Trust isn't a soft skill — it's a measurable variable in patient outcomes, and the research on what actually builds it is more specific than most training ever covers. In this session, Dr. Tara Sanft reviews what the evidence shows about healthcare trust: how it's built, what it changes about adherence and outcomes, and what distinguishes providers who earn it consistently from those who don't. Drawing on her work directing Yale's Communication Skills Curriculum and her years as Chief Patient Experience Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital, Dr. Sanft translates the research into concrete, teachable tools clinicians can use in the exam room — not abstractions about "bedside manner," but specific communication practices with evidence behind them.

Tara Sanft, MD, is board-certified in medical oncology, hospice and palliative medicine, and lifestyle medicine. For the past 15 years, she has served as the Director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Yale Cancer Center and has chaired the NCCN Survivorship Guidelines for the past 5 years. She won the "Key Contributor" award at the 2026 NCCN annual meeting for her contributions during her time on the guidelines committee. She was the Chief Patient Experience Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital from 2020 to 2025.

Recently, she moved to Hartford Healthcare, where she works as a breast medical oncologist with a focus on lifestyle medicine. Dr. Sanft continues to serve as the Director of the Communication Skills Curriculum at Yale School of Medicine and is a faculty member of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare. Dr. Sanft believes all medical care should treat the "whole person" and not just a disease.