MISSION
I believe everything we design & create can measurably improve health.
I leverage my expertise in health, design & data analytics to help complex organizations improve their products, places and processes for health. As such, I have become an advocate for Health in All Design and deliberately collaborate across a breadth of academic and private sectors to redesign our entire approach to healthcare delivery.
The present site includes research and guides (e.g. visual abstract primer, how to write a paper.)
My architecture related work is at StudioAMI.
Resources
Below are videos and guides I created with colleagues and mentees. Each are free to watch or download.
VIDEOS
Additional Videos on, “How to Write a Paper” and “How to Create a Better Poster” can be found at Channel: StudioAMI.
TEXT GUIDES
Visual Abstract Primer (5th Edition)
The most recent guide to creating a visual abstract including downloadable templates and video demonstrations.
STAY UP TO DATE
Want to know when the next writing resource is out? Or provided feedback on where things are needed next? Fill out the form below.
Additional set of 3-5 minutes reads on career development, industry trends and leading teams.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Below are collections of books I’ve helped contribute to or read, enjoyed and highly recommend. Clicking here helps support all the free guides available above.
Clinical Scenarios in Surgery
Now in it’s 3rd edition, Clinical Scenarios in Surgery has emerged as the go-to resource for oral and written board prep in general surgery. I used it as my go-to source for both and still reference it today. Very accessible at every level including medical students, all the way up to attendings who need to brush up on details.
Healthcare Delivery in Surgery
Have you tried to think through optimizing OR utilization? Standardizing quality across newly formed networks? Handling a surgeon with poor performance? In this book we took all the common clinical operation challenges for a modern department of surgery and laid out frameworks and solutions to solving them.
Health Design Thinking
Now in its 2nd Edition, this has become the go-to starting point for anyone thinking about improving the product, place or delivery design in healthcare. Bon Ku takes a wide-ranging, highly visual lens to the topic. If you’re just curious about design and healthcare, this is a great place to start.
Looking for more? Here ( on pg 12) is a full page of reading recommendations across surgery, architecture and professional development.
RESEARCH
Scientific Publications
“Trends in Travel Time to Obtain Surgical Care for Rural Patients.”
JAMA. 2025 Feb 12:e250447.
“Higher Rates Of Emergency Surgery, Serious Complications, And Readmissions In Primary Care Shortage Areas”
Health Affairs (Millwood). 2024 Mar;43(3):363-371.
“The Emergence of Rural Emergency Hospitals: Safely Implementing New Models of Care.”
JAMA. 2023 Apr 4;329(13):1059-1060.
“Indoor Air Changes and Potential Implications for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission.”
JAMA. 2021 May 25;325(20):2112-2113.
“Monitoring Medical Devices: Missed Warning Signs Within Existing Data.”
JAMA. 2017 Jul 25;318(4):327-328.
Full list of >190 peer-reviewed publications here.
Extramural Funding
“Fulfilling the Promise of Hospital Consolidation to Improve Clinical Quality and Costs” R01 DK13766 (PI)
“Engineering Whole Health into Hospital Care to Improve Wellness: The M-Wellness Laboratory (M-Well)” R18 HSO28963 (Co-I)
“Health Services Research Training” T32 HS000053 (Co-I, Director)
“Insurance Coverage and Workforce Incentives to Improve Access to Surgical Care” R01 HSO28606 (PI)
“Assessing Episode-Based Surgical Quality in VA and Community Care Settings” T01 HX003557 (Co-I)
BIO
Andrew M. Ibrahim MD, MSc is the George D. Zuidema Professor of Surgery, Architecture & Urban Planning and Vice Chair for Health Services Research in the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees both with Honors at Case Western Reserve University with a year of coursework at University College London and The Bartlett School of Architecture. His research at the interface of healthcare delivery, surgery and architecture is supported by >$10million of extramural funding including R01s from AHRQ and the NIH. In 2023, he was appointed to the Board of Directors at Academy Health and the Board of the Center for Health Design.
After serving for six year as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Principal of the global design and architecture firm, HOK, he became the Founding Principal of StudioAMI.
Recent Podcasts & Interviews
Leadership Development in Complex Organizations | WittKieffer
Life at the Interface of Health, Architecture and COVID | WIRED
Designing Hospitals with Better Evidence | BTK
How I Got Here: A Blueprint for the Future of Healthcare | The Exam Room
Health Design 101 w/ Ellen Lupton (Smithsonian Design Museum) | Visible Voices
Leveraging Design to Communicate Scientific Research | Cambridge University
Health in all Design (Bon Ku) | The Design Lab