About
The Healthy Home Laboratory
About
The Healthy Home Laboratory
About
The Healthy Home Laboratory
The Healthy Home Lab house was acquired in 2022 with the purpose to use a real home for research and innovation. The HHL house is 100+ years old, just like many of the homes in the city of Pittsburgh. A living room, dining room, kitchen, backyard garden, second floor bathroom and bedroom, and even a Pittsburgh basement, are used to replicate real life scenarios older adults may encounter during their day
Our Vision & Mission
Our collective vision is a world where all individuals can age independently and safely in the comfort of their home and enjoy healthy and vibrant lives at home and in their community.
Our mission is to create and implement new technology solutions and support services that enable people to live independently and safely at home.
Our Motivation
By 2050, the U.S. population over 65 will almost double to reach 83.7 million, and the number of people 85 and over living alone will quadruple. Approximately 90% of older adults and people with disabilities prefer to remain in their homes and age-in-place.
Older homes were not designed to support individuals as they age and pose unique challenges and barriers for aging-in-place. These homes often:
- have steep and narrow entry steps and stairways, bedrooms and full bathrooms on the second floor, and lack any type of accessibility features,
- expose individuals to environmental pollutants and chemicals due to antiquated building methods, creating a risk for poor health outcomes, and
- require a considerable number of modifications to accommodate aging and disability needs, and insurance coverage for these modifications is often limited.
To tackle these challenges, we launched the Healthy Home Laboratory (HHL). The HHL is a community laboratory that brings the best science into home settings to maximize human health and safety. We believe that with the appropriate combination of evidence-based support services, home modifications, and technology, individuals can age independently and safely in their own home.
Key resources:
State of Aging Report – Allegheny County
Age-Ready Homes in the United States
Meet Our Team
Founded in 1787, the University of Pittsburgh is among the nation’s top research universities, and we excel at solving complex health challenges through interdisciplinary scientific collaborations and partnerships. As housing has emerged as a key social determinant of health, teams from across the university have come together to focus our collective energies on maximizing the impact of the home on health and well-being.
Pamela Toto
Jon Pearlman
William Ammer
Christopher Briem
Christopher is a regional economist at the University Center for Social and Urban Research with over 20 years of experience studying regional competitiveness and demographics. Chris advises the HHL on demographics of aging and demographic change trends in the Pittsburgh region.
Dave Brienza
Dave is an engineer, clinical researcher, and expert in developing and evaluating rehabilitation technology. He works with HHL team members to identify product needs and opportunities and to develop solutions to fill those needs.
Yong Choi
Moriah Clarke
Moriah is a third-year Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) student at the University of Pittsburgh and a research assistant in the Healthy Home Lab. She is working to integrate smart home technology into home modification programs to support safe aging in place, with an emphasis on matching personal and environmental factors for real world implementation.
Dan Ding
DD is an engineer and expert in inclusive smart technology design and evaluation. DD directs the PROMISE RERC on Wireless Technologies.
Heidi Donovan
Heidi is a nurse, scientist, and caregiver with expertise in designing ehealth interventions to support families managing cancer and other chronic illnesses. Heidi co-directs the National Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Family Support (NCFS) to advance family caregiving research policy and practice.
Julie Faieta
Julie is a clinician scientist with a background in occupational therapy. Her work with the HHL team stems from her experience in smart technology evaluation for cognitively impaired populations.
Mary Goldberg
Mary Goldberg, PhD is Associate Dean for Interprofessional Studies at SHRS and Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Science and Technology. Mary works with the HHL team to bridge the lab’s innovations with interdisciplinary student training and to develop evidence-based training materials for students, professionals, and communities.
Sarah Haig
Sarah is an environmental engineer and microbiologist who is an expert in assessing environmental exposures (chemical and biological) in air, dust and water in the built environment. Sarah has helped secure project funding for the HHL to assess indoor air quality and Mold burden which can be integrated into a Healthy Home Assessment tool.
Steven Handler
Todd Hargroder
Todd is a serial entrepreneur with lived experience as a wheelchair user, has designed and commercialized Assistive Technology for over 35 years. Todd provides expert insight on product design, development and commercialization for the HHL.
Sarah Heller
Sarah is an occupational therapist and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. As a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Healthy Home Laboratory, Sarah combines her clinical and research expertise to support projects that promote healthy aging and aging in place. Her work focuses on developing and implementing evidence-informed lighting solutions that enhance safety, independence, and quality of life for older adults.
