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Social network analysis

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Researchers are able to identify physician influencers, “network leaders,” simply by seeing which doctors are most “central” to a network, most connected by patient-sharing to other general practitioners, surgeons, and medical specialists. If “network leaders” can be found, then new medical information can be more easily disseminated among doctors, according to research led by Nicholas Christakis (pictured), a professor in the sociology department in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School.

Doctor knots

Researchers describe connections among physicians, explore possible effects

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