Science | Architecture | Medicine
We remove roadblocks for real estate investors.
Concepts in Wellness, LLC (CIW) is a privately held consulting company, based in Dallas, Texas and founded in 2020. We provide a network in and knowledge of the scientific research, architecture, and medical aspects of the health impacts of chemicals.
CIW works to reduce the risk of real estate investors and tenants who proactively address chemicals of concern in their buildings by providing tools, services, and educational materials to clients nationally.
Real Estate &
Material Health Expertise
With over 30 years of experience in real estate, our Founder, Ann Ramsey Gardner, has leveraged her career and personal experience to bring solutions to clients to design their buildings without chemicals of concern.
CDC|NIOSH Immune, Infectious and Dermal Disease Council (the IID Council)
A national public-private partnership, CIW supports the occupational health research of NIOSH with outreach efforts.
Construction Risk Management
CBRE - Dallas, Texas
Regional Portfolio Management
Capital Planning
AT&T
Citigroup
Architectural Project Management
Pryse Traynor Partnership - United Kingdom
Swanke Hayden Connell - New York, New York
Real Estate Loan & CMBS Asset Management
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. - Dallas, Texas
Goldman Sachs - Dallas, Texas
Trimont Real Estate Advisors - Dallas, Texas
Education | Certification
NYU Stern School of Business: MBA + Corporate Sustainability Certification
Texas A&M University School of Environmental Design
Well AP - International WELL Building Institute
My perspective is both as a real estate investor and patient who has recovered from chemical exposure.
In 2014, I was promoted and moved to a new office. I loved my job, cycled 40 miles on Saturdays and did yoga a few times a week. Within 2 months of working in the new office, I developed
uncommon symptoms: a hyperactive immune system, meaning eczema over 75% of my body that wouldn’t heal - it was like poison ivy that wouldn’t heal for 2.5 years over most of my body. Your body uses cortisol to stop inflammation and govern blood pressure, and with much inflammation, mine apparently could not handle both. My blood pressure would drop below life sustaining levels daily and I’d lose consciousness. I became an all too regular patient in local Emergency Rooms.
In the same year that I became ill, the WELL Certification was launched, and among other issues, luckily addressed the health impacts of chemicals. With the WELL certification, the International WELL Building Institute and Cleveland and Mayo Clinics mapped from symptoms…to indoor environmental causes…to building codes that define healthy limits for chemicals. Remarkable achievement.
To my surprise, and probably others like me, I found that chemicals might explain my symptoms.
Within 8 months, I became so fatigued at work one day that I was unable to move, literally, but somehow made it to my parked car to lie down. Thankfully, my manager called to see if I was ok and then called an ambulance, and I was hospitalized for a week of testing at the top regional medical center in Dallas. The doctors were not able to provide a diagnosis, but suggested that I’d been exposed to something environmental. Environmental?
Problem #1: Medical doctors need resources about chemical exposures to make a diagnosis.
CIW is developing such a tool with the CDC|NIOSH Organization.
As a result, I contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which indicated that they did not have the tools to develop a list of chemicals of concern to test for them.
Problem #2: Property Managers, Environmental Health & Safety departments, and OSHA need a diagnostic tool to find chemical sources of health issues.
CIW is developing such a tool with the CDC|NIOSH Organization.
I also realized that knowledge of chemicals indoors couldn’t be expected of my employer, if regulatory agencies lacked clarity, especially given the litigation and environmental insurance risk.
Problem #3: Most real estate owners are hesitant to address chemicals of concern in their buildings for fear of litigation. Legislation for outdoor chemicals defines the hazardous ones, and provides landlord liability protections for real estate owners who proactively investigate and remediate chemicals of concern. Similar legislation and protections for chemicals indoors do not exist. Even worse, most cases about Sick Building Syndrome are dealt with toxic tort law.
CIW is developing ways for real estate owners to safely address chemicals of concern indoors.
Still seeking answers about my environmental exposure, I discovered the Immune, Infectious and Dermal Disease Council (IID Council) in my research. The IID Council is within the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and is a public-private partnership to research chemicals that cause dermal disease. My symptoms closely aligned with those described in their research. Amazing! Chemicals impair the barrier function of skin…possibly why mine took so long to heal. I was invited to become a Council Member, and now support the IID Council Research Scientists with outreach efforts.
As I learned about chemicals causing illnesses like mine, I realized my situation was avoidable,
and have sought to prevent others from going through the same experience in three ways:
Develop a diagnostic tool for real estate professionals and medical doctors to locate and treat for chemicals of concern in buildings.
2. Support real estate investors and their consultants in researching chemical ingredients in building materials and finding safer alternative materials
- ultimately to develop chemicals programs within their design standards.
3. Develop projects, points of communication, and training for NIOSH researchers and real estate professionals to facilitate their communication.