Internationally renowned conversational analyst and professor of sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles, John Heritage, presented his findings about doctor-patient relations in the United States, when he gave a presentation at Shanxi University on Nov 4.

His academic report titled – entitled "The Expression of Authority in US Primary Care Medicine" -- mainly makes a scientific analysis of medical authority in the two stages of diagnosis and treatment in primary care in the US.

The UCLA professor has maintained a close cooperative relationship with the SXU conversational analysis research team led by professor Yu Guodong.

SXU officials said this academic exchange has further expanded the scientific research cooperation between the two sides, from previous research on daily conversations in the medical field.

UCLA Professor John Heritage presents an academic report at Shanxi University on Nov 4. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

About John Heritage

John Heritage is a distinguished professor of Sociology at University of California at Los Angeles.

He has long been engaged in conversational analysis and is one of the most important leading scholars in this field worldwide.

In recent years, he has published 12 books and 153 academic papers in international journals. His representative works include Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology, Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, Communication in Medical Care, Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions, and Epistemics in Action: Action Formation and Territories of Knowledge.