Sheila Bosch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Dr. Sheila Bosch is an associate professor and graduate coordinator for the Department of Interior Design. For more than two decades, Sheila has been engaged in research exploring the relationships between environmental design and human well-being, primarily in healthcare and educational environments. Healthcare design research has investigated environments serving patients of all ages, from birth to the very end of life, including intensive care units, medical-surgical units, emergency departments, behavioral health units and skilled nursing facilities. In 2014, Sheila was honored to receive the national-level HCD10 top researcher award for her contributions to healthcare design research. Her current research focuses on how the design of healthcare spaces may help reduce stress and support mindfulness among healthcare workers. Research on learning environment design has included investigations in both K-12 and higher education environments, including an externally funded investigation of mixed-use learning environments at the university level. Sheila teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, all of which include a research component. For undergraduates, she regularly team-teaches a senior design studio in which students develop innovative healthcare spaces, oftentimes working with design practitioners. Sheila also teaches both undergraduate and graduate level environment-behavior courses where students explore the complex relationships between the environment (built or natural) and the people who occupy those environments. Other graduate courses taught include Readings in Design Studies and Research Methods in Interior Design. Prior to UF, Sheila served as the Director of Research for Gresham Smith, a global design firm headquartered in the southeastern US. Having earned her PhD in 2004 from Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture, Sheila also hold an MS (life science, environmental toxicology) and a BS (science education), both from the University of Tennessee.

Research Areas

Healthcare design to enhance physical and psychological well-being; Educational facility design for student and teacher success

Selected Publications

• Rittenbacher, D., Bosch, S. J., Valipoor, S., & Lorusso, L. (2024). Preliminary development of items for a nurses’ physical environmental stress scale. HERD: Health Environment Research & Design Journal, 19375867241244468. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19375867241244468
• Valipoor, S., Bosch, S. J., & Chiu, T. (2023). From stressful to mindful: Reactions to a proposed emergency department design for enhancing mindfulness and stress reduction among healthcare clinical staff. Health Environment Research & Design Journal, 16(4), 82-102. https://doi.org/10.1177/19375867231172222
• Bosch, S. J., Valipoor, S., Alakshendra, A., De Portu, G., MohammadiGroji, S., Rittenbacher, D. Black, K., & Calienes, E. (2023). Coping and caregiving: Leveraging environmental design to moderate stress among healthcare workers in the emergency department setting. HERD: Health Environments Research and Design, 16(3):261-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/19375867231151243
• MohammadiGroji, S., Nubani, L., Bosch, S. J., Valipoor, S. & McElhinney, S. (2023). Using space syntax analysis to measure patient aggression risk. HERD: Health Environments Research and Design, 16(2):125-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/19375867231151225
• Lorusso, L., Bosch, S. J., Park, N. K., Shorr, R., Conroy, M., Ahrentzen, S., & Freytes, M. (2022). Investigating the feasibility of multisensory environments to improve the assisted bathing experience for Veterans with dementia: A clinical trial. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 15(2):180-195. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F19375867211053861
• Valipoor, S., & Bosch, S. J. (2021). In the moment: Fostering mindfulness and reducing stressors in the healthcare workplace. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 14(3), 386-398. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1937586720988243
• Arnold, J. L., Bosch, S. J., & Valipoor, S. (2021). Chapter 15, Exploring new hospital patient care spaces using simulation. In Deutsch, E. S., Perry, S. J., & Gurnaney, H. G. (Eds.), Comprehensive healthcare simulation: Improving healthcare systems. New York: Springer. 119-134. ISBN 978-3-030-72972-1. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538149232/Assessing-Academic-Library-Performance-A-Handbook

Related Websites

• UF Interior Designers Land Nation’s Top Healthcare Environmental Award | UF College of Design, Construction and Planning

Selected Presentations

• Valipoor, S., Bosch, S., Nobles, P. (May 2025). Flexibility in Action: Leveraging Nurse Perspectives to Enhance Healthcare Design. Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) 56 Conference. Halifax, Canada.
• Lorusso, L. & Bosch, S. J. (2022). Design thinking for patient engagement and healthcare design. Environmental Design Research Association Conference Proceedings, EDRA 53. Greenville, SC. June 3, 2022.
• MohammadiGorji, S. Bosch, S. J., Nubani, L. & Valipoor, S. (2022). Exploring feasibilities of space syntax analysis as a tool to measure the risk for patient aggression against healthcare providers and opportunities to intervene in emergency department settings. Environmental Design Research Association Conference Proceedings, EDRA 53. Greenville, SC. June 4, 2022.