Over the last three years, we have shared work produced by participants in Duke University’s Documenting Medicine program in three end-of-year events, a number of exhibits, in national conferences (including the American Public Health Association, the international Narrative Medicine Conference, the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, the American Psychiatric Association and others) as well […]
Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Despite recommendations for colorectal cancer screening beginning at age 50, nearly 40% of Americans still do not obtain screening.
Mariel Hemingway never knew her famous grandfather, Ernest, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot four months before she was born. But his ghost — and the spirits of several other Hemingways — have haunted her family for her entire life. Seven members of her extended clan, from Ernest’s father to her sister Margeaux, waged losing […]
Andrew Cunningham is a typical 13 year-old. He complains about studying, and spends hours playing on Xbox Live with friends. The only difference is he is in a powered wheelchair. Born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, Andrew relies on his father Tom for nearly everything. As Andrew enters the roller coaster of adolescence, […]
This is the third year in a pilot program at Duke University in which we mentor medical residents and fellows as they produce a documentary project about a patient or care-giver. All projects are shared in Grand Rounds talks, conferences, exhibits, lectures and other venues. In this five-minute video, Dr. Moses and Liisa Ogburn reflect […]
For the last few years, I have been collecting a range of stories about motherhood and how the experience of motherhood changes us. I’ve been especially drawn to those stories which we often don’t hear. Stories that involve challenges, require growth and deepen wisdom. When we are inside these kinds of experiences, there’s nothing more […]
In Fall 2012, through her course “Documentary Engagement,” Ogburn paired Duke undergraduates and graduate students with girls between the ages of 10 and 17 enrolled in Duke’s Healthy Lifestyles program in order to collaboratively tell their stories using photography and audio. These girls had all been referred to Healthy Lifestyles by their pediatricians because they […]
This short film (14 minutes), aimed towards oncologists, was designed to raise awareness of parenting concerns when a mother’s cancer is considered terminal. The film highlights the importance of doctors’ candid and timely communication about prognosis and treatment planning. Producer Brian Stabler and his colleagues at UNC Chapel Hill currently use this film as a […]
Crystal struggled with heavy bleeding for 18 years, with heavy periods, with bleeding after childbirth, until finally receiving diagnosis and treatment for Von Willebrand’s disease. How can it take so long to get a diagnosis? Seven year old Jaden also has VWD and she might start heavy bleeding after the smallest cut. What does her […]
For a decade, crime has tumbled across much of metropolitan Los Angeles. Despite the progress in crime-fighting, there remain pockets of L.A. County where each day brings peril. For two years, Los Angeles Times staff photographer Barbara Davidson has documented how victims and their families have endured the aftermath of violence. She won a Pulitzer […]
“It’s an insane connection that you make with that person… to see somebody in your sights, and to pull that trigger…” Marine Lance Corporal James Blake Miller is back from Iraq, and is haunted by nightmares of the faces he’s seen down the barrel of his gun. Los Angeles Times photojournalist Luis Sinco has also […]
Bringing together the nation’s leading research institutions, THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION is a presentation of HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and in partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente. The […]
Pediatric trauma is the leading cause of death and disability among children 0-18, yet “critical deficiencies” in the treatment and prevention of childhood trauma have lead to a call for more research iniatives in this area. Although demographic data is available from large national trauma databases, the complex interplay of socioeconomic status, race, culture, and […]
How does the death of a child change a parent? How does the death of a parent change a child? How do these moments change us as we develop and grow further away from who we were as children? Phillip Toledano is an artist who lives in New York City with his wife Carla and […]
Maggie Steber was an only child. Madje Steber was a single parent. They were all the family they had and it wasn’t easy. Madje divorced when Maggie was only six months old. Strong and independent, Madje raised her daughter in the small Texas town of Electra, near the Oklahoma border. She had a keen awareness […]
Cardiac arrest is a common cause of cardiovascular death claiming the lives of more than 380,000 Americans per year. Survival from cardiac arrest is very low. Here in North Carolina, only 12% of cardiac arrest victims survive. The ability to perform CPR rapidly is a critical first step to increasing the chances for survival. Unfortunately, […]
Radiology is a medical specialty often misunderstood by practitioners in the medical community and patients alike. There is a certain mystery attached to radiology and as a result our patients may not have a clear understanding of the role radiologists play in their care. I wanted to create a video to serve as a quick […]
Infection control problems during assisted monitoring of blood glucose at an assisted living facility in North Carolina resulted in an outbreak of hepatitis B virus infections. Among the 40 facility residents who were susceptible to infection from hepatitis B virus, eight residents developed acute infections, and six of those died from hepatitis complications. All eight […]
Delirium is a clinical syndrome characterized by an acute change in mental status or sudden confusion with inattention as the hallmark feature. It is often the first presenting sign of illness in older adults. Delirium is the most common hospital complication in the elderly and is associated with poor patient outcomes, including increased need for […]
