The people guiding the Network
DiMHN-NA is guided by a Board bringing together lived experience, clinical practice, design, research and industry. Their role is to keep the Network independent, multidisciplinary and useful to the people it serves.
Our Board
No single profession sets the agenda
The Board is deliberately multidisciplinary. Its members bring lived experience, clinical practice, architecture and design, research, health system leadership and industry, so that no one perspective decides on its own what good looks like.
Their role is to set the Network’s direction, protect its independence, and keep what DiMHN-NA publishes and convenes useful to the people who will live and work in these environments.
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Francis Murdock Pitts
Chair -
Jon Sell
Treasurer -
Virginia Pankey
Secretary -
Michelle McClure
Fractional CMO -
Arien Cartrette
Associate -
Gina Livingston Smith
Associate -
Kyle Basilius
Associate -
Charlotte Burrows
Board Advisor -
Phillip Ross
Board Advisor -
Lianne Knotts
Board Advisor -
Stephen Parker
Network Advisor
Francis Murdock Pitts
Chair
Francis Murdock Pitts FAIA, FACHA, OAA is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading planners and designers of mental health facilities and as a leader in the development of a new generation of groundbreaking mental health facilities. He was the founding partner of architecture+ and has served as President of both the AIA’s Academy of Architecture for Health and the American College of Healthcare Architects.
He has consulted on more than 200 mental health projects involving well over 25,000 beds in clinical settings located in in all parts of the United States and Canada.
Frank was honored by the Center for Health Design with their Changemaker Award, by the Healthcare Facilities Symposium and Expo with their Founder’s Award, and by the American College of Healthcare Architects with their Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jon Sell
Treasurer
Jon Sell AIA, LEED AP is a Principal with more than 30 years of experience leading healthcare, behavioral health, planning, and community development initiatives for public and private sector clients. As Co-Lead of Stantec’s Mental and Behavioral Health Practice and a recognized Behavioral Health Subject Matter Expert, he helps organizations create environments that improve safety, patient outcomes, staff well-being, and operational performance with a focus on LEAN Design.
Jon is a founding board member and treasurer of Design in Mental Health North America (DiMHN-NA) and is an active thought leader in behavioral health design. He has presented at leading industry conferences, including the Healthcare Design Conference (HCD), Design In Mental Health UK, Healthcare Facilities Symposium + Expo (HFSE) conference, and the EmPATH Summit. His work and insights have been featured in Healthcare Design Magazine, Psychiatric Times and Medical Construction & Design (MCD) Magazine.
Known for his collaborative leadership and strategic vision, Jon guides multidisciplinary teams in delivering innovative, evidence-based solutions that create lasting value for healthcare organizations and the communities they serve.
Virginia Pankey
Secretary
Virginia Pankey, HOK’s Behavioral Health Practice Leader, believes innovative planning drives healing outcomes. A sought-after speaker at healthcare design conferences, the Empath Summit, and the National Update on Behavioral Health Emergencies, she is deeply engaged in shaping industry standards. Her FGI Health Guidelines work includes chairing the Behavioral Health Crisis Unit topic group (2022) and co-chairing the Behavioral and Mental Health topic group (2026). She is the founding secretary of the Design in Mental Health Network – North America Board.
Michelle McClure
Fractional CMO
Michelle McClure is Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the Design in Mental Health Network (UK) and Design in Mental Health – North America, providing strategic marketing and communications leadership to support the organisations’ shared mission of improving mental health outcomes through better design.
Joining the UK charity in 2025, Michelle has led the development of its strategic marketing programme, contributing to significant growth in membership, digital engagement, webinars, conferences and international reach. In 2026, she was appointed to lead the marketing launch of Design in Mental Health – North America, shaping its brand positioning, website, communications and membership strategy.
With more than 16 years’ experience, Michelle specialises in building engaged communities, communicating complex ideas with clarity and supporting organisations that create meaningful social impact.
Arien Cartrette
Associate
Arien Cartrette is an award-winning architect who combines his design sensibilities, technical expertise and humanity to create places of recovery. An architect with 28 years’ experience, Arien approaches the design of psychiatric healthcare environments with innovative ideas and stigma-dissolving architectural design solutions. His versatility allows him to manage the programming, planning, and construction of varying mental health project types and scales throughout the country. He is adept at connecting with his clients and design colleagues, as well as the constructors of his projects, facilitating collaboration and providing high-value results.
