Kathryn Pollak is the new adjunct professor at the CFPK, Department of Clinical Medicine

Kathryn Pollak is a social psychologist and Professor in Population Health Sciences. She is also the Associate Director of Population Sciences in the Duke Cancer Institute and a co-leader of the Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group.

Kathryn Pollak e is 52 years old and earned her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Houston. She has studied clinician-patient communication and developed behavioral interventions for almost 20 years, and has directly coached over 100 clinicians. Her research in these interventions has shown positive effects on clinician resilience and burnout.

CFPK and Kathryn Pollak share a mutual interest in the development and evaluation of behavioral initiatives that can improve clinician-patient communication. It is therefore expected that Kathryn will contribute to qualifying CFPK’s current and future projects with regard to implementation of patient-centered communication. For example, she and colleagues can examine the effect of a more reflective practice that also involves coaching and other feedback methods.