Assistant Professor

Assistant Editor, She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation

Brief Introduction

Dr. Qingfan An is an EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and a member of the European Respiratory Society. She received her BEng in Industrial Design from the University of Liverpool and her MRes in Design Research from the Royal College of Art. She later completed her PhD in Medical Science at Umeå University, Sweden, as a core member of the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) project Health CASCADE (https://healthcascade.eu/). Her doctoral research was situated at the intersection of healthcare and design (Dissertation: https://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:2009000/SPIKBLAD01.pdf), focusing on “Empowering Healthcare Through Design: Building Trust in Co-Creation and Design Research through the Lens of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease”. Dr. An has published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers in academic journals and conferences such as Design Studies and CoDesign, and has delivered oral presentations at international conferences including HCII, the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE), the International Design Conference, and the AMIA Annual Symposium. She serves as a reviewer for prestigious conferences academic journals. Her research focuses on trustworthy design in healthcare, AI-enabled medical product and service design, mobile health, chronic disease self-management interventions, co-creation in healthcare, and systems thinking design approaches.

Research

Trustworthy design research in healthcare

Design empowered medical product and service innovation

Evidence-based co-creation in healthcare

Chronic disease management intervention design

AI-enabled healthcare design

Academic and social Post

2025-present  Assistant Editor, She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation

2021-2024  Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow (EU Horizon Programme)

2021-present  Core Member, Health CASCADE (EU MSCA ITN Programme)

Education Background

2021.09-2025.11  PhD in Medical Science (Interdisciplinary Medicine and Design), Umeå University, Sweden

2019.09-2021.02  MRes in Design Research, Royal College of Art, UK

2015.09-2019.07  BEng in Industrial Design, University of Liverpool, UK

Work Experience

2026.02-present  Assistant Professor, College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University

2024.12-2025.06  Management Consulting Intern, IQVIA

2024.03-2024.05  Visiting Scholar, Washington University in St. Louis, USA

2023.05-2023.06  Visiting Scholar, Constructor University, Germany

2021.04-2021.09  Research Assistant, Medical Image Processing and Visualization Lab (MIPAV), Soochow University

2017.07-2017.09  Product Design Intern, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.

Design

[1] 2025  JC Kempe Memorial Foundation，Role: Principal Investigator (Project Leader)

[2] 2023-2024  Swedish National Fund, Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation ，Role: Participant

[3] 2021-2024  EU Horizon Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Project，Role: PhD student

Publications

[1] An, Q., Sandlund, M., Lundell, S., Kuenen, C., Chastin, S., Helleday, R., Messiha, K., Loisel, Q., & Wadell, K. (2025). Transition design: Co-creating system solutions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care. Design Studies, 98, 101297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2025.101297 

[2] An, Q., Kuenen, C., & Wadell, K. (2025). Co-creating an Ecology of Design Briefs for people with respiratory disease. CoDesign, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2025.2477715 

[3] An, Q., Kuenen, C., Yen, P. Y., Helleday, R., Sandlund, M., & Wadell, K. (2025). Designing patient education tools: co-creation of infographics to support the hospitalisation process for individuals with severe chronic respiratory conditions. CoDesign, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2025.2508730 

[4] Q. An, M. Sandlund, M. Schreier, K. Wadell, and S. Lundell, "A qualitative study of patient experiences and expectations around hospital care during exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease–a health CASCADE study," BMC Pulmonary Medicine, vol. 25, no. 1, p. 524, 2025.

[5] Agnello, D. M., Anand-Kumar, V., An, Q., de Boer, J., Delfmann, L. R., Longworth, G. R., Loisel, Q., McCaffrey, L., Steiner, A., & Chastin, S. (2025). Co-creation methods for public health research—characteristics, benefits, and challenges: a Health CASCADE scoping review. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 25(1), 60.

[6] Agnello, D. M., Smith, N., Vogelsang, M., Steiner, A., An, Q., de Boer, J., Calo, F., Delfmann, L., Hutcheon, D., & Longworth, G. R. (2025). Developing and validating the co-creation rainbow framework for intrinsic evaluation of methods: a health CASCADE structured review of models representing co-creation principles. Health Research Policy and Systems, 23(1), 127.

[7] Anand-Kumar, V., Schreier, M., Bakshi, N., Messiha, K., Longworth, G. R., An, Q., Angello, D. M., Chastin, S., & Lippke, S. (2025). Facilitators and challenges of co-creating digital public health interventions: A Health CASCADE multi-case exploratory study. Public Health, 247, 105847.

[8] Chastin, S. F., Smith, N., Agnello, D. M., An, Q., Altenburg, T., Balaskas, G., de Boer, J., Cardon, G., Chinapaw, M., & Chrifou, R. (2025). Principles and attributes of evidence-based co-creation: From naïve praxis toward a trustworthy methodology-A Health CASCADE study. Public Health, 248, 105922.

