Dr. Richard Brown, PhD

Research Interests: 

Psycho-Oncology, Physician-Patient Communication, Communication Skills Training, Cancer Patient Communication Interventions, Health Disparities, Outcomes Research 

School of Population Health, Virginia Commonwealth University

Associate Professor 

Director of the Communication Innovations in Health Care Laboratory 

Phone: 804-628-3340

Email: richard.brown@vcuhealth.org

Bio:

Dr. Richard Brown Ph.D is an Associate Professor (Tenured) in the Department of Health Behavior and Policy in the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He is a full member of the Massey Cancer Center (MCC) and is the Director of the Communication Innovations in Health Care Laboratory. Dr. Brown is Co-Director of the Health Communication and Digital Innovation Core of the MCC. At the International level Dr. Brown is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee to the EACH International Association for Communication in Health Care and is the Associate Editor of the Academic Journal Patient Education and Counseling.

Dr. Brown’s research has been designed to aid cancer patients and oncologists to communicate more effectively. His research largely centers on developing, implementing, and evaluating communication interventions using the oncologist-patient consultation as the unit of analysis. His research agenda has involved dual paths that have focused on understanding communication from both the patients’ and oncologists’ perspectives. Dr. Brown’s patient-focused work has included developing and testing patient interventions, such as Question Prompt Lists, to help cancer patients be more active communicators during their consultations. His oncologist-focused work has involved the development, implementation, and evaluation of training to support sustained uptake of communication skills. Over the past several years he has developed a specialized research focus exploring cancer clinical trial communication. In 2015, Dr. Brown was awarded a four-year Research Scholar grant from the American Cancer Society to study the impact of Tailored Health Communication on African American Cancer patients decision’s about joining a cancer clinical trial.

Dr. Brown continues his work exploring health disparities in communication in health care and has extended that work to include focus to ameliorate health disparities and promote health equity across diverse minority (including race and Sexual/gender minorities), geographic and socioeconomic domains.

Education:

Undergraduate Education

• BS, University of New England, Australia 1994

Graduate Education

• PhD, University of Sydney, Australia 2003

• MS, University of New England, Australia 1996

Post Graduate Education

• NCI R25 Post Doctoral Fellow: Psycho-Oncology – Case Cancer Center 2005 - 2005

• Visiting Assistant Professor – Case Western Reserve University 2005

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Park J, Liang M, Alpert JM, Brown RF, Zhong X. The Causal Relationship Between Portal Usage and Self-Efficacious Health Information-Seeking Behaviors: Secondary Analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey Data. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jan 27; 23(1):e17782. PMID: 33502334 01/2021

• Hlubocky FJ, Taylor LP, Marron JM, Spence RA, McGinnis MM, Brown RF, McFarland DC, Tetzlaff ED, Gallagher CM, Rosenberg AR, Popp B, Dragnev K, Bosserman LD, Dudzinski DM, Smith S, Chatwal M, Patel MI, Markham MJ, Levit K, Bruera E, Epstein RM, Brown M, Back AL, Shanafelt TD, Kamal AH. A Call to Action: Ethics Committee Roundtable Recommendations for Addressing Burnout and Moral Distress in Oncology. JCO Oncol Pract. 2020 Apr; 16(4):191-199. PMID: 32223701 04/2020

• Alpert JM, Morris BB, Thomson MD, Matin K, Brown RF. Identifying How Patient Portals Impact Communication in Oncology. Health Commun. 2019 Nov; 34(12):1395-1403. PMID: 29979886 11/2019

• Alpert JM, Morris BB, Thomson MD, Matin K, Sabo RT, Brown RF. Patient access to clinical notes in oncology: A mixed method analysis of oncologists' attitudes and linguistic characteristics towards notes. Patient Educ Couns. 2019 Oct; 102(10):1917-1924. PMID: 31109771 10/2019

• Bos-van den Hoek DW, Visser LNC, Brown RF, Smets EMA, Henselmans I. Communication skills training for healthcare professionals in oncology over the past decade: a systematic review of reviews. Curr Opin Support Palliat Care. 2019 Mar; 13(1):33-45. PMID: 30562180 03/2019

• Alpert JM, Morris BB, Thomson MD, Matin K, Geyer CE, Brown RF. OpenNotes in oncology: oncologists' perceptions and a baseline of the content and style of their clinician notes. Transl Behav Med. 2019 Mar 1; 9(2):347-356. PMID: 29596633 03/2019

• Alpert JM, Morris BB, Thomson MD, Matin K, Brown RF. Implications of Patient Portal Transparency in Oncology: Qualitative Interview Study on the Experiences of Patients, Oncologists, and Medical Informaticists. JMIR Cancer. 2018 Mar 26; 4(1):e5. PMID: 29581090 03/2018

• Elston Lafata J, Brown RF, Pignone MP, Ratliff S, Shay LA. Primary Care Physicians' Support of Shared Decision Making for Different Cancer Screening Decisions. Med Decis Making. 2017 Jan; 37(1):70-78. PMID: 27430237 01/2017

• Robinson BN, Newman AF, Tefera E, Herbolsheimer P, Nunes R, Gallagher C, Randolph-Jackson P, Omogbehin A, Dilawari A, Pohlmann PR, Mohebtash M, Lee Y, Ottaviano Y, Mohapatra A, Lynce F, Brown R, Mete M, Swain SM. Video intervention increases participation of black breast cancer patients in therapeutic trials. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2017; 3:36. PMID: 28944289 01/2017

• El-Shahawy O, Brown R, Elston Lafata J. Primary Care Physicians' Beliefs and Practices Regarding E-Cigarette Use by Patients Who Smoke: A Qualitative Assessment. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016 Apr 26; 13(5). PMID: 27128928 04/2016