What does it mean to live a life that is awake?
Dr. Andres F. Leone is a physician, educator, and author drawn to a simple, enduring question: What does it mean to live a life that is awake?
For nearly three decades, he has sat at the bedside of those facing illness and uncertainty—where life is no longer abstract and truth becomes immediate. In these moments, beyond diagnosis and treatment, something deeper is revealed. When all that is temporary falls away, what remains is not loss—but clarity.
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In every stage of Dr. Leone’s career, recognition has arrived not as a pursuit, but as a quiet affirmation of a life devoted to service. These honors reflect the many communities he has walked alongside—patients, students, colleagues, and institutions—each offering their own acknowledgment of compassion, leadership, and presence. While awards mark moments, his work remains rooted in something more enduring: the simple commitment to meet each human being with dignity, clarity, and care.
A selection of honors, awards, and leadership roles recognizing Dr. Leone’s contributions to medicine, teaching, and compassionate care.
🏅 Honors & Awards
These recognitions reflect a career grounded in compassion, excellence, and service:
Excellence in Medicine – Leadership Award, American Medical Association
Tomorrow’s Leader Award, American Academy of Family Physicians
Thomas H. House Award – Most Compassionate Resident, USC School of Medicine
Human Rights Award, Church Women United, South Carolina
Compassion, Care & Collaboration Award, Palmetto Health
Friend of the Residents Award, Prisma Health
Service & Leadership in Hospice and Palliative Medicine Award, HPM Fellowship
Dr. Charles Petit Outstanding Faculty Award, Prisma Health–USC School of Medicine
South Carolina’s Favorite Physician (multiple years)
Most Compassionate Doctor Award (multiple years)
Patients’ Choice Award (multiple years)
Grouped recognitions:
Patients’ Choice Awards (2008–2014)
Most Compassionate Doctor Awards (2009–2014)
On‑Time Doctor Awards (2009, 2014)
Academic & Professional Distinctions
Highest GPA of Medical Class for Six Consecutive Years, UCE School of Medicine
Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS)
Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM)
Practice Change Leader Award, Hartford Foundation & Atlantic Philanthropies (2014–2016)
NCQA Patient‑Centered Medical Home Recognition (Level III)
Bridges to Excellence Medical Home Recognition
These distinctions reflect a sustained commitment to clinical excellence, innovation, and the integration of compassionate care into medical practice.
Leadership Roles
Chief of Palliative Medicine, Prisma Health
Faculty Member, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Campus Executive Committee Member, Prisma Health Richland Hospital
Director, Region VII, South Carolina Academy of Family Physicians
Leadership in Medical Missions, Africa & Latin America
These roles highlight Dr. Leone’s dedication to shaping healthcare systems, mentoring future clinicians, and advancing the field of palliative medicine.
Media & Public Recognition
Dr. Leone’s work has been recognized through:
Interviews and media features
Public awards for compassion, patient care, and clinical excellence
Community recognitions for service, leadership, and human dignity
His contributions continue to be acknowledged across clinical, academic, and community settings.
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In addition to his individual writing, Dr. Leone has served as editor and lead contributor in the development of several works in palliative care, created in collaboration with colleagues and interdisciplinary teams.
These works are grounded in clinical experience and designed to support both practitioners and professionals navigating serious illness, end-of-life care, and grief.
Pearls in Palliative Care — practical insights and clinical wisdom for providers caring for patients with serious illness
The Final Mile — reflections and guidance on the final stages of life and the care of the dying
Good Grief: Intentional Tools for Grieving Professionals — a resource for clinicians and caregivers addressing grief, resilience, and emotional well-being
Publications
Dr. Leone has contributed to the medical literature in areas including palliative care, geriatrics, spirituality in medicine, and clinician well-being. His work reflects a sustained engagement with both scientific inquiry and the lived experience of patients and healthcare professionals.
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Implementing a Pain Management Program in a Long-Term Care Facility Using a Quality Improvement Approach
— Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), 2009Improving Compliance: Does It Matter to Your Patients if You Are Spiritual?
— Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association, 2011Geriatricians’ Interest to Learn Bedside Portable Ultrasound (GEBUS) for Clinical Practice and Education
— Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), 2012Point-of-Care Ultrasound by Primary Care Physicians and Geriatricians: Old Adults, New Technology, Potential Benefits and Burdens
— Journal of Gerontology & Geriatric Research, 2012Building Palliative Care Into the Organizational DNA: Standardized Proactive Palliative Care in the Medical Intensive Care Unit
— Journal of Palliative Medicine, 2018The Effects of Guided Imagery and Hand Massage on Wellbeing and Pain in Palliative Care: Evaluation of a Pilot Study
— Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2021Burnout Prevention Pilot Intervention for Healthcare Workers During COVID-19
— Journal of Emergency Management, 2021
Additional Scholarly Contributions
Dr. Leone has also contributed to numerous abstracts, national presentations, quality improvement initiatives, and collaborative publications, including work in:
palliative care models in intensive care settings
geriatrics and bedside ultrasound integration
micronutrient deficiencies in advanced illness
ethical and clinical challenges in end-of-life care
international collaborations in oncology and genetics
Editorial & Collaborative Works
In addition to his individual writing, Dr. Leone has served as editor and lead contributor in the development of interdisciplinary works in palliative care.
These works are grounded in clinical experience and designed to support both practitioners and professionals navigating serious illness, end-of-life care, and grief.
Pearls in Palliative Care — practical insights and clinical guidance for providers caring for patients with serious illness
The Final Mile: A Guide for Patients and Caregivers About the Dying Process — guidance on the final stages of life
Good Grief: Intentional Tools for Grieving Professionals — a resource supporting clinicians and caregivers in navigating grief and resilience
A Life in Service of Healing
Board-certified in Family Medicine, Geriatrics, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Leone has devoted his life to walking alongside individuals and families through some of their most vulnerable and sacred moments.
For many years, he also served as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), holding both clinical and spiritual care within a single calling—to accompany, to listen, and to bear witness to the unfolding of human experience.
This dual formation—clinical and pastoral—continues to shape his approach to care, teaching, and contemplative practice.
He has served as Chief of Palliative Medicine and as a faculty member at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, where his teaching extends beyond knowledge into presence—guiding future physicians not only in how to treat, but in how to see.
He has contributed to the medical literature through peer-reviewed publications and scholarly work, contributing to an ongoing dialogue between science and the deeper dimensions of healing. His writing reflects a meeting place—where the technical and the human, the measurable and the immeasurable, quietly converge.
Healing, in his view, is not the elimination of suffering. It is the recognition of wholeness. It is the willingness to be present with another human being, fully and without condition.
Teaching the Whole Human Being
Dr. Leone teaches that medicine is not only an act of skill, but an expression of awareness.
It is practiced not only with the mind, but with the heart—through presence as much as through knowledge.
He invites students and colleagues into a different way of seeing—one in which listening becomes a form of care, and attention becomes a form of healing.
In this way, the physician is not only a technician of the body, but a witness to the human experience itself.
A Global Perspective on Suffering and Grace
Through medical missions in Africa and Latin America, Dr. Leone has encountered care in its most essential form.
In places where resources are limited, something else becomes clear: the human need for dignity, connection, and peace is universal.
These experiences reveal a quiet truth—one that transcends language and geography:
Suffering is not separate from life. It is part of it.
And within it, there is always the possibility of grace.
The Inner Path: Contemplation and Stillness
For more than thirty years, Dr. Leone has taught meditation and contemplative prayer across traditions and communities.
His formation in contemplative practice is rooted in the Christian tradition, shaped by years of study and spiritual guidance under César Dávila Gavilánez, within the path of contemplative prayer.
Alongside this foundation, his journey expanded through engagement with other contemplative traditions, including the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and the Buddhist lineage of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
These experiences have not led him away from his roots, but toward a deeper recognition of what is shared across traditions: the cultivation of awareness, compassion, and the direct experience of stillness.
His journey began in Ecuador, where he spent years teaching yoga and meditation, and continues today through retreats, workshops, and shared moments of stillness.
He teaches that beneath the noise of thought and the urgency of daily life lies a deeper stillness—a quiet awareness that is always present, waiting to be remembered.
To turn inward is not to escape the world, but to meet it more fully.
To become still is not to withdraw, but to awaken.
A Single Message
Across all of his work, one message gently returns:
Within every moment of challenge, there is an invitation.
An invitation to awaken.
To see more clearly.
To live more fully.
To remember what matters most.
What we often call difficulty is not a barrier—but a doorway.
What we resist may, in time, become what teaches us.
A Life Shaped by Experience
Dr. Leone was born in Argentina and raised across Colombia, Ecuador, Canada, and the United States, where he completed his medical training.
He is a father, a lifelong student, and someone who continues to learn from patients, students, and the quiet intelligence of life itself.
He values time in nature, stillness, and shared contemplative practice across traditions—finding within many paths a single current: the human longing for truth, peace, and meaning.
“What we often call difficulty is not a barrier—but a doorway.
What we resist may, in time, become what teaches us.”
