Mary Beth Privitera

Fulbright-University of Nottingham Scholar Award, University of Nottingham- Medical Technology

Mary Beth is a Professor at the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and is a principal at HS-Design, responsible for human factors and research. Additionally, she serves as co-chair of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation’s Human Engineering Committee.  She has authored several articles and two books titled “Contextual Inquiry for Medical Device Design” and “Applied Human Factors in Medical Device Design.” Design touches every aspect of our lives, especially in the man-made products we rely on to enjoy life and complete our work.  In medical device design, the details of design take on life-or-death importance. 

The aim of this US-UK Fulbright project is to identify the different ways in which users interpret design in order to increase diagnostic/therapeutic effectiveness in international contexts.  The overarching hypothesis is that through better device design, improved patient outcomes can be achieved.