Dr. Mariana Figueiro is the Mount Sinai Professor of Light and Health Research and Director of the
Light and Health Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Location: Sutton South
TuesdayApril 14, 2026
11:30 am - 12:30 pm ET
Credits 1 LU | HSW
Introductory
This course will provide information on how light affects people through human vision, perceptual, and the circadian/alerting system. The presentation will start with basic concepts of each system and how they work. The presentation will then review lighting characteristics affecting the visual and perceptual systems, and how these characteristics impact visual acuity, glare, comfort, and color perception. The remainder of the presentation will describe lighting characteristics affecting human health and wellbeing through the circadian system including how light can impact sleep, mood, cognition, behavior and other factors. Content will include instruction on designing lighting to meet the requirements of both the UL24480 Lighting Design Guideline for Circadian Entrainment, and the WELL Building Standard. Content will also cover how our eye physiology changes as we age and how light can mitigate some of these effects.
Learning Objectives
- Define light
- Understand the human visual, perceptual, and circadian systems and the characteristics of lighting that affect each of these systems
- Articulate the requirements of commonly used guidelines and recommended practices for the design of healthy lighting
- Define the process to design lighting that supports human health and wellbeing in residential and commercial spaces
Speaker
Mariana Figueiro
Professor and Director
Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai
Mariana G. Figueiro, PhD, is a Mount Sinai Professor of Light and Health Research and the Director of the Light and Health Research Center in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is well known for her research on the effects of light on human health, sustainability, circadian photobiology, and lighting for older adults.
In addition to performing basic research investigating the impact of light on physiology, Dr. Figueiro conducts field studies examining the impact of circadian-effective lighting in office spaces and works in nursing homes and assisted living facilities to use light to improve sleep, mood, and behavior in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment patients. Most recently, she has been working with Mount Sinai physicians to improve the lives of those undergoing cancer treatments and who are suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other neurological diseases. She is also field-testing novel lighting systems to reduce falls.
Dr. Figueiro is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society (FIES) and the author of more than 140 scientific articles in her field of research. She has brought attention to the significance of light and health as a topic of public interest through her TEDMED talk.