Richard M. Frankel, PhD

Bio

Dr. Frankel is a professor of Medicine and Geriatrics at the IU School of Medicine and a Senior Research Scientist at Regenstrief Institute. Dr. Frankel’s research is focused on the clinician-patient relationship, quality and safety in healthcare, and effective organizational culture change strategies. Since joining Regenstrief Institute in 2002, he has conducted a series of studies on the effects of communication on processes and outcomes of care. He also co-led a 5 year project, funded by the Fetzer Institute, to transform the culture of the medical school. Using a combination of Appreciative Inquiry and emergent design the project went from a dozen people at its beginning to over 1,100 faculty, students, and staff who were actively engaged in culture change work when it was completed.   In 2015 he wrote, “Medicine is a fundamentally human enterprise that is still practiced one conversation at a time. Current technology nonwithstanding, the human dimension of caring and being cared for is still the beating heart of medicine.”

Rich is the co-developer of the Four Habits of Highly Effective Clinicians, a validated education and research approach to improving clinician patient relatioinships.  It has been used to train more than 25,000 physicians in the US and abroad. Demonstrated proficiency in the Four Habits skills is currently a requirement for licensure in Norway.

Rich has been a productive scholar having published 300 research and review articles, in addition to editing 7 books.  He has received both the Academy for Communication in Healthcare's George Engel and  Lynn Payer Awards for his contributions to research and education. He is the only person to have done so in the Academy's 50 year history. He has won numerous awards and has held visiting professor ships in the US, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Norway, Israel, Lebanon and Taiwan.  He serves on a number of editorial boards including the Journal of General Internal Medicine, The Permanente Journal, BMC Education, and Communication and Medicine. 

He currently leads the Advanced Scholars Program for Internists in Research and Education (ASPIRE) and has been a senior mentor for more than 35 research fellows and more than 20 junior faculty in medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN and family medicine.

In 2018 the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Research Institute created the Richard Frankel Award for Creating a Loving Community, in recognition of the contributions and achievements of Dr. Frankel, who is internationally respected for his contributions to fostering humanism in medical education, practice and research.  In May of 2025, Rich will be honored by being awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine Degree by Oakland University/William Beaumont School of Medicine.

Expertise

patient-provider communication  |  quality and safety of healthcare  |  organizational change