From empathy to impact: Sharon Williams on designing the future of healthcare

When Sharon Williams graduated from the Master’s Programme in Interaction Design at UID, her first professional opportunity came through the UID network. An alum reached out for help with an animation for a service design project. Sharon, fresh out of school and refining her portfolio, jumped at the chance.

“I was very fortunate to join the team in person for a few weeks,” she recalls. “The project was healthcare-related, which is a topic close to my heart, and the team was incredibly talented and fun.” That small assignment led to more collaborations and eventually to a full-time role as an interaction designer.

Designing for better care

Today, Sharon is the design leader for clinical informatics at Philips, within its professional healthcare solutions division. Her team focuses on empowering clinicians with digital tools for decision support, helping improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

“Our goal is to create solutions that are safe and meaningful,” she explains. “We bridge the challenges of the healthcare world with the possibilities of digital transformation.”

Lessons from UID: Empathy and collaboration

Reflecting on her time at UID, Sharon highlights two principles that shaped her career: empathy and collaboration.

“Empathy was at the core of our design thinking,” she says. “It allowed us to be user-centric and creative, not just in our designs but in the methods we used to ensure they were meaningful.” That mindset remains central to her work today, especially in healthcare, where designing for experiences she has not personally lived through is a unique challenge.

Empathy was at the core of our design thinking

The collaborative spirit at UID also left a lasting impression. “Understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses helped build strong teams,” she says. “But it was the shared purpose and personal connection that made it special. Many of those classmates became lifelong friends.”

A process grounded in context

Sharon’s design process begins with deep research. “In healthcare, we need to understand everything from disease-specific domains to hospital departments and imaging modalities,” she explains. “It’s a lengthy but essential step to ensure our ideas are relevant to real clinical challenges.”

Sharon Williams in action, leading collaborative design sessions to create digital tools that empower clinicians and improve patient care.

Once the groundwork is laid, her team follows a collaborative design process involving engineers, product managers, marketers, and clinical experts. Regulatory considerations, such as FDA approval, are also part of the equation.

Designing with responsibility

One challenge Sharon often encounters is technology bias. “As digital tools become more widespread, we need to ensure their outputs are equitable and fair,” she says. “Bias in AI is a clear example. Who is included in the data? Who is left out?”

Her team actively addresses these issues, developing UX approaches to mitigate bias. “As designers, we have a responsibility to anticipate and define ethical paths forward,” she adds.

Leading with purpose

As creative lead, Sharon’s mission is to uphold design quality and empower her team. “I inspire and define the design vision by creating synergies across functions and with our customers,” she says. “Philips’ mission to improve health and wellbeing through meaningful innovation is something we’ve internalised. It’s what drives us.”

Sharon Williams presenting her vision for ethical and user-centred design in digital healthcare.

Beyond design: Life and lessons

Outside of work, Sharon spends most of her time with her two-year-old daughter. “Whatever she’s into at the moment, usually crafting,” she laughs. She also enjoys socialising with friends and, when time allows, visits the local yoga studio or bouldering gym.

Conditions weren’t easy for someone born in Panama and raised in Spain

Looking back on her UID days, Sharon wouldn’t change a thing. “Conditions weren’t easy for someone born in Panama and raised in Spain,” she says. “But I gave it my all, especially in building relationships. Many great friendships and life experiences came from my time in Umeå. I’ll always cherish that.”

A design superpower

If she could choose one superpower, it would be true empathy. “Really feeling what our users or their patients experience, even just a bit,” she says. “I’ve role-played scenarios and even poked myself with a needle to understand IVF treatments. But what if we could go beyond that?”

When it’s time to think deeply, Sharon turns to lo-fi beats. For everything else, it’s dancy music. “It goes great with a standing desk,” she smiles.