[9] de Boer, J., Delfmann, L. R., An, Q., Loisel, Q. E. A., McCaffrey, L., Koobasi, M., Van Oeckel, V., Chastin, S. F. M., Deforche, B., & Altenburg, T. (2025). School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 916.

[10] de Boer, J., Longworth, G. R., Delfmann, L. R., Belmon, L. S., Vogelsang, M., Erikowa-Orighoye, O., An, Q., Deforche, B., Cardon, G., & Verloigne, M. (2025). Exploring co-adaptation for public health interventions: insights from a rapid review and interviews. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 614.

[11] Loisel, Q. E., An, Q., Anand-Kumar, V., Balaskas, G., Papadopoulos, H., Pappa, D., Giné-Garriga, M., Longworth, G. R., & Chastin, S. F. (2025). Scoping review of needs for digital technology in co-creation: a health CASCADE study. Research Involvement and Engagement, 11(1), 121.

[12] McCaffrey, L., McCann, B., Giné-Garriga, M., An, Q., Cardon, G., Chastin, S. F. M., Chrifou, R., Lippke, S., Loisel, Q., & Longworth, G. R. (2025). Co-creation experiences among adults in diverse contexts: A Health CASCADE scoping review. Public Health, 238, 29-36.

[13] Verloigne, M., Chastin, S., An, Q., Anand-Kumar, V., de Boer, J., Dall, P., Delfmann, L. R., Giné-Garriga, M., Goh, K., & Lippke, S. (2025). The pitfalls of co-creation: reflections from Health CASCADE facilitators on critical events, consequences and preventive and mitigating strategies. Public Health, 248, 105956. 

[14] Wadell, K., An, Q., Sandlund, M., Schreier, M., & Lundell, S. (2025). A qualitative study of experiences and expectations around hospital care during acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease–A Health CASCADE study. In: European Respiratory Society.

[15] An, Q., & Sanches, P. (2024). Incorporating transition design in the education of an established design subject to empower design students with systems thinking. Proceedings of the Design Society, 4, 2785–2794.

[16] Longworth, G. R., De Boer, J., Goh, K., Agnello, D. M., McCaffrey, L., Restrepo, J. R. Z., An, Q., Chastin, S., Davis, A., & Altenburg, T. (2024). Navigating process evaluation in co-creation: a Health CASCADE scoping review of used frameworks and assessed components. BMJ Global Health, 9(7).

[17] McCaffrey, L., McCann, B., Giné-Garriga, M., An, Q., Cardon, G., Chastin, S. F. M., Chrifou, R., Lippke, S., Loisel, Q., & Longworth, G. R. (2024). Adult co-creators’ emotional and psychological experiences of the co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 13(1), 231.

[18] An, Q., Sandlund, M., Agnello, D., McCaffrey, L., Chastin, S., Helleday, R., & Wadell, K. (2023). A scoping review of co-creation practice in the development of non-pharmacological interventions for people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A health CASCADE study. Respiratory Medicine, 211(107193), 107193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2023.107193 

[19] An, Q., Kelley, M. M., Hanners, A., & Yen, P. Y. (2023). Sustainable Development for Mobile Health Apps Using the Human-Centered Design Process. JMIR formative research, 7, e45694. https://doi.org/10.2196/45694 

[20] An, Q., Gebart-Hedman, K., & Wadell, K. (2023). DEMOCRATIZING EHEALTH DESIGN: EMPOWERING HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS WITH HEALTHCARE DESIGN ABILITIES THROUGH A CO-CREATION TRAINING. DS 123: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2023)

[21] Agnello, D. M., Loisel, Q. E. A., An, Q., Balaskas, G., Chrifou, R., Dall, P., de Boer, J., Delfmann, L. R., Giné-Garriga, M., & Goh, K. (2023). Establishing a health CASCADE–curated open-access database to consolidate knowledge about co-creation: novel artificial intelligence–assisted methodology based on systematic reviews. Journal of medical Internet research, 25, e45059.

[22] Messiha, K., Chinapaw, M. J., Ket, H. C., An, Q., Anand-Kumar, V., Longworth, G. R., Chastin, S., & Altenburg, T. M. (2023). Systematic review of contemporary theories used for co-creation, co-design and co-production in public health. Journal of public health, 45(3), 723-737.

[23] An, Q., Kelley, M. M., & Yen, P.-Y. (2022). Stakeholder mapping on the development of digital health interventions for self-management among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China. MedInfo 2021, 18th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics, Virtual event, Ocober 2-4, 2021

[24] An, Q., Kelley, M. M., & Yen, P.-Y. (2021). Using experience-based co-design to develop mHealth app for digital pulmonary rehabilitation management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

Honors and Awards

[1] Outstanding Team Leader, Young Researcher Leadership Summit，University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 2021

[2] Certificate in Participatory Workshop Facilitation Training，3KQ, United Kingdom, 2022

[3] Research Ethics Certification，University of Oxford Press, 2021

Contact

Email: 26041@tongji.edu.cn

Web: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=AvKi3w0AAAAJ