Kari Thorsen is an interior designer specializing in healthcare facilities. Over the last 14 years, she has designed projects for Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, CHI Franciscan Health, and Providence Health & Services, as well as numerous projects for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics system, including their children’s hospital. Kari’s work seeks to improve the healthcare experience by creating soothing, supportive environments that provide patients, families, and staff members with moments of joy to facilitate healing. With a focus on understanding each client’s unique culture and each project’s challenges and needs, Kari participates in user group interviews, visioning sessions, observations, and shadowing, which ultimately lead to innovative solutions that balance users’ requirements with the community context while bringing the therapeutic elements of nature to patients inside. Kari earned a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.