Dr. Rana Awdish, MD, MS, FACP, FCCP
Nationally renowned physician and public speaker, Rana Awdish, MD, bases her advocacy for compassionate care in medicine on her personal experience as a patient. After suffering a life-threatening event herself, her perspective on medicine and healing changed forever. What she once learned through clinical training became profoundly personal after experiencing the patient side of things. Now, Dr. Awdish travels the country not only to teach medicine, but to remind clinicians of medicine’s most human elements: the power of empathy, intention, and compassionate communication.
The UT Health Science Center College of Medicine-Chattanooga and Erlanger Health will host the 17th Annual Dr. Harold Alper Humanitarian Keynote Address and Awards Ceremony May 2. Dr. Awdish will give the Keynote Address, “Healing with Intention,” to honor the integrity, compassion, and service medical residents provide to Chattanooga and the Southeast region.
Each year, the event is held in honor of the late Dr. Harold Alper with support of the Alper family, Erlanger, and UT Health Science Center. One resident out of 11 nominees, is chosen as a recipient of the Alper Humanitarian Award for displaying qualities of compassion, empathy, and intention in their work.
“Our job isn’t just to heal, but to understand what a patient is going through and sympathize,” says Dr. Awdish.
Before her life-threatening illness, like many clinicians, Dr. Awdish had not consistently carved out time to attend to her patients’ emotional and spiritual needs. These emotional needs had not crossed her mind in a meaningful way, until she experienced being a critically ill patient and what it felt like to be treated as just another number in a hospital. This awakening to communication and compassionate care is what inspired her critically acclaimed memoir, “In Shock,” a deep dive into her medical and emotional journey.
Through her current roles as director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program and medical director of Care Experience at Henry Ford Hospital, Dr. Awdish has dedicated herself to transforming clinical culture and integrating compassionate communication strategies. Prior to her time at Henry Ford, she completed training at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in Manhattan, attended Wayne State University Medical School, and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr. Awdish is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.
She has been awarded the Prestigious Schwartz Center’s national Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award (2017), named Physician of the Year by Press Ganey (2017), received the Critical Care Teaching Award (2016), and was named a Healthcare Hero by U.S. News & World Report (2020) for her work during the pandemic. Awdish is also a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
“Our college, health system, and community are so very fortunate to hear from an award-winning physician-author who values compassion in our practice of medicine,” said James Haynes, MD, dean of UT Health Science Center College of Medicine-Chattanooga and a family physician with Erlanger Health. “I encourage as many learners, faculty, and community leaders to attend if possible. We are grateful to the Alper family for leaving this legacy of empathy in honor of their father who lived out these principles for years here in Chattanooga.”
Dr. Awdish’s journey is one of reconnection to self, to purpose, and to the shared humanity that binds every clinician and patient. In telling her story, she helps all caregivers remember that the best medicine may not always come from a prescription, but from the acts of integrity, compassion, and service, said officials.
Dr. Awdish says many of the qualities she believes in are the same as the late Dr. Alper believed in, so it seemed like a perfect way to honor him by coming to speak and celebrate the compassionate care of the award nominees and winner.