HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication (CHIC)
Richard M. Frankel, PhD
Core Investigator, VA HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication
Professor of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine
Research Scientist, Center for Health Services Research, Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
Dr. Frankel’s research focuses on doctor patient communication and its effects on quality and safety, the effects of exam room computing on physician patient communication and effective organizational change strategies. He is also a senior scientist at the VA Center for Healthcare Information and Communication (CHIC) and the Regenstrief Institute. Dr. Frankel is also professor of medicine and geriatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine where he directs ASPIRE, (The Advanced Scholars Program for Internists in Research and Education).
In addition to his research interests, Rich has been a medical educator for the past 40 years. He was the co- director of the internal medicine residency program at Highland Hospital/University of Rochester and, while there, served as co-director of the Program and Fellowship in Advanced Biopsychosocial Medicine. At IUSM, Rich co-led a successful five-year school- wide initiative to change the culture of the medical school using appreciative inquiry, an organizational change strategy that focuses on what is working well and how to get more of it rather than focusing on what’s wrong and how to fix it.
Dr. Frankel has been a senior mentor for more than 25 research fellows and more than 10 junior faculty in medicine, pediatrics and family medicine. Dr. Frankel was recipient of the American Academy on Physician and Patient’s George Engel Award for outstanding contributions to research on communication in the medical encounter and won the Lynn Payer award for contributions to teaching and scholarship in clinician patient communication. He has published more than 275 research papers in the area of clinician-patient communication and serves on a number of editorial boards including the Journal of General Internal Medicine, The Permanente Journal, BMC Education, and Communication and Medicine. He has also served on several national boards and study sections, including both VA and AHRQ grant review panels.
