Helen Meldrum, associate professor of natural and applied sciences, was named Researcher of the Year by the International Listening Association (ILA) for research “The Listening Practices of Exemplary Physicians” (International Journal of Listening, December 2011). She was honored for outstanding achievement at the ILA annual conference in Seattle, Washington.

The outstanding doctors featured in Meldrum’s research unanimously agreed that listening is at the heart of good medicine and that it is a holistic experience of coming to know patients that involves much more than simply hearing their words.

“Both young doctors in training and experienced physicians have come to recognize that effective listening is essential to forming a good relationship with patients,” Meldrum notes. “The very best physicians are the ones who use listening skills to establish an empathic connection with the people they treat.”

A member of the ILA selection committee remarked: “The listening practices described in Helen’s work are not limited to the practices of medicine alone. The lessons learned and practiced by those exemplary physicians are traits found in all successful people.  Her article not only covered all of the concepts I have been talking about for many years, but dramatically described exactly how these critical concepts are practiced in real life by doctors who are considered exemplary by their peers.”

Helen Meldrum has extensive experience as a teacher, lecturer, researcher, and consultant in areas of interpersonal and group dynamics in health care, customer service, psychology of adulthood, mental health services, communication skills, conflict management, presentation skills, and teaching skills. She is the author of three books focused on communications and organization in healthcare settings and healthcare professionals and her articles, interviews, editorials and reviews have appeared in publications as varied as USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, Integrative Medicine, The Physician Executive Journal, and the International Journal of Clinical Leadership.