The BUILD Lab
Where behavioral science, human-centered design, and AI innovation come together
to build digital health tools that truly work for people
Our Vision
Healthcare is changing. Patient portals, health apps, data dashboards, virtual care, and AI-supported decision tools are now central to care delivery. Yet many of these tools fall short… not because the technology is lacking, but because they are difficult to use and poorly aligned with real-world needs. Too often, the human experience is an afterthought rather than a design priority. UW-Madison School of Pharmacy’s BUILD Lab is dedicated to solving this problem. We focus on designing digital health tools that work for people by grounding innovation in a deep understanding of users and their everyday contexts.
At the BUILD Lab we leverage best practices in:
- Behavioral Science: We study how people think, decide, and act in real healthcare situations so innovations fit into everyday life, not idealized scenarios.
- Human-Centered Design: We involve patients, caregivers, and clinicians directly in designing and improving tools so solutions are built with the people who use them.
- Digital Health and AI Innovation:We design and test digital tools, including AI-supported systems, that are adaptable and able to learn from user feedback over time
Mission Statement
To build, evaluate, and improve digitally-enabled health innovations that are easy to use, empowering, and grounded in real human needs. We seek to put people, not technology, at the center of the digital health and AI revolution.