A recent book, Masterclass in Medicine: Lessons from the Experts, offers insights on how health care providers can build trust with their patients and strengthen the intangible skills essential to patient-centered care.

CIGH Director and Senior Associate Dean of Global Health Michele Barry leveraged her experience as a physician who has served vulnerable populations around the world to contribute a chapter on patient advocacy. Medical diagnosis is only one part of caring for patients, she says. Barry is a professor and infectious disease and global health specialist at Stanford University. She says it felt important to write about patient advocacy because “listening to and advocating for our patients is any good physician’s duty.”

Clinicians overwhelmingly come to the profession out of a desire to help people, she says, adding that there is “a path to patient advocacy” for everyone, and she hopes the examples shared in her chapter can inspire health professionals. “At the most fundamental level, any physician can bring a nonjudgmental mindset, and deep sense of humility and empathy to every patient encounter,” she explains.

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