Erika Sita Eitland
Director, Human Experience Research Team, Boston
Erika believes that design can be a powerful public health intervention. As a Doctor of Science from Harvard University, where her research focused on how buildings impact human health, she has dedicated her career to understanding the relationship between the built environment and human well-being. Today, as the director of our Human Experience Research Team, she helps translate public health research into practical design strategies that improve lives.
Her work is rooted in a philosophy she calls “physiological equity,” the belief that everyone deserves access to environments that support their health and help them thrive. An accomplished researcher and published author, Erika has written more than 20 research papers exploring the intersection of public health and design. As an elected official, she also understands the responsibility of public investment and the perspectives that shape community decisions.
For fire stations, Erika’s research explores environmental concerns including carcinogen exposure and hot-zone separation, as well as health outcomes like sleep disruption that can be alleviated with circadian lighting. Beyond the physiological impacts, she reckons with the psychological reality of a stressful profession, particularly for female firefighters. She directly embeds physical and mental health into design decisions, from apparatus bays to living quarters, creating environments that support the health and well-being of every crew, every shift.
