Whitney Austin Gray, PhD, LEEP AP
Director of Building Science Services

Whitney Austin Gray, PhD, LEED AP serves as the Director of Building Science Services at the Medstar Institute for Innovation in Washington, DC. Her focus is on healthcare building innovations and metrics for capturing health-related outcomes. Whitney received her doctorate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2011. Her dissertation was on the impact of LEED certified green building design on occupant health, safety, and stress in healthcare centers. Whitney has presented her research at several national conferences, architecture firms, and leading research institutions. During her doctorate, she was a Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment, a Healthcare Research Specialist at Perkins+Will design firm, and a sustainability consultant in Washington D.C.

In 2008, Whitney was the first public health professional to become a LEED AP. As a result of her efforts to advocate for research on green buildings and health, she became a founding member of the NIH’s Health in Buildings Workgroup. In addition, she serves as a member on the Environmental Design and Research Associations (EDRA’s) Placemaker Accreditation committee. Whitney is a trained Healthy Homes Specialist and a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Training Grant Recipient.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University with a focus in public health, psychology, and political science. Before starting her doctorate, she was a public health researcher in Japan and in South Africa. Whitney is an avid traveler, having visited over 65 countries, and recently became a certified yoga instructor.