Kristofer Rau, PhD

ACTIVE MEMBER • Assistant Professor

Basic Science Education, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

Web Page

krisrau@vt.edu

Currently my research focuses on how to cultivate empathy in medical students through engagement in their community. Our students usually enter medical school with this positive quality, but unfortunately research shows that there is a decline in empathy as medical students progress through their training. The stressful realities of a challenging curriculum, limited early interaction with patients, and make-or-break exams often result in students losing some of this empathy. Therefore I design outreach programs that take our students out of the classroom and into various schools and non-profit organizations in the Roanoke community. I assess the impact of these programs not only on the medical students, but also the community partners and participants.