Mollie A. Ruben PhD
Research Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine
150 S Huntington Avenue | (617) 414-5013mruben7@bu.edu
Sections
General Internal 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.
Education
Psychology, PhD, Northeastern University
Psychology, MA, Northeastern University
Psychology, BA, Franklin & Marshall College
Publications
Stosic MD, Weaver AE, Fujiwara K, Vicaria IM, Isaacowitz DM, Ruben MA. A Multimethod Assessment of Spontaneous Behavioral Synchrony in Race- and Age-Concordant Versus Discordant Dyads. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2026 Jun 02; 1461672261449338. PMID: 42231611.
Published on 5/19/2026Batchelder AW, Glynn T, Witkower Z, Ruben M, Traeger L, Schaefer HS, Jenny Shin HJ, Tracy J, O'Cleirigh C, Moskowitz JT. Multi-modal measurement of shame in relation to perceived stress and avoidance coping in the context of recent HIV diagnosis. J Health Psychol. 2026 May 19; 13591053261449651. PMID: 42157552.
Published on 12/8/2025Ruben MA, Blanch-Hartigan D, Hall JA. What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) "Empathy"? A Study Comparing ChatGPT and Physician Responses on an Online Forum. J Gen Intern Med. 2026 Apr; 41(5):1304-1311. PMID: 41359230.
Published on 9/1/2025Stosic 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.
Published on 8/6/2025Ruben 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.
Published on 7/26/2025Murphy NA, Ruben MA, Stosic M, Renier LA, Schlegel K, Hall JA, Mast MS, Marroquín B. How Long? How Many? How Much? Evidence of Convergent Validity Among Thin-Slice Behavioral Coding Metrics. J Nonverbal Behav. 2025 Sep; 49(3):307-323. PMID: 41919091.
Published on 5/14/2025Paganini 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.
Published on 3/22/2025Stage MA, Sherman AL, Stamates AL, Ruben MA, Ehlke SJ, Kelley ML. Binegativity, Childhood Maltreatment, Impulsivity, and Risky Behaviors Among Heavy Drinking Bisexual Women. J Bisex. 2025 Mar 22. PMID: 41446724.
Published on 1/30/2025Ruben MA, Stage MA, Batchelder AW, Gilbert C, Shipherd JC, Livingston NA, Weaver AE, Berke DS. Nonverbal expressions of shame predict suicidal ideation among rurally-situated, but not urban situated, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adults. PLOS Ment Health. 2025; 2(1):e0000129. PMID: 41661859.
Published on 12/28/2024Stage 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.