Hi, I’m Hanna!

First off, lovely to meet you. I’m Hanna Barton and I use they/them pronouns. I’m a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I’m a researcher, integrator, and total design nerd who is here to create a world where all people can thrive.

My Research

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.

Zora Neale Hurston

As a researcher, my interests lie in designing human-centered resilient care systems. I approach healthcare with a human factors lens, considering it a complex sociotechnical system that can be designed for better, safer processes and outcomes.

I see that through applying human factors methods and perspectives in new ways, we can get to the root of systemic challenges and disparities and create systems that deliver personalized, relevant, and safe care for everyone. This involves working collaboratively with the people we study and design for/with and challenging essentialist research ethics.

View my ResearchGate Profile
Check out my Google Scholar page
Read my CV
Access my publications

Writings

  • The power of an introduction

    If you think about how we use language to interact with people, pronouns are fundamental. If I’m introducing you to my friend, I’m likely to say something like, “Hey! This is Madison—they’re a good friend of mine.” We use these introductory moments to create relatedness, yet, inadvertently, something about identity gets expressed. If we aren’t…

  • A Note to self… Transformative Birth is Possible

    Birth is a natural process.[1] Our bodies are capable of it.[2] Surrounded by people who believe this and support this notion allows us to know this for ourselves. Few things in life offer the profound opportunity of re-defining who you are and what you are capable of to the same degree. When pregnancy, labor, and…

  • Math Musings: We all think we are imposters

    I sit down at the small round table, rubbing the hand sanitizer I’ve just gotten into my hands. It’s 12:57 p.m. on Thursday, just before my regular volunteering shift in the children’s hospital and I’m wearing my red polo and name badge. I know I’m meeting a student today, but I don’t know how old…

  • The 1 Question to Ask to Get Unstuck

    I’ve always had a slight obsession with whiteboards. So much so that when I came back from the University Innovation Fellows Silicon Valley Meet-up in November of 2017, I started drawing up designs for a whiteboard wall (despite the fact that my husband and I occupied a 650 square-foot studio apartment). I settled on a…

  • 3 Finals Week Study Hacks from a Lifelong Learner

    In honor of the brief respite of UW-Madison’s study day—the calm before the storm that is finals week—I’m putting pen-to-paper, so to speak, on some study hacks I have developed in my 5+ years in higher education studying engineering. My goal is to leave you with (at the very least) one thing you can implement…

  • 3 Things to know about Human Factors Engineering: Starting with what the heck is it?

    Most of the time when I tell people I’m studying Human Factors Engineering, I get a blank stare or an “oh, so you mean the human side of engineering!” I respond with “Kind of!” and launch into my elevator pitch on what Human Factors Engineering (HFE) is… “It was formerly called Engineering Psychology,” I say,…

I’ve been featured in the news…

… for being a notable graduate at UW-Madison’s Spring 2023 Doctoral, Medical professional, and MFA commencement. [May 12, 2023]

… for chatting about human factors engineering on Your Health Matters. [February 10, 2021]

… for writing a letter to UW Badger’s Senior Athletic Department Staff and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez requesting real, tangible action toward racial justice.

… for my graduate research work in human factors engineering. [February 10, 2020]

… for making a difference as an athlete and an innovator in my time as a student. [March 26, 2019]

… for being a notable graduate at UW-Madison’s December 2018 Commencement. [December 10, 2018]

… for performing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” at the 2018 Buckinghams, Wisconsin Athletic’s annual Student-Athlete Talent and Awards night. [April 25, 2018]

… for being part of the first cohort of University Innovation Fellows on UW-Madison’s campus. [June 5, 2017]

… for traveling abroad to Vietnam to teach and coach with the Coach for College program. [August 14, 2015]