Integrated design firm Mackenzie has appointed Dena Null as healthcare practice leader, adding a veteran strategist to its team in the Portland, Oregon, office. The firm, which provides design services across multiple markets, is positioning Null to guide its healthcare-focused work and support clients active in care delivery and wellness environments.
Null joins Mackenzie with nearly 30 years of experience dedicated to healthcare strategy and planning. Over the course of her career, she has been involved in complex healthcare projects from the earliest stages of visioning and programming through implementation, helping organizations translate clinical goals and operational needs into built environments. Her background spans work with hospitals, academic medical centers, ambulatory surgery centers, and a wide spectrum of outpatient care settings.
In this new role, Null brings a depth of expertise in healthcare planning, project delivery processes, and regulatory compliance. Her track record covers assignments throughout the Western United States, with experience in states such as California and across the broader Pacific Northwest. That regional familiarity is expected to be relevant for health systems and care providers navigating state and local regulatory frameworks, facility standards, and evolving models of care in multiple jurisdictions.
Mackenzie has already built a portfolio of healthcare-related projects, reflecting a broad mix of behavioral health, primary care, and specialty facilities. The firm has worked on behavioral health centers, crisis stabilization facilities, primary care clinics, specialty care environments, wellness centers, tribal health facilities, and integrated care campuses. These projects are located across Oregon, Washington, and California, underscoring Mackenzie’s active presence in healthcare design across the West Coast.
Leadership at Mackenzie has emphasized that Null’s appointment aligns with the firm’s ongoing focus on healthcare as a critical sector within its practice. According to Principal and President Dietrich Wieland, bringing Null into the firm is intended to build on its existing work and sharpen its approach to healthcare design. He noted that her experience and perspective are expected to help the firm further invest in healthcare initiatives while maintaining support for clients and communities that depend on resilient and responsive care environments.
For Mackenzie’s healthcare clients, the addition of a dedicated practice leader underscores an emphasis on coordinated planning and delivery for new and existing facilities. With responsibilities that span strategy, planning, and compliance, Null’s role is designed to support complex healthcare projects that must align physical space, clinical operations, and regulatory requirements. As health systems, tribal providers, and community-based organizations continue to refine their care networks, Mackenzie’s healthcare practice aims to offer design and planning services that respond to behavioral health needs, primary and specialty care demands, and integrated care models across urban and regional markets in the Western United States.
