Awards and Recognition

Dr. Andre Cipta Honored for Excellence in Palliative Care

Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award denotes leadership in care of those with serious and life-limiting illness

December 10, 2024

In recognition of his exemplary work in palliative care, Andre M. Cipta, MD, FAAHPM, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine Clinical Assistant Professor of Clinical Science, has been awarded the 2024 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Early Career Physician Award.

Celebrating technical competence, personal integrity, empathic dialogue with patients, and compassionate care, the Hastings Center Cuniff-Dixon Awards are peer-nominated and recognize leaders and innovators in the comprehensive care of individuals with serious and life-limiting illness. An event commemorating Dr. Cipta’s award was held at KPSOM in early December and featured remarks from John L. Dalrymple, MD, KPSOM Dean and CEO, and Ramin Davidoff, MD, Executive Medical Director and Chair of the Board, Southern California Permanente Medical Group.

The Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards recognize five outstanding physicians—a senior physician, a mid-career physician, and three early-career physicians—each year. The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute, and the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation, dedicated to improving the provider-patient relationship near the end of life, co-sponsor the awards.

Dr. Cipta is a Southern California Permanente Medical Group physician specializing in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. He serves as the Inaugural Director of the KPSOM Palliative Medicine Clerkship, a faculty advisor for student interest groups, and a member of the Admissions Committee. He is Director Emeritus of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship and Associate Medical Director of the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Hospice Program. In the following interview, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity, Dr. Cipta discusses his work in palliative care and receiving the Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Award.

How did you choose hospice and palliative medicine as your specialty?

I found that advocating and caring for patients with serious illnesses was among the most rewarding experiences I had throughout my training. In the intensive care unit, or while caring for patients who frequently returned to the hospital due to advancing illnesses, I formed deep connections with both my patients and their loved ones as they openly shared their hopes and fears. This desire to build meaningful relationships initially drew me to family medicine. However, I discovered that I connected most profoundly with patients during moments of significant vulnerability. Supporting these patients—by alleviating severe and burdensome symptoms, providing holistic emotional and spiritual care, addressing complex social challenges, and collaborating with a multidisciplinary team—enabled me to help them live as fully and meaningfully as possible, even amid the challenges of living with serious illness.

Andre M. Cipta, MD, with directors of the Cunniff Dixon Foundation.

The award recognizes excellence in physician-patient dialogue and engagement of patients in their own care. How have you developed these skills in your own practice, and how are we teaching them at KPSOM?

Communication is a skill, and just like any other skill, communication needs to be taught conceptually in the classroom, practiced under supervision, and refined through repetition, guided by evidence-informed mentorship and feedback. Patient-physician communication is introduced early in the KPSOM curriculum, and as the clerkship director for the palliative medicine elective, I have made it an integral part of the elective. We begin by establishing a strong knowledge base, reviewing the literature and best practices for effective communication, with a particular emphasis on navigating difficult conversations in the context of serious illness. Students then observe our seasoned faculty—palliative care physicians, social workers, and spiritual care specialists—demonstrating these skills in clinical settings. To enhance their learning, I designed a high-fidelity simulation learning activity where students can practice these critical skills in a safe, controlled environment. In this simulation, learners engage with standardized participants portraying family members of a dying patient, allowing them to apply what they have learned and refine their ability to communicate with compassion and clarity.

The award also recognizes the importance of listening.

Yes, listening is a vital part of effective communication and is also a skill that must be developed with intention. To be honest, it’s something that most physicians are not naturally good at. Within the framework of shared decision-making, we work with patients and their families as a team to make informed choices about care. While we may be the experts in the medical aspects of their care, we are not the experts on their values. Patients and their loved ones are, and to truly understand those values, we need to listen well.

When they share their hopes and fears, that should guide the care we provide. Our role is to center the medical care around what matters most to them—helping them achieve what gives their lives meaning and purpose. If we fail to understand their goals, values, and hopes, we fail to provide truly patient-centered care. Listening is a skill that must be taught and practiced under mentorship and guidance from someone who models effective listening.

KPSOM faculty member Andre M. Cipta, MD, with members of his family.

This process also involves actively engaging with family and/or friends of the patient, to understand family issues that might be affecting their health or healthcare decisions.

Yes, one of the biggest gaps in how medicine is taught and practiced is the lack of a holistic understanding of our patients. We need to see them not just in terms of their physical illnesses, but also in how they are experiencing their conditions psychologically, emotionally, socially, and how these illnesses are impacting their relationships with family, friends, and loved ones.

Our ultimate goal as physicians and as a healthcare team is to help patients live well. To do that, we have to understand them holistically. How is their cancer, dementia, or heart disease affecting their daily life? How is it impacting their relationships? How is it preventing them from achieving what matters most to them?

For example, perhaps their goal is to visit their grandchildren regularly, but their lung disease keeps them homebound, straining those relationships. Or maybe it’s a seasoned physician, the main breadwinner for their family, now living with metastatic pancreatic cancer and unable to bathe themselves. They might feel a loss of purpose and dignity, leading to profound spiritual or existential distress.

If we don’t take the time to understand these deeper effects of illness, we can’t truly help our patients live well. A holistic approach is essential to providing the kind of care that addresses not only their medical needs but their broader human experience.

How was the palliative care rotation developed at KPSOM?

I serve as the inaugural clerkship director for the palliative care rotation, which was conceptualized early on as the school was taking shape. This rotation, referred to as a "selective" at our school, is an elective available to third- and fourth-year medical students. When the upper-year curriculum launched, I designed and implemented the palliative care selective and I have been encouraged to see how it has garnered a lot of interest.

Scheduling has occasionally been a challenge due to the wide range of learners we host throughout the year. In addition to medical students, we train own palliative medicine fellows, core residency rotators, and visiting fellows from institutions like City of Hope and Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The significant interest from medical students reflects a growing recognition of the importance of palliative care, not only in graduate medical education but now at the undergraduate medical education level as well.

Another testament to this rising interest is the Palliative Medicine Student Interest Group, a student-led initiative for which I am the inaugural faculty advisor. Created and driven by students, this group further demonstrates the enthusiasm of the next generation to improving the care for those living with serious illness.

KPSOM faculty member Andre M. Cipta, MD, with Ramin Davidoff, MD, Executive Medical Director and Chair of the Board, Southern California Permanente Medical Group.

So, we see this this increasing wave of interest in palliative care, which is wonderful and encouraging. Although the field of palliative medicine has made great strides, the quality of care remains too inconsistent and unethical practices persist.

If you look specifically at hospice care, Medicare fraud is still an issue at the expense of evidence-informed and ethical patient care. There are still far too many patients with serious illness who are receiving suboptimal care, and that's a problem. So it’s encouraging to see the next generation of learners showing a strong interest in palliative care. They have the potential to carry the mantle forward, raising the standard of care to be evidence-informed, ethical, inclusive, and person-centered.

What was your reaction to the news that you received the award?

It's a prestigious award in our field. Many of the past recipients have gone on to shape the way palliative care has developed, so it's certainly humbling. When my nominator and I were contacted to meet with the director, Andy Peters, we weren't sure why he wanted to meet with us. And when he told us that the purpose of the meeting was to personally inform me that I was selected, I was speechless. I don’t feel like I belong in the same category as the past awardees, so I was certainly shocked, and it still feels a bit surreal. It’s quite an honor.

Dr. Andre Cipta Honored for Excellence in Palliative Care

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