Hastings Center News

2026 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards Announced

The Hastings Center for Bioethics and the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards. They recognize physicians who provide exceptional care for patients nearing the end of life with outstanding technical competence, personal integrity, empathic communication, active family engagement, thoughtful discussions about advance directives, and compassionate relief of suffering.

The 2026 awards include:

• Dr. Richard Payne Senior Leadership Award: A $25,000 award honoring a senior physician with 15 or more years of practice for outstanding contributions to palliative care and dedicated service to underserved and vulnerable communities.
• Three Early-Career Physician Awards: A $15,000 award for each physician with up to 10 years of practice who demonstrates excellence in palliative care.

The Cunniff-Dixon Foundation created and funds these awards to enrich the provider-patient relationship near the end of life through education, collaboration, and recognition. The Hastings Center for Bioethics, which has done groundbreaking work on end-of-life decision-making, co-sponsors the program.

Dr. Richard Payne Senior Leadership Award

Noelle Marie Javier, MD, AGSF, FAAHPM, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Javier is a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Medical Education and in the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. She is a dedicated internist, geriatrician, and palliative care physician who carries and celebrates multiple intersectional identities, including being a woman, Filipina, an immigrant, and born transgender. She has devoted her time and efforts in contributing to and amplifying the provision of high-quality, inclusive, affirming, and compassionate geriatric, hospice, palliative, and end-of-life care towards marginalized minority communities, especially the LGBTQI+ people living with serious and advanced illnesses. She has achieved these goals in part through ongoing interprofessional healthcare education, collaboration with research experts, and partnerships with local and national organizations to recommend changes in policies and practice patterns. She has presented her work at national and international conferences. Dr. Javier is the past chair for both the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and LGBTQI+ SIG of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, a past board member of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, a current member of the Ethics Committee of the American Geriatrics Society, and a current member for both the Health Equity Commission and Women and Medicine Commission of the Society for General Internal Medicine. 

​​Early-Career Physician Awards:

Amar D Bansal, MD, FASN, Associate Professor of Medicine, UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dr. Bansal is a nephrologist and palliative care physician at UPMC and the associate program director for the nephrology fellowship. In the outpatient setting, his interests are in general nephrology and kidney palliative care. He is passionate about teaching doctors how to communicate with patients about serious illness clearly and compassionately. He is a senior faculty member at VitalTalk, an evidence-based training organization that teaches clinicians practical communication skills for discussing prognosis and navigating goals of care with seriously ill patients and their families. Dr. Bansal enjoys being part of a multidisciplinary team and takes special care to support patients and their families through complex decisions. His enthusiasm for team building and operational efficiency has led him to become one of the team members overseeing physician well-being at UPMC, where he serves as the Associate Medical Director of Physician Thrive.

Gina Piscitello, MD, MS, FAAHPM, Assistant Professor in the Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dr. Piscitello is a palliative medicine physician and researcher. She is also the medical director of the inpatient palliative medicine consult service at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. Her research interests focus on the intersection of clinical medical ethics and palliative medicine, including identifying and addressing disparities in care for patients with serious illnesses. Her work has been published in journals including JAMA, JAMA Health Forum, CHEST, and the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. She is passionate about promoting discussions and scholarship about clinical medical ethics locally and nationally.

Ramy Sedhom, MD, FASCO, Director, Program in Geriatric Oncology & Supportive Care Innovation, Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation; Section Chief, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Sedhom’s clinical and research interests are centered on one principle – improving patient-centered care for vulnerable populations with cancer and their caregivers. He has a robust portfolio of workin palliative care integration, geriatric assessment, psycho-oncology, caregiver support, and remote patient monitoring, all in the community setting. His work has been published in leading journals, including Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA, and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. He is chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Supportive Care in Cancer Committee. He has received several awards for research, clinical excellence, and teaching, including the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation’s Young Investigator Award and the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care’s 40 Under 40.

“Our selection committee has once again selected a special group of physicians excelling in their field of palliative care and in the practice of heart- and human-centered medicine,” said Andy Peters, Executive Director of the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation. “We hope that by shedding light on these leaders and their teams, the important model that is palliative care will continue to grow and serve our communities.”   

Learn more about the Physician Awards Selection Committee: https://cdfawards.org/about/physician-awards-committee/

For information about past awardees and celebrations: https://cdfawards.org/cdf-awardees

[Photo: from left, Noelle Marie Javier, Amar Bansal, Gina Piscitello, Ramy Sedhom]