Professor
Department of Humanities in Medicine
Email: bsharf@tamu.edu

Education

Dr. Sharf is Professor of Health Communication and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Speech Communication in the Texas A&M College of Liberal Arts, as well as Professor of Humanities in Medicine at Texas A&M College of Medicine. She received a B.A. (1969) and M.A. (1971) at the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1976), all in speech communication. Before coming to Texas A & M, she was on the faculty of the University of Illinois College of Medicine from 1978-1998, where she successively served as Coordinator of the James Scholar Program for Independent Study, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, and Professor of Health Communication and Medical Education (concurrently with being Head of the Medical Humanities Program).

Research Interests

Her research has used narrative inquiry and other interpretive methods to focus on physician-patient communication, popular media portrayals of illness and health care, and patients' experience of illness. She is the author of more than thirty-five articles and book chapters, as well as The Physician's Guide to Better Communication (1984), A Shared Understanding: Bridging Racial and Socioeconomic Differences in Doctor-Patient Communication (1991), The Patient as a Central Construct (with R. L. Street, 1997), and Communicating Health: Political, Cultural and Personal Complexities (with P. Geist & E.B. Ray, in press). Dr. Sharf has received research grants from the National Fund for Medical Education, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. She also has been communication consultant to several educational grants, especially in the area of primary care training, and is a member of the editorial board of Health Communication. At present, she is at work on a study of the social construction of breast cancer in popular media (funded by DOD). She is also consultant to the Houston VA/ Baylor College of Medicine study of the influence of race and ethnicity on patient-physician communication and resulting treatment decisions (funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality).