284. Hospitals Weren’t Designed for Women: How the Built Environment Shapes Cancer Care with Abbi...

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What if part of what makes cancer so hard isn’t just the diagnosis—but the spaces where care happens?


In this eye-opening episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, host Laura Carfang explores how hospital design, architecture, and the built environment directly shape the cancer experience, often in ways patients never realize—but deeply feel.


Laura is joined by Abbie Clary, Executive Director of Market Strategies and Growth for Health for All, and a nationally recognized leader in healthcare architecture and experience design. With millions of square feet of cancer and healthcare facilities in her portfolio—including projects at Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab—Abbie pulls back the curtain on how hospitals are designed, who they’re designed for, and why women are so often treated as the “outlier.”


Together, they discuss trauma-informed design, survivorship-centered care, caregiver inclusion, gender bias in medical spaces, and why healing doesn’t only happen through medicine—it happens through dignity, control, and environment.


In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Why hospitals and medical spaces are often designed for a “default male”
• How architecture impacts anxiety, trauma, and healing for cancer patients
• What trauma-informed design actually looks like in practice
• Why cancer patients experience healthcare differently than other patients
• The importance of designing for repeat visits, not one-time care
• How caregivers and loved ones should be treated as part of the care team
• Why dignity, control, and privacy matter as much as efficiency
• Gender bias in medical design—from gowns to equipment to workflows
• Why women’s pain and discomfort are often minimized in healthcare
• Designing cancer centers for survivorship, not just treatment

About Today's Guest


Abbie Clary, FAIA, FACHA, is the Executive Director of Market Strategies and Growth — Health for All. Her work spans some of the most ambitious healthcare projects in the world, including Memorial Sloan Kettering’s new Cancer Care Pavilion, MD Anderson Cancer Center’s 2030 facilities master plan, and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago.


A nationally sought-after speaker and TEDx presenter, Abbie’s work focuses on transforming healthcare through strategic, human-centered design—bridging architecture, culture change, patient experience, and health equity. Her mission is simple but radical: design healthcare spaces that actually support healing, dignity, and belonging. 





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