Keynote Speaker

Dr. Rana Awdish is the bestselling author of two books: In Shock, a landmark medical memoir taught in medical schools across the country, and her much anticipated follow-up book, After Shock, which was an instant USA Today bestseller. She serves as the Medical Director of Care Experience at Henry Ford Health, where she leads at the intersection of clinical care, the medical humanities, and culture change. A clinical professor at both Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Wayne State University School of Medicine, she has been nationally recognized for her impact on healthcare transformation, including the Schwartz Center’s National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award, Press Ganey Physician of the Year Award, and recognition as a U.S. News & World Report Healthcare Hero in 2020 for her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her writing has appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Harvard Business Review, and The Washington Post, and her voice has been featured by NPR, BBC, CNN, The Atlantic, and Self. She is widely regarded as a leading thinker on the moral and emotional dimensions of caregiving and healing. Her essay “The Shape of the Shore” was awarded a Sydney by the New York Times and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Prior to coming to Henry Ford, Dr. Awdish completed her training at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in Manhattan. She attended Wayne State University Medical School and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is triple board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine.

Her 45-minute keynote blends the compelling personal narrative with actionable, physician-led culture change and uses art as an anchor for the audience.

Learning objectives:

1. Differentiate between treatment and healing by examining how biomedical models can overlook the embodied, relational, and experiential dimensions of illness.
2. Reflect on the impact of clinical language and culture on patient experience, including how communication practices can either mitigate or exacerbate suffering. 
3. Describe the concept of the “map vs. territory” in medicine and evaluate how reliance on representations (data, imaging, EMRs) can distance clinicians from the lived reality of patients.
4. Explain the role of embodiment, interoception, and self-awareness in healing, including how reconnecting with the body can transform both patient and clinician perspectives.
5. Apply principles of relational, partnership-based care by recognizing patients as whole, wise, and active participants in healing rather than passive recipients of medical intervention.