Dr. Rana Awdish is a critical care physician, best-selling author, physician advocate, and public speaker whose book In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope has sparked profound conversations across the world of medicine.

In this episode, we explore the question: What happens when a physician becomes the patient? Rana shares how her own critical illness transformed not only her understanding of healing, but also her identity as a doctor, advocate, mother, artist—and human being.

We talk story about:

• Reclaiming embodiment and identity in medicine
• Grieving the loss of control and performative roles
• The difference between empathy and compassion
• Using storytelling, art, and somatic practices to make meaning
• Redefining "efficiency" through relationship-centered care
• What today's physicians need—not more, but less—to thrive

Rana offers us a gentle, powerful lens for seeing medicine as a healing art—and reminds us that belonging, presence, and vulnerability are essential to sustaining ourselves and each other in this work.

Resources Mentioned:

In Shock by Dr. Rana Awdish | God’s Hotel by Victoria Sweet | Cherished Belonging by Fr. Greg Boyle | CHEST Journal’s Exhalations (Narrative Medicine section)

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