Sarah White

Dr. Sarah White is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of General Practice within the Faculty of Medicine & Health at the University of New South Wales. With a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Otago (2011) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Linguistics and Spanish and Latin American Studies from UNSW (2006), she brings a strong interdisciplinary background to her work in healthcare communication.

As a conversation analyst, Dr. White specializes in researching real-world clinical interactions, with particular focus on surgeon-patient consultations, telehealth communication, and pain talk. Her work bridges linguistic theory and practical healthcare applications, developing data-driven training approaches to improve clinical communication. She has published extensively in healthcare communication journals and serves on the editorial boards of BJGP Open, Qualitative Health Communication, and Health Literacy and Communication Open.

Dr. White's recent publications (2023-2025) reveal a consistent research trajectory examining communication dynamics across various healthcare contexts, with increasing attention to telehealth implementation challenges and opportunities. Her work employs rigorous conversation analysis methodology to extract practical insights for clinical practice, showing particular interest in how communication patterns affect patient outcomes and clinical decision-making.

Her notable achievements include receiving the 2021 Australian Award for University Teaching Citation, being awarded Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA) in 2019, and securing significant research funding including a $95,000 Avant Foundation grant for telehealth research (2021-2023). She is also the founder and director of Bedside Manners Pty Ltd, providing healthcare communication training services.

As an educator, Dr. White supervises research students including Avisak Bhattacharjee (University of Adelaide) and Kanesha Ward (Macquarie University), and has contributed to curriculum development in medical education. Her research has been supported by multiple grants from UNSW Health@Business Network, Avant Foundation, and Macquarie University, totaling over $140,000 in the past decade.

Dr. White maintains active professional engagement through the International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA) and the International Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH), contributing to the global advancement of healthcare communication research and practice.