Gregory Makoul PhD is Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice President for Innovation and Quality Integration at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center.  He is also Associate Director of the Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research Into Practice and Policy (TRIPP Center) at the University of Connecticut Health Center and a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Ethics and Communication in Health Care Practice at the University of Oxford, England.

In addition to overseeing research, education, quality, Lean transformation, and the patient experience at Saint Francis, Dr. Makoul works to build academic relationships with other institutions and to maintain his own successful research program, which focuses on communication and professionalism in medicine.  Dr. Makoul developed North America’s most widely used model for teaching and assessing communication skills, and has led internationally-recognized efforts to improve communication skills.  He has received approximately $3 million in federal and foundation funding for research and development of innovations designed to improve physician-patient communication and decision making.  His educational and research work has been published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.  Dr. Makoul has also produced multimedia patient education programs and a series of award-winning videos that offer patient narratives of the illness experience, as well as an innovative website for breast cancer patients.

Dr. Makoul chairs the Board of Directors of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare.  He also is a member of the European Association for Communication in Healthcare and the Society of General Internal Medicine.  He is on the editorial board of Patient Education and Counseling, the Journal of Health Communication, Health Expectations, Communication Studies, and the Journal of Communication in Healthcare.   In 2003, he received the American Academy on Communication and Healthcare - Lynn Payer Award for outstanding contributions to the literature on the theory, practice and teaching of effective health care communication and related skills.  Dr. Makoul received a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from Wesleyan University and earned a doctorate in communication studies with concentrations in research methodology, health promotion, and health policy from Northwestern University. 

He lives in Madison, CT with his wife, Limor, and their two daughters, Zoe and Laine.

Gregory Makoul, PhD (1:08-10) Board Chair

Chief Academic Officer

Senior Vice President for Innovation and Quality Integration

Saint Francis Hospital & Med Ctr

114 Woodland Street

Hartford, CT 06105

Phone: (860) 714-7010

Fax: 860-714-1517

gmakoul@stfranciscare.org