Hi, I’m Alainna!
I’m a design researcher, volunteer emergency medical technician, and MD/PhD student based in western Washington and western Wyoming.
Design <> Practice
I’m currently pursuing an MD/PhD at the University of Washington, with my PhD based in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering. Using a combination of methods from design, sociology, and cognitive science, my research focuses on recognizing and supporting the designerly work that those who seek care and those who offer care do in everyday clinical encounters, especially in settings of medical austerity. My goals in this work are to shine light on unseen and invisiblized design work in clinical spaces and to empower participants in medical ecosystems to use their insights to enhance clinical and educational practices and outcomes.
Outside
I’m active in the wilderness medicine community as a practitioner, researcher, and educator. In my free time, I cycle, sail, climb, and ski (biathlon!) anywhere from the Black Hills to Southeast.
Inside
I advocate formally and informally for neurodiverse participants in medicine—those seeking care, those offering care, and those researching how care can meet the needs of everyone in the medical ecosystem. I believe that healthy, joyous, lasting communities grow from embracing the unique contributions we each offer and supporting one another in that design work.
Because
“For my entire life, I’d been called to seek the highest places… But now I also understood that being in those places—the juncture between earth and sky—opened my heart to a heightened kind of love, a higher love for the planet, her people, and myself. And I realized that maybe the greatest limitation people experience is thinking they can’t achieve something they want to achieve. By challenging myself here, perhaps I could inspire others to challenge their perceived limitations—that’s why I wanted to climb and ski this mother goddess of mountains.”
Kit Deslauriers, Higher Love: Skiing the Seven Summits