Is empathy a distraction from healthcare's mission—or one of the main ways it fulfils that mission? In our response (with @muirgray) to a recent @bmj_latest debate on healthcare's "moral emergency", Muir Gray and I argue that empathy is not an optional extra. Understanding patients' fears, goals, and circumstances helps clinicians make better decisions and build trust. Read our rapid response: bmj.com/content/393/bmj.s969 What do you think? @muirgray @Empathy_Centre @OxEmCare @UniofLeicester @LeMedSchool @NIHRresearch @NIHRARCs @UCSDCompassion #DoctorYou #Empathy #Empathic #compassion #communication #medicalhumanities #evidencebasedmedicine #medicalschool

Patients fair better in hospitals with greater empathy levels. Professor Jeremy Howick from the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Medicine spoke to Guardian science editor Ian Sample about what this really means in practice. 👉theguardian.com/society/2026… @JeremyHowick @Empathy_Centre

Can empathy improve patient safety, staff wellbeing and financial performance? Our new study suggests it might do just that. NHS trusts with higher levels of "system empathy" had better patient safety ratings, lower staff burnout, and spent less on agency staff. Please share, thank you! Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.… @Empathy_Centre @OxEmCare @UniofLeicester @LeMedSchool @NIHRresearch @NIHRARCs @ARC_EM @UCSDCompassion @SIPSplacebo #DoctorYou #Empathy #Empathic #compassion #communication #evidencebasedmedicine #medicalhumanities #curriculum

EMPATHY FOR OUR PLANET AND OUR PETS Looking forward to the Empathy & Compassion in One Health Conference (@RoyalDickVet, Edinburgh, 28–29 Sept 2026), exploring empathy and compassion across human, animal, and environmental health. Details & registration: vet.ed.ac.uk/news/events/emp… Please share thank you! @Empathy_Centre @OxEmCare @UniofLeicester @LeMedSchool @UCSDCompassion @NIHRresearch @NIHRARCs @SIPSplacebo #Empathy #Empathic #medicalhumanities #placebo #compassion #medicalschool #communication #evidencebasedmedicine #students #curriculum

Delighted that two of our papers in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice ranked among the journal’s top 10% most-viewed papers published in 2024. 📄 Beyond empathy training for practitioners: Cultivating empathic healthcare systems and leadership onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/… 📄 Towards an empathic hidden curriculum in medical school: A roadmap onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/… @Empathy_Centre @OxEmCare @UniofLeicester @LeMedSchool @NIHRresearch @NIHRARCs @UCSDCompassion #DanielSlavin #SimonGay #FionaMiall #SteveEnnion #ChandraOhri #paquitadezulueta @muirgray @Simon

I’m deeply honoured to receive the Sir Paul Curran Award from @ConversationUK for communicating academic research to the public. theconversation.com/the-2025… I’ve written for The Conversation for more than 10 years, and it has become an important part of my life’s work. I believe public communication is part of the job of being an academic: 1️⃣ The public often funds our research — people deserve to know what they’re paying for. 2️⃣ Research should improve lives, not just sit in journals. At the @Empathy_Centre and previously the Oxford Empathy Programme, we’ve worked to ensure healthcare includes a dose of empathy — and growing evidence suggests this can genuinely improve lives. Huge thanks to the brilliant editors, especially Clint Witchalls and Stephen Khan. Humbled, grateful, and inspired to keep communicating research that matters. #Empathy #Healthcare #EvidenceBasedMedicine #Communication #AcademicTwitter

📰 NEWS: Congratulations to our director, Professor Jeremy Howick, who has been awarded the prestigious Sir Paul Curran Award by The Conversation for excellence in communicating academic research to a global public audience 👏 1/3

Thank you Wiley for sharing news that one of our papers has been widely cited. Paper "Towards an empathic hidden curriculum in medical school: A roadmap" written with excellent colleagues @DrDSlavin #SueCarr #FionaMiall @ChandraOhri #SteveEnnion and #SimonGay Here is a link to the freely accessible paper : pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3833…

Hockey is tied to religion (and politics) in Montreal. Hard not to care.

👉 New paper: heuristics for #Empathic #Leadership Healthcare trained compassion for 15 years. Failures persist. Root cause? 📷 Leaders not listening Based on @BentFlyvbjerg's excellent work in project management and leadership, we tried something simpler: 📷 No theory, no slogans 📷 Tools for real decisions Because: simple rules > complex systems Now we test: do they improve outcomes? 📷bmjleader.bmj.com/content/ea… Comments welcome and kindly share @a_bennettweston @halpernjodi @ivanbrowneLCC @danniburnett1 @HarryDudson #lucyduncombe @AshokHandaOx @SeanHeneghan @RichardHollan15 @kerryhood @CInghamClark @DoctorMayur #gregmaniatopoulos #josephmanning @CarolynALMay #danielmacdonaldsmith @mountfordjames @almulley @austin_car53645 @NakulGPatel @ASayiram #sarahstyles @RichWithnall @drcleowhite

Don't miss out on our free 1-hour webinar on Empathic Leadership: From Understanding to Action, designed for healthcare leaders, practitioners, educators and students. 📅 Thu 7 May 2026 ⏰ 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM BST Book now 👉tickettailor.com/events/ston… #empathy #healthcare

News | Researchers develop first practical rules for empathic leadership in healthcare - and a course to teach them 👉 le.ac.uk/news/2026/april/emp… #CitizensOfChange | @jeremyhowick| @Empathy_Centre

More than 150 University of Leicester staff members were nominated for our Empathy Champions scheme by students during our first Empathy Fortnight 🙌 Nearly 30 nominees have been selected as champions for exemplifying what #empathy in #highereducation should look like.

Would banning under-16s from social media protect their mental health? It’s a popular idea and it's being proposed in the UK. But it might miss the real problem. 👉 A new article by Professor @JeremyHowick of the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare explains why. 1/6

Fascinating Conversation article from Professor Jeremy Howick on why banning teens from social media may not address all the issues @JeremyHowick 👉theconversation.com/why-a-so…

SOCIAL MEDIA BAN FOR UNDER-16s? It sounds decisive. But does it solve the problem? My new @ConversationUK article argues the harms of #socialmedia can’t be separated from #smartphones 👇 theconversation.com/why-a-so… With US courts now holding platforms accountable, are bans missing the point? @SFC_UK @MollyRoseFdn @10DowningStreet @Ofcom @UKParliament @Empathy_Centre @OxEmCare @UniofLeicester @LeMedSchool @SIPSplacebo @ARC_EM @NIHRresearch @NIHRARCs @EACH

❓DYK we're running an Evidence-based empathy skills for healthcare practitioners course? It will help healthcare professionals and trainees to: ⭐️ Deepen #empathy skills ⭐️ Reduce burnout and improve wellbeing ⭐️ Improve patient outcomes 🔗 le.ac.uk/empathy/study/healt…

"When patients are treated as partners, rather than consultees, curriculum development becomes more grounded, credible and better aligned with the needs of patients and the public." timeshighereducation.com/cam… #HigherEd #CoProduction #PatientCenteredCare

I don’t know how many jumps he made that day, but I can guarantee you he got as much sunshine and exercise as some kids will get all year in 2026 …

📰 NEWS: A new article by our team in the @timeshighered calls for patient voices to be meaningfully embedded into medical curricula and shows how this is being achieved at the @uniofleicester 🔗 Learn more: timeshighereducation.com/cam…