IWBI Hosts Its Third-Annual Healthy Building Policy Summit in D.C.

BuildingGreen is proud to return as a media sponsor for the annual IWBI Healthy Building Policy Summit, to be held Tuesday, September 29, at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy on its Capitol Campus.

Register here for the event.

In partnership with Georgetown University’s Global Cities Initiative, IWBI convenes leaders across public health, policy and industry to advance solutions for indoor air quality, brain health, schools, resilient communities and national security.

With nearly 30 confirmed speakers, the event features Harvard healthy building expert Dr. Joseph Allen and leaders from Georgetown University, ARPA-H, Intercept Fund, CannonDesign, the American Institute of Architects, Trane Technologies, HKS, SafeTraces, AAFA, Citadel EHS, Johnson Controls, Lutron Electronics, Attune and other organizations advancing healthier buildings.

The full-day event will bring together policymakers, public health experts, researchers, business leaders and building professionals to explore how a new generation of policies can transform buildings into stronger assets for health, economic performance and community resilience.

“We are entering a new era for healthy buildings, defined not only by what the science tells us, but by what the market demands and what communities increasingly expect,” said IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon. “The wave of momentum we’re seeing is a unique opportunity to turn that momentum into policies that help accelerate healthier buildings, strengthen indoor air quality, support brain health and longevity and elevate buildings at critical assets for national security and biosecurity.”

Opening plenary speaker Dr. Joseph Allen, Director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-author of Healthy Buildings, will kick off the event in a fireside chat exploring how buildings influence human health, productivity and where we need to go next with policy, research and practice.

Additional discussions will explore how cities can advance healthier buildings and infrastructure, how public and private investment can accelerate progress and how policymakers can connect building performance more directly to measurable health and community outcomes.

“This summit convenes thought leaders who recognize that healthy building policies at all levels of government are a cornerstone for thriving communities,” said Uwe S. Brandes, professor and director of Georgetown University’s Global Cities Initiative. “How do we best align policy, planning and investment around this shared imperative?”

Among the nearly 30 speakers are:

• Joseph G. Allen, Director, Healthy Buildings Program and Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Yiselle Santos Rivera, the American Institute of Architects, President-Elect
• Al Bugazia, MD, Deputy Director, Proactive Health Office, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, HHS
• Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI
• Jason Mazzella, Head of Air Cleaning Technologies, Intercept Fund
• Shantee Blain, Principal and DC Office Director, HKS
• Eric Corey Freed, Principal and Sustainability Director, CannonDesign
• Jenna Riemenschneider, Vice President of Advocacy & Policy, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
• Amber Mulligan, VP Strategy & Transformation, Trane Technologies
• Rebecca Katz, Professor and Director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security, Georgetown University
• Erik Malmstrom, CEO, SafeTraces
• Julie Wojnowski, Practice Leader, ESG & Sustainability, Citadel EHS
• Jason Schwartz, DC Experience Center Lead, Lutron Electronics
• Serene Almomen, CEO and Co-Founder, Attune
• Christopher King, Dean, School of Health, Georgetown University
• Georgia Lagoudas, Senior Fellow and Faculty, Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health
• Rick Fedrizzi, Executive Chairman, IWBI
• Marwa Zaatari, Chief Engineer, Poppy
• Matthew Biel, Director, Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities and Marriott Endowed Chair of Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health, Georgetown University Medical Center
• Whitney Austin Gray, SVP, Research, IWBI
• Uwe Brandes, Professor, Director of the Urban & Regional Planning Program and Director of the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative, Georgetown University
• Mark Lessons, Vice President and Chief Sustainability and External Relations Officer, Johnson Controls
• Jack Noonan, SVP and Head of Asia Pacific, IWBI
• Bill Bridge, CEO, Global Green
• Jason Hartke, EVP, External Affairs and Global Advocacy, IWBI

The Summit will focus on critical topics and timely issues impacting the built environment including indoor air quality, the evidence-based return on investment (ROI) of healthy buildings, as well as the influence of legislation on market transformation. Other key topics include access to healthy environments, the leadership role of cities and states, and the contribution of professional organizations and technical standards in advancing healthy building initiatives.

The Summit is supported by leading companies committed to advancing health in buildings, including event sponsors Trane Technologies, SafeTraces, Citadel EHS and AtmosAir. IWBI global sponsors supporting the event include Attune, Daikin, Cisco, Johnson Controls and Lutron.

