Richard L. Kravitz

Richard Kravitz is Professor and Co-vice Chair for Research, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis. As a clinician, he believes that careful history taking, judicious use of diagnostic studies, and clear communication are the fundamentals of good medical care.

His primary research interests include patients as agents for quality, the causes and consequences of physician behavior, and improving care for mental health conditions in primary care settings.

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Kravitz has examined patients' expectations for care, how physicians respond to patients' requests for services, and how direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs influences physician decision making in depression. He recently completed a project evaluating targeted and tailored messaging to enhance care seeking for depression in general medical practices, and he is currently researching a phone app that helps patients with chronic pain design their own personalized clinical trials.

The winner of the 2013 George Engel Award for Outstanding Research Contributing to the Theory, Practice and Teaching of Effective Health Care Communication and Related Skills, Dr. Kravitz currently serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. A Fellow of the American College of Physicians and Academy Health, he is a graduate of Stanford University and UC San Francisco School of Medicine. He completed additional clinical and research training at UCLA, where he served on faculty until his 1993 arrival at UC Davis.