Kara Harrington

Kara Harrington is a senior parter at Future Medical Systems, a unique consultancy which leverages the tools and mindsets of design for innovation in healthcare. She has years of experience designing products and interactions aligned with the social dynamics of complex and critical health care environments, such as the OR and chronic disease management. Her passion for people drives her with laser-beam focus to what is meaningful to real users, keeping them always at the center of design development. She delves into prolific ideation and visualizes new products, services, experiences, and brands––framed within actionable, strategic roadmaps. Kara leads projects with two lenses in mind: tackling the challenge at hand and elevating the skills of the team. She is a seasoned Design Thinking coach and guides custom innovation trainings for 1-300 people. 

Trained in industrial design, during a decade at IDEO Kara created award-winning and patent-pending experiences for clients such as Medtronic, Life Technologies, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Kimberly Clark, and Conagra Foods. She is also a Lecturer of Design Research & Design Thinking Methods at California College of the Arts (CCA), teaching empathy and human-centered skills for Industrial Design students. She has guest lectured at Stanford University, teaching ideation methods.