Media Partners include FacilitiesNet, BUILDINGS magazine and BuildingGreen. Supporting Organizations include the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Global Green, Green Building Initiative, Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), ISSA – Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), ASHRAE, National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and International Interior Design Association (IIDA).

“The healthy buildings movement is reaching an inflection moment. More leaders are organizing, collaborating and taking action together, amplifying one another’s efforts, reaching more people and building more momentum that grows stronger with every new partnership, every new milestone, and, of course, every new policy,” said Jason Hartke, Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Global Advocacy, IWBI. “Now in its third year, the Healthy Building Policy Summit has become the definitive gathering where this movement comes to explore and advance the policy solutions that will power its next chapter.”

“The evidence increasingly shows that buildings influence our lives in more ways than most of us realize. They shape how we think, learn, work and age,” said Whitney Austin Gray, Senior Vice President, Research, IWBI. “As a growing body of research links healthy buildings to improved brain health, productivity, longevity and resilience, it is giving policymakers a stronger foundation for advancing solutions. Better building policy can deliver measurable returns for people, organizations and communities.”

The full schedule can be found below:

Agenda

8:45-9:30        Registration and light breakfast

9:30-9:35        Welcoming remarks 

Speaker: Christopher King, Dean, School of Health, Georgetown University

9:35-9:40        Opening remarks 

Speaker: Jason Hartke, EVP, External Affairs & Global Advocacy, IWBI

9:40 - 9:45      Remarks + introduces plenary: David Calabrese, Executive Vice President, Daikin

9:45-10:10      Opening Plenary 

Title: Opening Plenary Fireside Chat

Description: IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon will sit down with Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health’s Dr. Joseph G. Allen, Director of the Healthy Buildings Program and bestselling author of Healthy Buildings, for an engaging conversation exploring the new era of healthy buildings. Together, they will examine how science, public awareness, policy and innovation are converging to accelerate this global movement.

10:15-10:50    Panel 1 

Title: The Rise of Healthy Cities: Buildings, Infrastructure and Urban Resilience

Description: Healthy buildings are essential building blocks of healthy cities—but lasting impact requires us to think beyond individual buildings. From campuses and neighborhoods to entire communities, advancing health, sustainability and resilience at scale means understanding how buildings connect to the larger systems around them. This conversation brings together leaders across urban planning, architecture, public health and building sustainability to explore how we can bridge disciplines, institutions and sectors—and turn progress building by building into healthier, more resilient cities.

Moderator:

-Uwe Brandes, Professor, Director of the Urban & Regional Planning Program and Director of the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative, Georgetown University

Speakers:

-Yiselle Santos Rivera, American Institute of Architects, President-Elect

–Matthew Biel, Director, Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities and Marriott Endowed Chair of Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health, Georgetown University Medical Center

- Mark Lessans, Sr. Director of Sustainability, Johnson Controls

10:50-11:10    Break 

11:10-11:45    Spotlight Conversation  

Title: Building Better Brains: The New Frontier of Healthy Buildings

Description: This session explores the growing connection between the built environment and brain health—and what it means to design spaces that help people think, learn, heal, connect and flourish. Bringing together perspectives from research, philanthropy and design, the conversation will examine how the emerging concept of brain capital can move from evidence to investment to real-world implementation, unlocking human potential and strengthening our workplaces, schools and communities.

Moderator:

-Whitney Austin Gray, Ph.D., Global Head of Research, IWBI

Speakers:

- Karen Alexander: Director, Outreach & Education, International Arts + Mind Lab, John Hopkins School of Medicine

- Shantee Blain, Principal and Office Director, HKS

- Roger Norman, Director of Programs, Pedersen Foundation

11:45-11:55    Global Commission Moment 

Title: Launch of the Global Framework for Action

Speakers:

-Rick Fedrizzi, Executive Chairman, IWBI

-Bill Bridge, CEO, EarthX (announcing an award for all the Global Commissioners)

12:00-1:00      Networking lunch 

1:00 - 1:25      Spotlight Conversation 

Title: A Special Conversation with ARPA-H’s Deputy Director for Proactive Health

Description: Georgetown’s School of Public Health Dean Christopher King will lead a timely conversation with ARPA-H’s Deputy Director Al Bugazia, exploring the future of indoor health innovation, breakthrough research and the transformative potential of emerging technologies to improve indoor air quality and human health.

