Jeri Brittin, Ph.D., calls her career background “a bit unusual.”
The director of research for HDR has a bachelor’s degree in math, a master’s degree in music-vocal performance (and considered a professional music career for a time), a B.S.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in interior design, and a doctorate, from UNMC, in health promotion and disease prevention research.
The common ground in all those disciplines? Dr. Brittin herself, who seeks out vocations she is passionate about and has found a way to combine her varied educational experiences into her current position.
“While I was in design school, I became very interested in how the environments we design, create, and put into place impact how people live, and how therefore designers have the potential to have a positive impact in the world,” said Dr. Brittin.
“Design is kind of an all-encompassing practice, in terms of needing to look back and forward, to think vertically and horizontally, and see all the possibilities — and then somehow be able to put something together that can actually be built.
“But in that process, ultimately there needs to be really clear thinking about what the potential impacts of design can be and leveraging design for purpose.”
While studying design, Dr. Brittin became more interested in the idea of how built environments can impact health, completing independent study projects on her own on the issue. Doing the research, she came across the name of Terry Huang, Ph.D.
“I taught yoga for a number of years at UNMC,” Dr. Brittin said. It was in one of her classes that she met Muhammad Siahpush, Ph.D., a member of the health promotion faculty at the College of Public Health who introduced her to Dr. Huang.
“I discovered our common interest in the environment as a potential, leveragable predictor having impact on health,” she said. “So I decided to pursue the Ph.D. with that focus at UNMC.”
Under the aegis of Dr. Huang and with the support of Dr. Siahpush, as well as her UNMC committee members Debra Romberger, M.D., and Kendra Schmid, Ph.D., Dr. Brittin completed her Ph.D.
“I came on board at HDR part-time while I was finishing up my dissertation at UNMC. That turned into full time just last fall.
“I’m working on how we, as a firm, look forward and fully leverage research in the work that we do,” she said. “I think at HDR that vision is there, and we have incredible opportunities to put it into practice more and more, so I’m excited about that.
“There was a point when I was doing a lot more designing, I realized that what really made me want to get up and get to work in the morning wasn’t so much doing the designs and the drawings and all the other stuff, but asking the questions about what the design might impact and how, and what effects might it have on people.
“I realized that’s where I wanted to focus. Where I can have the impact is on informing designs so they can have desirable impacts on the world and that’s really what drives me.”
Dr. Brittin said it was exciting to study public health at a place where the built environment was an interest and a focus; in her current role, she would like to see more industry/academic connections occur.
“To the extent that eventually I could make those happen with UNMC as well, I think that would be very exciting.”
“The College of Public Health was my home for four years — I was a fulltime student and a graduate assistant. I got some great, on-the-ground, by-the-bootstraps research experience working in a number of different communities,” she said. “It was amazing to me that I was able to get to the point of pursuing my passion and interest, and UNMC gave me the opportunity to do that.
“I still think of UNMC as my home in terms of finding and pursuing what I think my value is in the work and what I have to offer.”
So proud to know you, Dr. Brittin. You are an inspiration to me!