The Evolution and Legacy of the Engel and Romano Work in Biopsychosocial Medicine

This follow-up to Meliora Press/URP's 2010 biography of John Romano and George Engel explores the enduring impact of the biopsychosocial approach to medicine they pioneered at University of Rochester Medical Center.

This follow-up to Meliora Press's 2010 biography of John Romano and George Engel examines the enduring impact of the biopsychosocial approach to medicine pioneered by these two University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) physicians. The book traces the evolution at the URMC of the biopsychosocially related curriculum, which emphasizes patient-physician communication and patient-centered interviews, as well as the central values of professionalism, self-awareness, humanism, compassion, honesty, and integrity. It reports on the noted positive effects of the curriculum on URMC students' abilities to communicate with and assess patients. It also looks at the continuing work in biopsychosocial medicine of those who trained under Engel and Romano, as well as how the biopsychosocial approach has been adopted by medical professionals across the United States and internationally. Finally, the authors examine evaluations of the biopsychosocial model among clinicians and scholars, concluding that the extraordinarily rich legacy of Engel and Romano will continue to illuminate our understanding of health, illness, and the practice of medicine,benefiting future generations of physicians and their patients.

Diane S. Morse is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC).
Katherine R. Johnson is a freelance editor and writer.
Jules Cohen, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), is former senior associate dean for medical education at URMC.