Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda Jon LaPook: Empathic medicine
Apr 28, 2026
Jon LaPook, CBS News chief medical correspondent and founder of NYU Langone’s Empathy Project, discusses making empathy teachable through films and training. He explores tone and communication limits in text, using AI to analyze patient interactions, and scaling empathy across health systems. Short, vivid stories and practical programs highlight how small acts reshape care and support clinicians.
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Empathy Is Teachable And Must Be Stirred
- Empathy can be taught and strengthened rather than being purely innate.
- NYU's Empathy Project uses films and exercises to 'stir' students' childhood empathy and name it so it doesn't fade during training.
Act Empathically Even If You Must Fake It
- Practice empathic behavior even if you must 'fake it till you make it' because patient outcomes and clinician satisfaction improve.
- Jon LaPook notes patients follow advice more, blood pressure improves, and clinicians feel happier when they act empathically.
Perspective Getting Versus Perspective Believing
- Empathy includes engaged curiosity, perspective-getting, and perspective-believing as separate skills.
- LaPook emphasizes 'believing' the patient's perspective and using apologies to de-escalate interactions.