Haomin (Leon) Hu
Dr. Haomin Hu is a research scientist and technical lead in the Dept. of HIM and the HHL. He investigates the use of smart home technologies to promote safe, independent aging in place among older adults and people with chronic conditions and disabilities. Dr. Hu has extensive experience developing AI-enabled, technology-driven interventions tailored to support both populations and their family caregivers in managing their health effectively.
Meredith Hughes
Meredith is a trained attorney and policy expert in Medicaid, aging services, and long-term care. She provides state and federal regulatory research and analytical support for the HHL team.
Everette James
Everette is a policy expert, lawyer, and former Pennsylvania Secretary of Health. He secures project funding and works for the HHL team to understand the reimbursement and regulatory environment for each product and service.
Alison O’Donnell
Medical Director, Healthy Home Laboratory
Ali is a geriatrician and physician-investigator with clinical, research, and teaching expertise in aging, with a particular interest in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Ali is the Medical Director of the HHL and leads the initiative to support aging in place with dementia.
Christopher Matek
Chris is a Community Paramedic with over 35 years of EMS experience. Chris has been the director of Community Paramedic programs and is the lead faculty for community paramedicine in the Emergency Medicine Program at Pitt.
Payton McCarthy
Payton is a second-year Doctor of Occupational Therapy student interested in promoting accessibility and independence across the lifespan. As a research assistant on the Let There Be Light project, she contributes to developing evidence-informed lighting solutions that support safe, independent aging in place.
Jennifer McCartney
Jenn is a public health graduate student with expertise in healthcare architecture and design, policy advocacy, and street medicine. She assists in grant writing, fall prevention research, and graphic design for HHL.
Lindsey Morris
Lindsey is OTD, OTR/L is an occupational therapist and clinical research scientist. Her efforts focus on supporting the use of mainstream smart technologies and assistive technologies in occupation and community-based interventions to improve the health, participation, and quality of life of persons with disabilities and underserved populations.
Anne Newman
Anne is an expert in geriatric medicine and co-directs the Pitt Pepper Center. She consults with HHL project teams on physical and cognitive function, as well as successful aging and longevity.
Jemima (Mima) Ohwobete
Mima is a second-year environmental engineering PhD student in Sarah Haig’s research group. She leads the Mold detect and assessment work in the HHL and is broadly interested in how consumer choices and built environment factors impact the microbial exposures we face in our homes.
Bambang Parmanto
Bambang is a computer and information scientist and Chair of Pitt’s Department of Health Information Management. He co-leads the informatics team for the development and testing of tech-enabled assessment, caregiving and self-management tools.
Thomas Platt
Tom is an EMS educator with over 40 years of experience as a provider and Educator. Tom oversees the undergraduate program in emergency medicine.
Zachary Roy
Andi Saptono
Andi is a Health Informatics faculty at the University of Pittsburgh with an extensive experience in researching and developing Digital Health innovation and technologies. He co-leads the informatics team for the development and testing of a tech-enabled home assessment tool.
Palash Sharma
Palash Sharma is a Product Research and Development Engineer at the University of Pittsburgh’s Healthy Home Laboratory, where he develops AI-enabled health technologies, smart-home solutions, and digital tools that support older adults and their caregivers.
Mark Schmeler
Mark Is an Occupational Therapist, Assistive Technology Professional, and a longtime advocate for people with disabilities to live and participate in their communities with any and all necessary accommodations. He supports the HHL with his expertise and perspectives as a clinician, person with a disability, and policy researcher.
Portia Singh
Portia is a computer scientist and biomedical engineer with experience in building technology products for safe aging in place. Portia leads technology transfer for the Smart Home Division at the HHL.
Paulina Villacreces
HHL Alumni
The HHL is committed to training faculty, staff, and students to support their career goals and objectives; below are the faculty, staff, and students who have moved into new roles after working at the HHL.
Rayhan Afsar
Steven Albert
Steve is a public health gerontologist interested in the social determinants of health. His research examines the value of aging services, such as subsidies for prescriptions and housing, to prevent disability in old age. He works with HHL on next generation assessment tools that can be used by aging services providers.
Scott Beach
Scott has expertise in family caregiving, aging and technology, and survey research methodology. He provides access to community members for testing HHL technologies; and supports data collection, statistical analyses and evaluation activities.
Alexandra Delazio
Alex was a bioengineer and medical product engineer with a focus on product design, development, validation and verification. She served as Director of Product Testing and Evaluation from January-October 2022.
Joel Fadness
Joel is an engineer, inventor, designer, drummer, keyboardist, and music producer. He collaborates on the engineering, design, and building of hardware prototypes for the HHL and enjoys brainstorming solutions.
