Mary Catherine Beach is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She holds a joint appointment in health, behavior and society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Beach received her B.A. from Barnard College, her M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and her M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins. She has completed the Greenwall Fellowship in Bioethics and Health Policy as well as a fellowship in the Division of General Internal Medicine. In 2001, Dr. Beach was a Congressional Health Policy Fellow in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, where she worked on issues such as patient rights, mental health parity, human subject protection, genetic discrimination, human cloning and stem cell research. Her research interests include health care quality for underserved populations, patient-clinician communication and sickle-cell disease. Dr. Beach serves as the program director of the Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program. She is a past recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar Award and a K-08 Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. MD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine (1995)

Health care quality for underserved populations; Patient-clinician communication; Sickle-cell disease; HIV and substance abuse; Bioethics; Respect

Dr. Beach is currently conducting research on the theoretical foundations of respect and the impact of physician attitudes and patient-physician communication on patients in the primary care setting, in the treatment of HIV and substance abuse and in the treatment of sickle cell disease.

Flickinger TE, Saha S, Roter D, Korthuis PT, Sharp V, Cohn J, Eggly S, Moore RD, Beach MC. "Clinician empathy is associated with differences in patient-clinician communication behaviors and higher medication self-efficacy in HIV care." Patient Educ Couns. 2015 Sep 3. pii: S0738-3991(15)30070-7. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2015.09.001. [Epub ahead of print] Flickinger TE, Saha S, Roter D, Korthuis PT, Sharp V, Cohn J, Moore RD, Ingersoll KS, Beach MC. "Respecting patients is associated with more patient-centered communication behaviors in clinical encounters." Patient Educ Couns. 2015 Aug 20. pii: S0738-3991(15)30057-4. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2015.08.020. [Epub ahead of print] Haywood C Jr, Williams-Reade J, Rushton C, Beach MC, Geller G. "Improving clinician attitudes of respect and trust for persons with sickle cell disease." Hosp Pediatr. 2015 Jul;5(7):377-84. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2014-0171. Laws MB, Rose GS, Beach MC, Lee Y, Rogers WS, Velasco AB, Wilson IB. "Patient-provider concordance with behavioral change goals drives measures of motivational interviewing consistency." Patient Educ Couns. 2015 Jun;98(6):728-33. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2015.02.014. Epub 2015 Feb 23. Beach MC, Roter DL, Saha S, Korthuis PT, Eggly S, Cohn J, Sharp V, Moore RD, Wilson IB. Impact of a Brief Patient and Provider Intervention to Improve the Quality of Communication about Medication Adherence among HIV Patients. Patient Education and Counseling, 2015 May 21 Haywood Jr. C., Diener-West M., Strouse J., Patrick Carroll C., Bediako S., Lanzkron S., Haythornthwaite J., Onojobi G., and Beach MC., for the IMPORT Investigators. Perceived Discrimination in Health Care is Associated with a Greater Burden of Pain in Sickle Cell Disease. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2014 Nov;48(5):934-43. Epub Apr 15 Beach MC, Roter D, Korthuis PT, Epstein RM, Sharp V, Ratanawongsa N, Cohn J, Eggly S, Sankar A, Moore RD, Saha S. A multicenter study of physician mindfulness and health care quality. Annals of Family Medicine. 2013 Sep-Oct;11(5):421-8. Flickinger TE, Saha S, Moore RD, Beach MC. Higher Quality Communication and Relationships Are Associated with Improved Patient Engagement in HIV Care. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2013 Jul 1;63(3):362-6. Saha S, Korthuis PT, Cohn JA, Sharp VL, Moore RD, Beach MC. Primary care provider cultural competence and racial disparities in HIV care and outcomes. J General Internal Medicine. 2013 May;28(5):622-9 Hsu I, Saha S, Korthuis PT, Sharp V, Cohn J, Moore RD, Beach MC. Providing Support to Patients in Emotional Encounters: A New Perspective on Missed Empathic Opportunities. Patient Education and Counseling. 2012 Sep;88(3):436-42. aha S, Beach MC. The Impact of Patient-Centered Communication on Patients' Decision Making and Evaluations of Physicians: A Randomized Study Using Video Vignettes. Patient Education and Counseling. 2011 Sep;84(3):386-92. Haywood C Jr, Lanzkron S, Hughes MT, Brown R, Massa M, Ratanawongsa N, Beach MC. A Video-Intervention to Improve Clinician Attitudes toward Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: The Results of a Randomized Experiment. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2011 May;26(5):518-23. Kinsman H, Roter D, Berkenblit G, Saha S, Korthuis PT, Wilson I, Eggly S, Sankar A, Sharp V, Cohn J, Moore RD, Beach MC. "We'll do this together": The Role of the First Person Plural in Fostering Partnership in Patient-Physician Relationships. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2010 Mar;25(3):186-93. Beach MC, Duggan PS, Cassell CK, Geller G. What does ‘respect' mean? Exploring the moral obligation of health professionals to respect patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2007 May;22(5):692-5. Beach MC,Roter DL, Wang NY, Duggan PS, Cooper LA. Are physicians' attitudes of respect accurately perceived by patients and associated more positive communication behaviors? Patient Education and Counseling. 2006 Sep;62(3):347-54. Beach MC, Keruly J, Moore RD. Is the quality of the patient-provider relationship associated with better adherence and health outcomes for patients with HIV? J Gen Internal Med. 2006 Jun;21(6):661-5. Beach MC, Price EG, Gary TL, Robinson KA, Gozu A, Palacio A, Smarth C, Jenkes MW, Feuersein CJ, Bass EB, Powe NR, Cooper LA. Cultural competence: A systematic review of health care provider educational interventions. Medical Care. 2005 Apr;43(4):356-73. Beach MC, Roter D, Rubin H, Frankel R, Levinson W, Ford DE. Is physician self-disclosure related to patient evaluation of office visits? Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2004 Sep;19(9):905-10.