Gozde Yildirim, AIA, MBA, is an associate health principal in HDR’s Arlington office, providing leadership on a range of healthcare projects while contributing to business development, client engagement, and strategic pursuit efforts that advance the firm’s national health practice. Her professional involvement extends to the Association of Medical Facility Professionals, Women in Healthcare, and the American Institute of Architects.
Before joining HDR, Ms. Yildirim spent eight years with the global architecture firm HOK. She advanced from design professional to senior design professional and ultimately architect, contributing to complex national healthcare projects. Between 2021 and 2025, she contributed to medical planning and design development for the National Institutes of Health Surgery, Radiology, and Laboratory Medicine Building, supporting 545,000 square feet of surgical, imaging, and laboratory functions.
Among her most significant accomplishments, Ms. Yildirim spent five years contributing to the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center in Southeast Washington, D.C. from design through completion. The facility is the District’s first full-service community hospital in 25 years, expanding access to care for more than 32,000 patients each year. It also achieved the distinction of becoming Washington, D.C.’s first LEED Healthcare Gold–certified hospital.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Yildirim worked with Perkins+Will in Washington, D.C. She contributed to the Turkish Ministry of Health’s Basaksehir Health Campus, a 10 million square foot development serving 15 million residents. Her work on clinical adjacencies and medical planning across multiple hospital typologies helped establish her specialization in healthcare architecture.
Ms. Yildirim earned her Master of Architecture from Miami University in 2015, supported by a graduate teaching scholarship, and later completed her Master of Business Administration at the University of North America in 2018. She earned a Bachelor of Science in architecture from Beykent University in Istanbul in 2012. She is a registered architect in Maryland and the District of Columbia, holds certification from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and is recognized as a LEED Green Associate by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Ms. Yildirim attributes her success to the resiliency and persistence she developed while navigating cultural, language, and visa challenges during her transition from Turkiye to the United States. This experience later inspired her to co-author “Prospering in the U.S.: A Handbook for Immigrant Architects” in 2024 and “City Shapers: Stories of Immigrant Designers, Volume II” in 2026. Both publications serve as national resources that support immigrant designers as they pursue employment, licensure, and advancement within the architectural profession.
Ms. Yildirim is deeply involved in leadership and advocacy within the American Institute of Architects. She serves on the Advisory Group for the 2026 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, developing programming for more than 750 attendees, and has moderated sessions on diverse leadership at the 2024 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit and the 2025 AIA Aspire Conference. She was selected as one of sixteen scholars for the 2025 AIA DC Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program and now serves as communications chair.
At the local level, Ms. Yildirim is a board member and Emerging Professionals co-chair for the Association of Medical Facility Professionals’ D.C. Chapter. In this role, she launched the chapter’s first speed mentoring event and established its inaugural scholarship for an emerging professional attending the 2026 Healthcare Design Conference.
In recognition of her contributions, Ms. Yildirim has received numerous honors including Young Architect of the Year from the District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies in 2026, selection to the AIA National Next to Lead Cohort for 2025 to 2026, and the AIA DC Emerging Architects Award in 2025. Distinguished among Miami University’s 18 of the Last 9 in 2025, she was likewise celebrated with the Women in Healthcare DC Rising Star Award in 2024 and the Healthcare Design Magazine Rising Star Award in 2023.
Outside her professional endeavors, Ms. Yildirim enjoys writing and cooking. She looks forward to expanding her work in healthcare design while continuing her advocacy for emerging and underrepresented professionals in architecture.