Dr. Rana Awdish, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed memoir In Shock, shares her personal journey through critical illness to inspire others. She is a sought-after keynote speaker, addressing a wide range of audiences, including medical professionals, policymakers, and organizations focused on social issues like homelessness.
As a pulmonary and critical care specialist, Dr. Awdish leads the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Henry Ford Hospital. In her role as Medical Director of Care Experience, she has championed the incorporation of compassionate communication and Narrative Medicine into healthcare training programs.
Her achievements have been widely recognized, including receiving the Schwartz Center’s National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award and Press Ganey’s Physician of the Year Award in 2017 for advancing patient communication. She was also honored with the Critical Care Teaching Award in 2016 and is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism honor societies.
Dr. Awdish’s essays have been published in notable outlets such as The Examined Life Journal, Intima, CHEST, and The New England Journal of Medicine. She has written editorials for The Harvard Business Review, Annals of Internal Medicine, The Washington Post, and The Detroit Free Press. Her essay The Shape of the Shore received a Sydney Award from The New York Times and was a Pushcart Prize nominee.
She completed her medical training at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York, earned her medical degree from Wayne State University, and graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with her undergraduate degree. Dr. Awdish is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine.