To view a 3-minute moving multimedia portrait of a father who trusts his baby daughter to strangers during the Holocaust, visit: http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/render_popup.php?layout=custom&assetType=movie&path=content/popup/&URI=Warsaw1280.mov&width=1280&height=720 Katie Falkenberg is a photographer and multimedia storyteller based in Los Angeles, California, currently on contract with the Los Angeles Times. She began her career photographing the 2004 presidential campaign, which led her […]
To view this moving 3-and-a-half minute multimedia portrait of a cemetery, visit: http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/render_popup.php?layout=custom&assetType=movie&path=content/popup/&URI=Cemetery1.mov&width=1280&height=720 Katie Falkenberg is a photographer and multimedia storyteller based in Los Angeles, California, currently on contract with the Los Angeles Times. She began her career photographing the 2004 presidential campaign, which led her to Washington, D.C., where she covered the White House, […]
Vicki Bastion, 92, became a prisoner in her own home. After her grandson moved in with her, he started allowing drug dealing, sex work, and other gang activity to take place in her home. Fearing for her safety but conflicted about confronting her grandson, Vicki resorted to installing an iron security gate on her bedroom […]
Featuring fierce rivalry, stopwatch suspense, and larger-than-life personalities, MURDERBALL, Winner of the Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is a film about tough, highly competitive rugby players. Quadriplegic rugby players. Whether by car wreck, fist fight, gun shot, or rogue bacteria, these men were forced […]
Ron Israeli, MD is a plastic surgeon who specializes in post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. As a founding partner at Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, PC, Dr. Israeli has helped to develop a breast reconstruction practice with a uniquely holistic approach. In his practice, patients are offered programs in a Patient Empowerment Program, led by a counselor with more than […]
Pax Chingawale pedals his bicycle over 20 km a day, visiting his neighbours from house to house. His travels take him to twenty villages, in Zomba District, southern Malawi, Africa. THE BICYCLE chronicles Pax’s journeys as he battles AIDS at the grassroots. Pax works with traditional healers who are influential at the local level yet […]
Drawing from Life is a half-hour film that goes inside a group therapy workshop for people who have attempted suicide more than once. A hybrid verité documentary and animation, this unusual film is illuminated with visual metaphor and atmospheric animation. It’s also a candid portrayal of a dozen people who together, for 20 weeks, take […]
As a toddler, Philly Mayer was healthy and happy. A chubby baby, he was quick to laugh and eager to get up on his own feet. And then, before his first birthday, Philly suddenly stopped walking. His motor skills began to deteriorate. After a slew of tests and endless emotional upheaval, doctors diagnosed Philly with Spinal Muscular […]
A personal story of three young women who have lost a brother or sister to cancer, suicide and an automobile accident. Each reflects on her experience, and how she carries it with her as she moves forward. Produced by Catherine Orr. To view the 5-minute piece, go to: http://catherineorr.com/surviving-siblings/
In New York City there are 10,000 people who never leave their homes because of failing health. This film is an intimate portrait of one doctor who makes house calls, providing a lifeline for these frail individuals who otherwise would go without both primary care and urgently needed medical treatment. As we follow Dr. Ana […]
While on patrol in Iraq in 2005, an improvised explosive device (IED) blasted through Juan Arredondo’s vehicle resulting in the loss of his left hand and much of the calf muscles from both legs. Now, four years later, Ret. Sgt. Arredondo struggles to overcome not only his physical injuries but the impact of Post-Traumatic Stress […]
Aging in America: The Years Ahead is a journey across the topography of aging in search of what it means to have a “good old age”. This film traverses the experience of our elders from the wellderly to the elderly, as told through a series of intimate vignettes of people who are living the new […]
About the Project The Sandwich Generation, those caught between their aging parents and young children, includes some 20 million Americans. In this emotionally charged account of family caregiving, filmmaker Julie Winokur and her husband, photojournalist Ed Kashi, expose their personal lives with unflinching candor. Winokur and Kashi uprooted their two children and their business in […]
This short, 8-minute video produced by Emily Maciness follows a young man going blind due to an aggressive combination of retinopathy and macular degeneration: http://vimeo.com/18558353
About the Film This film is about the experience of dying. Five terminal patients in a Palliative Care Unit share the last days of their lives and deaths with a film crew. They do so in the hope that their experience will be useful to the audience in managing its own fear of dying and […]
About the Project On April 26, 1986, at 1:23 a.m., the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Ukraine. The explosion, described by the United Nations as “the greatest environmental catastrophe in the history of humanity,” released thousands of tons of radioactive material. Seventy per cent of the radiation fell […]
About the Film Diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer at age 42, Dr. Katherine “Kasia” Clark was given 1-2 years to live. Ten years later, Outside In reveals her fight to reclaim body and soul, following Kasia from hospital bed to exam rooms and doctor consultations, training for triathlons, making art movies with her mother, and suing the […]
The Film In Wretches & Jabberers, two men with autism embark on a global quest to change attitudes about disability and intelligence. Determined to put a new face on autism, Tracy Thresher, 42, and Larry Bissonnette, 52, travel to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland. At each stop, they dissect public attitudes about autism and issue a […]
