For Residents

Over the last three years, with support from the GME Innovation Fund, Dr. John Moses and Liisa Ogburn have worked with over 30 physician residents and fellows to produce documentary projects which convey some of the important stories within medicine. Participants have then gone on to share these pieces in Grand Rounds, lectures, exhibits, local and national conferences, as well as in publications.

In a field which understandably prioritizes data and numbers over individual stories, participants are finding that documentary enables them to reconnect with the human sides of medicine, makes for engaging and memorable presentations, and also distinguishes them professionally.

This fall, Dr. John Moses and Liisa Ogburn will open up this opportunity to up to 15 resident physicians and fellows and the wider medical community for a cost of $2000. The opportunity provides ten monthly group training sessions with Dr. Moses, Liisa Ogburn and other experienced documentarians at the Center for Documentary Studies, as well as up to five one-on-one training and editing sessions. We have a small library of equipment which participants may check out, as well as a computer lab for editing work. Please note that due to time constraints, we will be focusing solely on photography and audio in 2013/2014. For those who really want to use video, we have a filmmaker available to help shoot and edit a piece one-on-one at an additional cost of $1500.

For any questions, please email liisa.ogburn@duke.edu or call 827-7700.

“The teenagers I photographed taught me a lot, even as many of them struggled with serious challenges in their own lives. Having gone out to meet with them in their world, I came away with no neat formulations about teenage pregnancy but rather a richer, more accurate context in which to see them, and I hope, better understand their experience.” – John Moses, M.D.


“People learn using different modalities, and for some people the visual route opens the door to understanding. Even richer than teaching using documentary methods is the experience of the individual who prepares the materials, since documentary studies by their nature include rich human interactions. We learn when we take part, whether as the subject, the documentarian, or the viewer. This is a unusually meaningful project in which I'm very glad to participate." - Dr. Ross McKinney, Director of the Trent Center

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