Member of the Month: Kristina Mehmen

Kristina is a Medical Planner at INVISION Architecture in Waterloo, Iowa. Originally from Clinton, Iowa, she is an Iowa State Graduate who returned back to her home state in 2013 to raise her two young children in her husband’s hometown of Cedar Falls, IA. Kristina previously worked at firms such as Perkins+Will, HGA, and NTD Stichler.

Kristina has been designing healthcare facilities since she graduated college and is now working on a number of projects at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, a masterplan for Genesis Medical Center in DeWitt, IA, and an Obstetrics study at Allen Hospital in Waterloo, IA.

Kristina says, “Healthcare Design is one of INVISION’s two major focus markets. We have 300 Healthcare projects completed in the last five years, 60+ years of healthcare design, 15 dedicated Healthcare team members, and two dedicated Healthcare principles. We do it, live it, and have a passion for it. My passion for healthcare design began with a tour of the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center in Scottsdale, Arizona and I truly believe that we can make a difference in people’s lives by designing the spaces in which they receive care. My professional and personal worlds collided when I gave birth to a premature baby in January 2009. Weighing three pounds, 12 ounces at birth, our daughter Lillian spent 31 days in a NICU before coming home before her due date. I designed NICU’s prior to that experience, but being an actual patient was life altering.”

Kristina is also involved in a number of volunteering efforts that range from mentoring for Women in STEM and ISU Interdisciplinary Healthcare Studio 546, to being a member of the Cedar Falls Public Art Committee, a Team Chair for March for Babies, and a 2014 graduate of the Cedar Valley Leadership Institute.