Physician gender has stimulated a good deal of interest as a possible source of variation in the interpersonal aspects of medical practice. This talk will address the question through a synthesize of results based on two meta analytic reviews of physician gender and communication in medical visits within a patient-centeredness framework

<a href="http://faculty.jhsph.edu/?F=Debra&amp;L=Roter">Debra Roter</a>, is Professor of <a href="http://www.jhsph.edu/dept/hbs/" title="Go to the Health, Behavior and Society departmental home page">Health, Behavior and Society</a> at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and holds appointments of Professor in the Schools of Medicine and Nursing.&nbsp; She has been recognized by the Web of Science as among most highly cited authors in the social sciences and is the recipient of research and teaching awards. Her primary research focus is in the study of patient-provider communication and she is the author of the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS), a widely used coding system for analysis of medical encounters.&nbsp; Her studies include basic social psychology research regarding the social determinants and consequences of communication dynamics and interpersonal influence, as well as intervention research in communication training and health services research.<br>