Leah Heiss

Leah Heiss is a designer and RMIT academic working at the nexus of design, health, and technology. Her practice traverses device, service and experience and her process is deeply collaborative, working with experts from nanotechnology and health services through to manufacturing. Her health technologies include Diabetes Jewellery; biosignal sensing emergency jewellery; and swallowable devices to detect disease.

Facett, the world’s first modular hearing aid that Leah designed for Blamey Saunders hears won the 2018 Good Design Award and the CSIRO Design Innovation Award. Leah has won five Good Design Awards in total and her work is part of Museums Victoria heritage collection. She has exhibited at the Melbourne Museum, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art and other galleries locally and globally.

Leah teaches RMIT’s Masters of Design Futures and the Interior Design honours program. Her teaching practice traverses embedded practice in cancer care and transdisciplinary design focused on health sector innovation.