André Nogueira, Ph.D., holds the first-of-its-kind position as an Associate Faculty of Design Knowledge at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Through his work, André intersects design knowledge with other disciplines to drive systems-level transformations. His solution-oriented research explores how design frameworks and methods can help improve the well-being of people and the ecosystems within which they live. He currently leads projects and publishes on two complementary paths: field-focused, advancing design knowledge; and project-focused, exploring complex application areas related to improving well-being.
Over the last two decades, André has helped institutions in his home country, Brazil, and the US build design laboratories that bridge theory and practice through cross-sector partnerships, influencing public policy. Recent examples include founding the Design Nucleus at Johns Hopkins University, the Design Laboratory at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Action Labs at IIT Institute of Design. His work, funded by USAID, the Gates Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Transform Rural India Foundation, among others, has earned him the 40 Under 40 Public Health Catalyst Award.
Before moving to the U.S., André worked on sustainable development, business strategy, and urban and architectural design in Brazil and Mexico. In the search for more rigorous approaches to promote more sustainable and equitable outcomes, André joined the Ph.D. program at the IIT Institute of Design (ID), where he developed design frameworks and methods for embedding principles of sustainability and equity into innovation processes.
André completed a Master’s in Geography and Cities from Escola da Cidade and an MSc. in Contemporary Urban Planning and a bachelor’s in architecture and urban design from the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, where he helped conceptualize and manage the Public Policy Lab. André also holds an affiliation with the Brown University School of Public Health as an Adjunct Investigator and is the founding CEO of Leap, a catalyst organization building the capacity of ambitious leaders across sectors to confront the complexity underlying purpose-driven initiatives.