Mollie A. Ruben, PhD

Research Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Ruben earned her PhD in psychology at Northeastern University where she developed a strong background in doctor-patient communication, measuring and quantifying nonverbal behavior, creating standardized tests to evaluate physicians’ interpersonal skill, and meta-analysis. Dr. Ruben is a certified and reliable Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and Roter Interaction Analysis (RIAS) coder. Dr. Ruben uses these coding systems to examine the impact of providers’ communication style on patient health outcomes, with a particular interest in ameliorating the physical pain experience for patients. Additionally, Dr. Ruben is interested in doctor-patient communication among sexual minorities or LGBT patients.

Publications

  • Published 9/1/2025

    Stosic MD, Ruben MA, Weaver AE, Blanch-Hartigan D, Sanders JJ, Schwartz R, Jeong S, Lam RX, Hall JA, Duong F, Meyer EC, Waisel D, Blum RH. What Is Clinical Empathy in Anesthesiology? Perspectives From Practicing Anesthesiologists. A A Pract. 2025 Sep 01; 19(9):e02045. PMID: 40911041.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/6/2025

    Ruben MA, Weaver AE, Stein LAR. Modern racism contributes to overall less pain management and a "one size fits all" approach. Health Psychol Rep. 2025; 13(3):226-235. PMID: 40959658.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/14/2025

    Paganini GA, Weaver AE, Carroll A, Ruben MA, Mathur VA, Paige Lloyd E. Leveraging insights from the psychological science of gender stereotyping to advance scholarship on gender-diverse individuals' pain experiences. J Pain. 2025 Aug; 33:105430. PMID: 40379067.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/28/2024

    Stage MA, Creamer MM, Ruben MA. "Having providers who are trained and have empathy is life-saving": Improving primary care communication through thematic analysis with ChatGPT and human expertise. PEC Innov. 2025 Jun; 6:100371. PMID: 39866208.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 11/30/2024

    Shepard EC, Ruben M, Weyandt LL. Emotion Recognition Accuracy Among Individuals With ADHD: A Systematic Review. J Atten Disord. 2025 Feb; 29(3):174-194. PMID: 39614669.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 48 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Websites

Education

  • Northeastern University, PhD
  • Northeastern University, MA
  • Franklin & Marshall College, BA

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