Montana State professor Elizabeth Johnson wins national award for healthcare design education

BOZEMAN - Montana State University assistant nursing professor Elizabeth Johnson has earned recognition by the magazine Healthcare Design for her outstanding leadership in pushing the industry of healthcare design forward.

The publication hosts annual HCD 10 awards to recognize individuals and organizations across 10 categories for advancing the field of healthcare design, which focuses on how architecture and design elements of physical healthcare spaces shape patient experience and health outcomes.

Johnson, who teaches in the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing, won the HCD 10 award in the "educator" category. Other categories included architect, building professor, interior designer, researcher and more. A list of the awardees is available here.

Coverage of the winners and their achievements will be featured in the June/July issue of Healthcare Design, available in print and online. Additionally, honorees will be recognized at an awards gala in June and during the 2026 Healthcare Design Conference and Expo in New Orleans this October.

At MSU, Johnson has mentored many students pursuing healthcare design research, and this academic year she co-led a team with architecture professor Jordan Zignego to compete at the invitation-only American College of Healthcare Architects student design competition.

The competing students, TJ Dubler and Jeff Lee, presented their interior and exterior renderings of a remodeled Phillips County Hospital in Malta, based on real-world feedback from providers at the hospital and the space's current limitations. Johnson instructed the students on how design choices such as signage, colors and the way in which doors open play a key role in both patient experience and employee workflow. For example, sliding doors help create more space and flow in a room, compared to traditional doors that swing open on hinges. The MSU team earned an honorable mention at the competition.

Johnson's work in Malta has gone beyond theoretical design, though. She's researched physical design changes at the Phillips County Hospital and tested patient responses to them, such as a projector that allows dark rooms more access to natural light and an earth-toned wall covered in green plants. Her "Kind Room" concept was featured this year in an international exhibit on healthcare design at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London.

In addition to this external award, Johnson received an internal MSU Founders Day award titled the Vice President for Research's Award for Meritorious Technology/Service. This award recognized her invention of TrialWear, a device that improves communication between providers and clinical trial patients that was refined at MSU and is now being commercialized.

Johnson has been an assistant professor at MSU since 2022. She received her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Arizona.

"We are extremely proud of Dr. Johnson for earning recognition from Healthcare Design for her impressive work mentoring and educating students in the field of healthcare design," said Sarah Shannon, dean of the nursing college. "Liz exemplifies the power and benefits of interdisciplinary work in her collaboration with engineering, architecture and computer science. Her work benefits communities across Montana and truly exemplifies the goal of our land-grant mission."