Janet S Baum, AIA, MArch

Ms. Baum is retired from the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design as Senior Lecturer, Washington University in St. Louis, and from her responsibilities as founding Principal of the laboratory planning and design firm, Health, Education + Research Associates, Inc. She provided laboratory planning and programming services to the medical and academic communities, science and industry. Her expertise lies in incorporation of life safety and chemical safety for laboratory design. An architect, author, speaker, and educator on laboratory health and safety, Ms. Baum has focused over 50 years of experience in research and development facilities for medical, academic, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical clients, as well as chemistry, materials’ sciences and consumer products.

Her professional experience includes: Staff Architect, Harvard Medical School, 1973-1985; Architect and Principal, Payette Associates, Inc., 1985-1993; Director, Global Science and Technology Group, HOK, Inc., 1993-1996; Principal, Health, Education + Research Associates, Inc., 1996-2008; Senior Lecturer, Washington University, 2009 to 2015.

Ms. Baum is a former member of several National Academy of Science committees, former chairperson on the National Board on Assessment of National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory programs. She is a former board member of the AIA’s Academy of Architecture for Health and she sat on the editorial board for American Chemical Society’s Journal of Chemical Health and Safety. She was a member of Scientific and Technical Review Board on Biomedical and Behavioral Research Facilities of National Institutes of Health.

Ms. Baum contributed to the following published books: 

Improving Safety in the Chemical Laboratory: A Practical Guide, Editor, Jay A. Young, 1st Edition, 1987, 2^nd Edition, 1991, Appendix 3: Plans and Design, “Designing Safety into Laboratories”.

State of the Art Reviews: The Biotechnology Industry, Editors, Alan M. Ducatman and MD, MSc, Daniel Liberman, PhD., 1991. “Design Features of a Biotechnology Laboratory Environment.”

Project Kaleidoscope: Structures for Science, A Handbook for Planning Facilities for Undergraduate Natural Science Communities, Volume III, 1995. She contributed to Chapter V, “Phases of Planning”, and Chapter VI “Technical Issues: The Laboratory Designer’s Perspective” and “Chemical Health and Safety – The University of Missouri”

Handbook of Chemical Health and Safety, Editor, Robert J. Alaimo, 2001, Chapter 76, “Design Criteria for New Laboratories and Renovations”.

Accessibility in the Laboratory, edited by E. Sweet, W. Gower, and C. Helzel, PhD, published by Oxford University Press, 2018, and sponsored by American Chemical Society, Chapter 3, “Accessing the Laboratory Environment” with Jennifer Perry.

Safe Laboratories: Principles and Practices for Design and Remodeling, Editors, Peter Ashbrook and Malcom Renfrew, 1991, Chapter 16, “Design of Safe R & D Labs”