Dr. Donovan's research and teaching focus on how people can successfully navigate difficult conversations with family, friends, and health care providers while coping with illness, stress, and uncertainty. Her expertise includes interpersonal communication processes such as disclosing and receiving bad news, social support and coping, and exchanging complex medical information. Dr. Donovan’s scholarship examining how patients and health care professionals engage in “communication work” has extended theorizing about illness trajectories and health care communication.