Principal, MASS Design Group; USA

Amie Shao is a Principal at MASS Design Group. She champions safe, culturally reverent childbirth spaces, promoting community engagement and awareness of how design affects health outcomes. Blending human-centered practices with evidence-based research, Amie has designed maternal-newborn facilities in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Kenya; evaluated the impact of improved maternity waiting homes in Malawi; worked with Ariadne Labs to investigate how birth spaces influence c-section rates; and coordinated the development of National Health Infrastructure Standards in Liberia. Currently, Amie is collaborating with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement on a toolkit for co-designing safe birth spaces in low and middle-income countries and is designing the Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston. Amie holds a Master of Architecture and a Certificate in Urban Policy and Planning from Princeton University.