Arien continues to participate in revisions to the FGI Guidelines for the Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities as a topic group member for behavioral health.
Gina Livingston Smith
Associate
Gina Livingston-Smith, CHID, IIDA, EDAC, LEED AP is an award-winning Senior Interior Designer at HDR with over 24 years of experience specializing in healthcare planning and design. Recognized for her expertise in mental and behavioral health environments, Gina creates human-centered spaces that thoughtfully support the psychological, physical, and functional needs of patients, families and care teams. Her work combines evidence-based design principles with a holistic understanding of well-being, resulting in environments that promote healing, safety, and positive outcomes.
Known for building strong client relationships and identifying core project needs, Gina delivers tailored solutions across a diverse range of healthcare settings. She is a frequent speaker at national industry conferences, sharing insights on healthcare design, behavioral health, and the profound impact of the built environment on human experience. Gina also served as a founding member of the Design in Mental Health Network North America Steering Committee and is pleased to be a part of an organization that will advance awareness, collaboration and innovation in mental health design. As an adjunct faculty member in Kent State University’s Master of Healthcare Design program, she is dedicated to advancing the profession and mentoring future designers through collaboration, innovation, and empathy.
Kyle Basilius
Associate
Charlotte Burrows
Board Advisor
Charlotte Burrows is a purpose-driven leader with a passion for transforming mental health outcomes through design, innovation, and collaboration. With a background spanning health, housing, social enterprise, and service design, she has dedicated her career to building partnerships that challenge the status quo and champion more equitable, compassionate systems.
Charlotte brings extensive experience in shaping and delivering cross-sector strategies — from system-wide health equity programmes to innovation ecosystems that secure investment for underrepresented regions. Her work is united by a deep belief in the power of co-production, the value of lived experience, and the impact of human-centred design.
As Chief Executive of the Design in Mental Health Network, Charlotte leads an organisation committed to improving mental health environments through evidence, insight, and inclusive collaboration. Whether influencing policy, designing care spaces, or co-creating new solutions, she strives to drive lasting change that supports resilience, dignity, and wellbeing for all.
Phillip Ross
Board Advisor
Philip Ross joined the DIMHN board in 2013, and was elected as Chair in 2020. He supports DIMHN’s international workstream and was instrumental in the development of the new testing standard, INFORMED CHOICES. Phil’s drive to bring the testing standard to launch was a frustration shared across the industry, of the lack of repeatable and replicable product testing, leading to a scarcity of reliable information as to product performance.
Phil is Co-Founder and Director of Safehinge Primera, a doorset and hardware manufacturer helping architects, estates and clinical staff improve mental health environments by resolving some of the biggest safety issues and barriers to empowering patients. He shares Safehinge Primera’s purpose – to design for good and help protect people through vulnerable times.
Lianne Knotts
Board Advisor
Lianne is a Director of Medical Architecture and a highly skilled and experienced architect with over 17 years’ specialised experience in the design and planning of healthcare buildings. A particular interest in design for mental health has led Lianne to work on a wide range of acute and forensic mental health projects across the UK and in Canada. Lianne believes strongly in the importance of user-consultation in the design process and close collaboration with client and consultant teams, to improve outcomes and the patient experience. Lianne has led the design of multiple award-winning mental health buildings, including Ferndene, Children and Young People’s Centre in Northumberland, and Hopewood Park Hospital in Sunderland.
Stephen Parker
Network Advisor
Stephen Parker, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, is an accomplished architect, published design researcher, and internationally recognized expert in mental and behavioral health facility design. An elected Associate to the Board of the UK-based Design in Mental Health Network, he is also a founding member and advisor to DiMHN North America.
Parker’s has worked with Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins, with projects ranging from the Arctic and Australasia across thousands of inpatient beds, but more importantly, driving dignity by design for patients at their most vulnerable moments. Stephen co-authored the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Inpatient Mental Health Design Guide and has been recognized as Healthcare Design Magazine (HCD) Healthcare Architect of the Year, RIBA Rising Star and Behavioral Health Business Future Leader.
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