LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 28, 2025--
The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is thrilled to share that Prof. Winka Dubbeldam has been appointed as the next Director and Chief Executive Officer of SCI-Arc. A globally recognized Dutch architect, educator, and leader in design innovation, Winka will officially assume the role on September 1, 2025.
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Winka brings more than three decades of experience to the forefront of architectural practice and education. She is a full Professor of Architecture and served as Chair at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design for ten years (2013–2023). Previously she initiated and directed the Post-Professional Architecture program for ten years (2003–2013), providing international students with innovative design skills, cutting-edge theoretical and technological knowledge necessary for a productive and innovative career in the field of architecture.
Winka is the founding principal of Archi-Tectonics, an award-winning studio with offices in New York, Amsterdam, and Hangzhou. Her work is known for hybrid sustainable materials, smart building systems, and elegant, innovative structures. Her work has been published in four monographs, with a fifth, Monsters and Mutants (Park Books, Switzerland), launching later this fall.
“SCI-Arc has long been a beacon for radical experimentation, and I am honored to join a community that continuously redefines what architecture can be,” said Winka. “I look forward to building on the school’s legacy of innovation and fostering new opportunities for students and faculty to engage with the future of design.”
This appointment reflects SCI-Arc’s ongoing commitment to design excellence, critical thinking, and global leadership in architectural education. Winka’s breadth of experience and forward-looking vision will help shape the next chapter of SCI-Arc’s evolution.
As we look to the future, we also extend our profound gratitude to Hernán Díaz Alonso for his transformative leadership over the past decade. Under his direction, SCI-Arc expanded its global reach, deepened its research agenda, and redefined architectural education for a new generation in the digital age.
“SCI-Arc has always been about looking forward—challenging conventions, taking risks, and imagining new futures for architecture,” shares Hernán Díaz Alonso . “I’m excited for this next chapter, and I know the school is in excellent hands with Winka. She’s been a longtime friend of SCI-Arc, and her vision, creativity, and global perspective align deeply with the spirit of this place. That spirit has never been about any one person—it’s about the ideas we build together.”
Winka Dubbeldam’s leadership signals a new era for SCI-Arc—one driven by curiosity, critical inquiry, and a commitment to shaping architecture’s role in the world to come.
About SCI-Arc
The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a world-renowned center for innovation and experimentation in architecture. Located in Los Angeles’s Arts District, SCI-Arc offers undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs that prepare students to reimagine the future of the built environment. Founded in 1972, the school is distinguished by its independent spirit, forward-thinking pedagogy, and global influence. SCI-Arc faculty and alumni are among the most influential designers in the world, shaping architecture and culture through critical inquiry, technological innovation, and creative practice.
For more information, visit sciarc.edu.
Winka Dubbeldam
SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--
Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.
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Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.
This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.
Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.
“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”
The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:
“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”
About Availity
Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.
About Abridge
Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.
Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.
Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