About the Film Fifty women from North Carolina with incurable breast cancer heroically endure an experimental medical protocol to prove that there is a better way of life, and death, for cancer patients and their families everywhere. Pathfinders, an organization founded partly by social workers, addresses more than the medical needs of patients. The program […]
About the Website The Waiting List is an online multimedia storytelling project introducing the real stories of real people waiting for an organ transplant. Only 35% of licensed drivers nationally are registered to be organ donors. 90 percent of Americans say they support donation, but only 30 percent know the necessary steps to become an […]
About the Project Eating disorders affect five million people in the U.S., and more than 10% of those diagnosed with anorexia nervosa will die from the disease. Seeking to put a human face on these sobering statistics, acclaimed photographer Lauren Greenfield went inside a Florida treatment center to tell the stories of four women who […]
About the Film Paul Schroder graduated at the top of his class in electrical engineering, and then was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. After a decade of being on medication and growing increasingly debilitated, he decides that radical brain surgery is preferable to sitting on the couch like a vegetable for the rest of his life. […]
SHOOTING BEAUTY trailer from George Kachadorian on Vimeo. About the Film Shooting Beauty tells the inspirational story of an aspiring fashion photographer named Courtney Bent whose career takes an unexpected turn when she discovers a hidden world of beauty at a center for people living with significant disabilities. Shot over the span of a decade, this […]
About the Film Over the past 21 years, NOVA has followed a group of seven doctors from their first day at Harvard Medical School in 1987. All young, bright, and accomplished, none of them could have predicted what it would take, personally and professionally, to become a member of the medical tribe. NOVA’s cameras have […]
About the Program A psychologist and former cancer patient, Dan Shapiro noticed that his physicians had little understanding of the day to day struggles associated with living with serious illness. In 2006 he began giving 2nd year medical students video cameras, and asking them to make documentaries about patient’s lives over 8 months. The […]
About the Documentary Series In late 2006, Johns Hopkins Medicine agreed once again to a request from ABC News to give unusually wide access to a large team of documentary film makers led by many of the same network producers and journalists who created the award-winning documentary Hopkins: 24/7 eight years ago. After more than […]
About the Website and Film Each year half a million women around the world die in childbirth. Twenty percent of those deaths are in India. Most of the deaths are preventable with access to proper healthcare. Photographer Susan Meiselas and Reporter Dumeetha Luthra traveled to India for Human RIghts Watch to retrace the steps of […]
About the Series Boston Med picks up where the Peabody Award-winning Hopkins left off, going even deeper into the lives of caregivers and the cutting edge medical cases they confront inside the walls of America’s top hospitals. In this original eight-hour series, the unforgettable stories of doctors, nurses and patients are adeptly woven to give each hour the […]
About the Film What is a coma? What is a “vegetative state”? What is the possibility for consciousness after emerging from a comatose state? What, in the end, makes life worth living? According to the Brain Injury Association of America, traumatic brain injury affects more Americans each year than breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and […]
About the Film In 2004, Jason Crigler’s life was taking off. He was one of New York’s hottest young guitarists, his new CD was due for release and his wife, Monica, was pregnant with their first child. Then, at a gig in Manhattan, Jason suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage. His doctors doubted he would ever […]
The Film A LION IN THE HOUSE follows the stories of five exceptional children and their families as they battle pediatric cancer. From the trauma of diagnosis to the physical toll of treatment, this series documents the stresses that can tear a family apart as well as the courage of children facing the possibility of […]
The Film In this short six-minute film, Ben Depp, a photographer, shares the story of his sister Martha, an artist and art teacher, who was diagnosed with an advanced form of ovarian cancer. “I put together a six-minute film on her art, life, and cancer. Her blog has touched thousands including many with terminal cancer.” […]
About the Film From its opening scene, where a terminally ill cancer patient takes a lethal dose of Seconal and literally dies on camera, it becomes shockingly clear that How to Die in Oregon is a special film. In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. As a result, any individual whom two physicians […]
About the Film A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism (a.k.a The Sunshine Boy), a documentary by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, tells the story of Margret, a mother who has done everything in her power to help her son. Keli is eleven years old and is severely autistic – his mother doesn‘t even know if he […]
About the Film I spent two months filming Jayden, at home with his parents, Anne and Benny, and at school with his teachers. As I immersed myself in Jayden’s world,
The Project The Waiting Room is a social media / documentary hybrid that tells the story of a county “safety-net” hospital in Oakland, California. To view, visit: http://www.whatruwaitingfor.com/about-the-waiting-room/about-the-community-engagement-project/ Taking advantage of the fact that hundreds of people sit and wait for hours each day in Highland Hospital alone, we will transform the waiting room into a storytelling […]
The Exhibit, Film and Book Over two years, Jessica Dimmock photographed a group of die-hard heroin users living on “The Ninth Floor” of a Manhattan building in a surprising, powerful, and intimate way. The tale of the terrible consequences of heroin abuse has been documented many times before, but Dimmock epitomizes the attitude of the […]
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