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Growing attention to indoor air quality, healthier schools and the connection between buildings and human health is driving a broader policy conversation. Against this backdrop, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), together with Georgetown University’s Global Cities Initiative, will hold the third annual Healthy Building Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, September 29.

The day-long summit will take place at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy on the university’s Capitol Campus. Policymakers, public health specialists, academics, business executives and professionals from the building sector will gather to discuss how emerging policies can make buildings more effective contributors to public health, economic productivity and community resilience.

IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon said the healthy buildings movement is entering an important new phase, driven by scientific evidence as well as growing expectations from businesses and communities. She said the current momentum presents an opportunity to develop policies that improve building health, raise indoor air quality standards, promote brain health and longevity, and recognize the importance of buildings to national security and biosecurity.

The summit will open with a fireside conversation featuring Dr. Joseph Allen, Director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-author of Healthy Buildings. His discussion will examine the ways buildings affect human health and workplace productivity, while also considering the next steps required in research, policy and industry practice.

Other sessions will look at the role of cities in promoting healthier buildings and infrastructure, the ability of public and private investment to drive improvements, and ways policymakers can establish stronger links between building performance and measurable health and community benefits.

Uwe S. Brandes, professor and director of Georgetown University’s Global Cities Initiative, said the summit brings together experts who view healthy-building policy as an important foundation for creating thriving communities. He highlighted the need to better coordinate policy, urban planning and investment around this shared objective.

Speakers at the Summit
Nearly 30 speakers are scheduled to participate, including:

Joseph G. Allen – Director, Healthy Buildings Program and Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Yiselle Santos Rivera – President-Elect, American Institute of Architects
Al Bugazia, MD – Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, HHS
Rachel Hodgdon – President and CEO, IWBI
Jason Mazzella – Head of Air Cleaning Technologies, Intercept Fund
Shantee Blain – Principal and DC Office Director, HKS
Eric Corey Freed – Principal and Sustainability Director, CannonDesign
Jenna Riemenschneider – Vice President of Advocacy & Policy, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
Scott Tew – Global Head of Sustainability Strategy, Trane Technologies
Rebecca Katz – Professor and Director, Center for Global Health Science and Security, Georgetown University
Erik Malmstrom – CEO, SafeTraces
Julie Wojnowski – Practice Leader, ESG & Sustainability, Citadel EHS
Jason Schwartz – DC Experience Center Lead, Lutron Electronics
Serene Almomen – CEO and Co-Founder, Attune
Christopher King – Dean, School of Health, Georgetown University
Georgia Lagoudas – Senior Fellow and Faculty, Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health
Rick Fedrizzi – Executive Chairman, IWBI
Marwa Zaatari – Chief Engineer, Poppy
Matthew Biel – Director, Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities; Marriott Endowed Chair of Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health, Georgetown University Medical Center
Whitney Austin Gray – Senior Vice President, Research, IWBI
Uwe Brandes – Professor, Director of the Urban & Regional Planning Program and Director of the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative, Georgetown University
Mark Lessons – Vice President and Chief Sustainability and External Relations Officer, Johnson Controls
Jack Noonan – Senior Vice President and Head of Asia Pacific, IWBI
Bill Bridge – CEO, Global Green
Jason Hartke – Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Global Advocacy, IWBI

Key Policy Issues
The summit's agenda will address several major issues affecting the built environment. Indoor air quality and the evidence supporting the return on investment from healthier buildings will be among the central themes. Participants will also examine how legislation can influence market transformation and encourage wider adoption of healthier building practices.

Additional topics will include equitable access to healthy environments, the role of state and local governments in leading change, and the contribution of professional associations and technical standards to the development of healthier buildings.

The event has attracted support from companies involved in building health and sustainability. Trane Technologies, SafeTraces, Citadel EHS and AtmosAir are event sponsors, while Attune, Daikin, Cisco, Johnson Controls and Lutron are supporting the summit as IWBI global sponsors.
Media partners include FacilitiesNet and BUILDINGS magazine. Supporting organizations include the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Global Green, Green Building Initiative, Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), ISSA – Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), ASHRAE, National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and International Interior Design Association (IIDA).

Growing Momentum for Healthy Buildings
Jason Hartke, Executive Vice President of External Affairs and Global Advocacy at IWBI, described the healthy buildings movement as reaching a turning point. According to Hartke, increasing cooperation among leaders and organizations is expanding the movement's reach and creating stronger momentum for policy change.

He said that, after three years, the Healthy Building Policy Summit has developed into a major forum for examining policy approaches that could shape the next stage of the healthy buildings movement.

Research is also playing an increasingly important role in that policy discussion. Whitney Austin Gray, Senior Vice President of Research at IWBI, noted that buildings can influence people's lives in numerous ways, affecting how they think, learn, work and age.

She said the expanding research base connecting healthier buildings with areas such as cognitive health, productivity, longevity and resilience provides policymakers with stronger evidence for developing effective solutions. Improved building policies, she added, can generate measurable benefits for individuals, businesses and communities.

Industry Support
Representatives from the organizations supporting the summit also emphasized the importance of combining technology, policy and implementation.

Scott Tew, Global Head and VP of Sustainability Strategy and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability at Trane Technologies, said companies worldwide are increasingly looking for ways to improve occupant health while making their buildings more efficient and effective. He described the summit as an opportunity for industry leaders to establish common priorities and develop strategies for creating healthier and more resilient organizations.

Erik Malmstrom, CEO of SafeTraces, said indoor air quality should be viewed not only as a public health concern but also as an issue connected to national security and biosecurity. He said the Washington summit provides an important platform for policymakers to consider the health benefits of improved indoor air while also examining the role buildings can play in national biosecurity planning.

Julie Wojnowski, Practice Leader for ESG & Sustainability at Citadel EHS, stressed that protecting occupants requires policies that are scientifically sound but also practical enough to work in real-world environments. She said bringing environmental health and safety expertise into the policy discussion can help organizations translate broad objectives into practical measures for reducing risk and improving indoor environments.

Technology is another major component of the discussion. Tony Abate, Chief Technology Officer at AtmosAir, said advances in indoor-air-quality technologies are happening quickly, but technology alone will not be sufficient to change the building market. He said collaboration among government, public health and building-sector leaders is needed to develop the policies, standards and incentives required to speed up adoption of healthier indoor-air solutions.

Registration and Global Growth of WELL
Those interested in attending can register through IWBI's Healthy Building Policy Summit registration page.

The growing international adoption of the WELL Building Standard is another indication of increasing interest in health-focused buildings. Since 2020, global adoption of WELL has expanded twelvefold. The standard now covers nearly 6.5 billion square feet of real estate, with almost 100,000 locations across 138 countries adopting people-focused approaches to the built environment.

About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation focused on improving health and well-being through buildings, organizations and communities. Its work includes developing and administering the WELL Building Standard (WELL), WELL for residential, the WELL Community Standard, WELL ratings and the WELL AP credential.

IWBI also works to translate scientific research into practical applications, produces educational resources and advocates for policies intended to create healthier, people-centered environments.

More information about WELL and IWBI is available through the organization's official website.
International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL EP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Coworking Rated, WELL Residence, Works with WELL, WELL and related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.