to senior living, including diverse cultural perspectives from the United Kingdom to the Philippines and China. Her designs recognize the value of research-based initiatives, and she holds credentials for both Evidence-Based Design Certification (EDAC) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as an Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction; she promotes the expansion of healthcare architecture research through the Center for Health Design’s Pebble Partnerships, and she encourages operational excellence through Magnet Recognition for healthcare institutions who meet the strict care-delivery criteria.

Professor Woodworth serves on the Education Committee for the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) and serves on the Editorial Board for the American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health (AIAAAH). Her ability to balance the science and art of architecture has led many of her projects to win design awards, and all of her projects are well publicized. Sharon Woodworth’s broad influence in the field of healthcare architecture was recognized in 2017 by elevation to the College of Fellows by the American Institute of Architects; out of over 110,000 architects in the U.S., she is one of only 11 women who are board-certified healthcare architects with the distinction of Fellow.