Moderator:

-Christopher King, Dean, School of Health, Georgetown University

Speaker:

-Dr. Al Bugazia, Deputy Director of Proactive Health, ARPA-H, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services         

1:30-2:15        Panel Session 

Title: A New Building Imperative: Public Health, Resilience and National Security

Description: Buildings play a fundamental role in supporting human health and well-being. Increasingly, public health, national security and biosecurity leaders are also looking to buildings and infrastructure as an important part of the response to broader challenges—from respiratory disease and emerging health threats to resilience and national security. This conversation brings together leaders from across these fields to explore where their priorities intersect, what they can learn from one another, and how healthier, more resilient buildings can better protect people and communities. 

Moderator:

-Rebecca Katz, PhD MPH, Professor and Director, Center for Global Health        Science & Security, Georgetown University

Speakers:

-Erik Malmstrom, CEO, SafeTraces

-Jason Mazzela, Intercept Fund

-Amber Mulligan, Vice President, Strategy & Transformation, Trane Technologies

2:15-2:30        Break                                

2:30-3:10        Panel 3 

Title: Health First Schools and Colleges: Turning Momentum into Action

Description: Building on the launch of the Health First Agenda for America’s Schools, this session brings together leaders from education, public health, policy and the building sector to discuss practical strategies to ensure every student learns in schools and universities  with healthy air, safe drinking water and environments that support health, well-being and academic success.

Moderator:

-Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, Executive Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)

Speakers:

-Jenna Riemenschneider, Vice President of Advocacy & Policy, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

-Serene Almomen, CEO, Attune

-Julie Wojnowski, Practice Leader, ESG & Sustainability, Citadel EHS

-Rachel Kohli, Director of Campus Planning, Georgetown University

3:10-3:45        Panel 4 

Title: IAQ Next: A Rapid-Fire Leadership Exchange

Description: What’s next for indoor air quality? In this fast-paced session, leading voices will tackle a series of rapid-fire questions on the trends, opportunities and challenges shaping the future of indoor health.

Moderator:

-Jack Noonan, Senior Vice President and Head of Asia Pacific, IWBI

Speakers:

-Tony Abate, Atmos Air

-Marwa Zaatari, Chief Engineer, Poppy

-Georgia Laguadas, Senior Fellow and Faculty, Pandemic Center,

Brown University

3:45 - 4:05pm            Closing Plenary

Topic: Health for ALL

Speaker: Eric Corey Freed, Principal and Sustainability Director, CannonDesign

Description: Moving from “less harm” to “more good” - Eric challenges conventional definitions  of building performance, asking us to look beyond energy and carbon to the human outcomes buildings create. From healthier, regenerative design to  unconventional measures like the “decibels of laughter” in a children’s hospital, his message is that buildings should actively improve the lives of the people and communities they serve.

4:10 - 4:25pm Close

Speaker:

- Jason Hartke, EVP, External Affairs & Global Advocacy, IWBI

- Uwe Brandes: Director of the Urban & Regional Planning Program and Director of the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative, Georgetown University

5:15/5:30pm - 7:30pm          Daikin’s Innovation Center Reception

 

“The healthy buildings movement is reaching an inflection moment. More leaders are organizing, collaborating and taking action together, amplifying one another’s efforts, reaching more people and building more momentum that grows stronger with every new partnership, every new milestone, and, of course, every new policy.”

—Jason Hartke, Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Global Advocacy, IWBI

A New Launch Ahead of the Summit

Some important news ahead of the summit: 

The Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air today launched the Global Framework for Action: Advancing Healthy Indoor Air through Societal Engagement and Market Transformation, a landmark global roadmap designed to elevate and embed healthy indoor air as a public health imperative and a market priority, ultimately institutionalizing it as an everyday expectation in buildings everywhere.

Unveiled during Climate Week in New York, just one year after the Commission’s launch at the United Nations, the Framework provides a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for tackling one of the world’s most consequential yet underrecognized public health challenges. It calls on governments, multilateral organizations, public health institutions, businesses, building practitioners, researchers, financial institutions, professional organizations and communities to move beyond isolated interventions and align the policies, investments, innovations and everyday decisions that shape the air people breathe indoors.

More info on the Global Framework for Action can be found here.