Creative Care

Bridging healthcare and innovation @ Princeton University

We are an undergraduate student group at the intersection of innovation and healthcare, bridging the two with design-thinking. Each year, we partner with a Princeton organization and conduct qualitative and quantitative research before applying human-centered design principles to improve healthcare access and experiences for students on campus.

2025 – 2026

Office of Disability Services Partnership

This year, we're partnered with Princeton's Office of Disability Services to understand the experiences of students navigating disability-related accommodations.

2024 – 2025

First-Gen & Low-Income Student Healthcare

Our inaugural year focused on first-generation and low-income student experiences with healthcare at Princeton. We partnered with University Health Services to conduct research about FLI student health and created the Health Outposts to connect students to valuable resources.

Campus Impact

Creative Care are two-time winners of the Princeton Research Day Campus Impact Award, winner of the 2025 Santos-Dumont Prize for Innovation, and have received >$3,000 in grant funding to support campus health.

Meet the team

We are a small team of ten Princeton undergraduate students who are interested in healthcare access and human-centered design.

Meet the team →

Our advisory board

  • Jessica Leung, CPC, ELI-MP
  • Robert Pugliese, PharmD
  • Sebastián Ramírez Hernandez, PhD
  • Evan Schneider, MDiv

Apply to join Creative Care

We accept new members at the start of each academic year. Click below to learn more.

Apply now →

In our first year, we partnered with University Health Services to research first-generation and low-income student experiences with healthcare on campus. Then, we worked to design an intervention that could help meet the gaps we found in access. We created and installed Health Outposts around campus to help connect students in residential colleges with information like health insurance guides, healthcare decision-making guides, and more.

Student perception of University Health Services (UHS)

UHS has abundant health services and covers most students' health needs. Those who access services frequently have positive perceptions, but more unfamiliar students may be susceptible to infrequent negative opinions.

Uncertainty about health decision-making

When students are unwell, their choice to seek care depends on their background, Princeton-specific influences, and their knowledge about available services.

Connection with Campus Life

Though students and providers both desire a stronger relationship, there is currently a lack of cross-communication that is not sufficiently connected by weak external outreach points.

Financial uncertainties

Students lack knowledge about the cost of healthcare and the existing funds that can help them cover these costs. These financial uncertainties can cause students to avoid seeking help.

Health Outpost — health information for students, by students Health Outpost concept: the problem, the solution, and design details

We partnered with the Princeton Office of Disability Services to understand the experiences of students navigating disability-related accommodations. We grounded our efforts in real human experiences by conducting 15 in-depth qualitative interviews and a larger survey, then synthesizing our findings into the report below. We then worked to implement our proposed interventions, which are still currently in progress.

Full report

Download PDF ↓
Creative Care team photo collage

We are a small team of ten Princeton undergraduate students who are interested in healthcare access and human-centered design. Contact us at ccare@princeton.edu or sa9213@princeton.edu.

Apply for Creative Care through the E-Club application link at https://forms.gle/ok3h4mFDP24Hk6Zx5, and feel free to email ccare@princeton.edu with any questions.