Executive Committee
The Executive Committee consists of the President, President-Elect, Past President, chair of rEACH, chair of tEACH, chair of pEACH, chair of the Advisory Committee and the Treasurer.
The Executive Committee are all trustees of the charity and look after the daily work and functions of the association including the strategic plan, budget planning and finances.
They are the highest decision making body of the association.
President
Richard Brown
USA
Richard Brown Ph.D FACH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Policy at VCU School of Medicine. He is the Director for Communication Innovations in Health Care Laboratory, a Co-Director at Massey Health Communication and Digital Innovation Core and an Associate Editor at 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 and Tailored Heath Messages, to help cancer patients be more active communicators during their consultations, to promote shared decision making and patient centered care. His oncologist-focused work has involved the development, implementation, and evaluation of communication training to support sustained uptake skills. Over the past several years he has developed a specialized research focus exploring cancer clinical trial communication.
Dr. Brown continues his work exploring health disparities in communication in health care and has extended that work to include focus to amelioriate health disparities and promote health equity across diverse minority (including race and Sexual/gender minorities), geographic and socioeconomic domains.
President-Elect
Gozie Offiah
Ireland
Dr Gozie Offiah is an Associate Professor and Director of Curriculum at RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland. Dr Gozie Offiah trained as a surgeon and practised for over 15 years in the Health Service Executive in Ireland. Gozie has been involved in EACH since 2012 and a member of tEACH, the teaching subcommittee of EACH for nearly 10 years. Gozie has served as lead for the cross-cultural subgroup and co-chair for tEACH.
Past-President
Lorraine Noble
UK
Lorraine Noble is Professor of Clinical Communication at UCL Medical School in London. She has a background in clinical psychology, and has specialised in doctor-patient communication and its education for over a quarter of a century. She has been a member of EACH since its creation in 2001 and served as the elected UK National Representative of EACH from 2014-2020.
Chair rEACH
Evelyn Watson
UK
Evelyn Watson has been based within the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews since 2015 and has played a significant role in both research and teaching within this environment. During this time she has played a central role within student wellbeing as part of the pastoral support team. She has been communication skills lead for Undergraduate Medical students since 2016 and has developed this area of the curriculum, incorporating a shift to online teaching and assessment during the pandemic. Recently, her research focus has involved collaborative work exploring the use of empathy tools within medical education, an area she has a passion for. Her present role has allowed her to facilitate, support
EACH Treasurer
Shakaib Rehman
USA
Dr. Shakaib (Shak) Rehman is the Chief Medical Officer & Founding Director of Academic Practice at the Phoenix VA Healthcare Systems. He also serves as the Chair/Professor of Department of Informatics, Professor of Humanism & Internal Medicine, Chair of Admissions Committee & Graduate Medical Education Committee at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. He has served as the Chair of ICCH conference. Chair of pEACH, President of the Society of General Internal Medicine Mountain Region; and Vice-President of ACH.