Hello

Ever since childhood, I wanted to be a doctor. But when I finally arrived at my medical residency, the profession wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was spending more time with computers than with people. I felt pressure to be efficient and skip over the human stories of my patients. I found myself neglecting my own physical and emotional needs. Beyond that, I was in closer proximity to suffering, illness, and death than ever before, and facing major existential questions, like: What is a doctor? What is healing? What are the forces that drive clinician burnout and moral distress?

Hoping to answer those questions for myself and my community, I created The Nocturnists, a vibrant community of healthcare workers who are celebrating their humanity through storytelling. Since 2016, we’ve supported the voices of over 450 frontline clinicians through our sold-out live performances and award-winning podcast.

Our work has been featured in the New York Times, CBS This Morning, NPR’s Morning Edition, Pop Up Magazine, Snap Judgment, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many other media outlets — but more importantly, we’ve received numerous notes of gratitude from our audience, who say our show has helped them find their voice.

For our live performances, we help clinicians develop their stories for the stage, enabling them to speak publicly about their personal and professional lives. Stories from these events are later reprised on The Nocturnists podcast and elaborated on in discussions with the storytellers. Our classic “Stories from the World of Medicine” series is now in its sixth season.

The Nocturnists has also produced five special audio documentary storytelling series: Post-Roe America and Shame in Medicine: The Lost Forest, which were both Anthem Award winners; Black Voices in Healthcare, which was honored by the Webby Awards; and Stories from a Pandemic & Stories from a Pandemic: Part II, which have been acquired for historic preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress.

The podcast also includes the Webby-nominated Conversations series, in which I interview book authors and other creators whose work examines the moral and cultural issues besetting healthcare today. Previous guests have included Pulitzer Prize nominee Dr. Louise Aronson, New York Times Bestselling authors Janice Nimura and Dr. Michele Harper, and Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France.

By airing clinicians’ stories in a safe and generative public forum, The Nocturnists helps shatter the myth of the “physician God” and reveal the truth: that healthcare workers are human, just like everyone else, and that our humanity is our strength, not our weakness.

Welcome to our community.

Sincerely,

Emily Silverman, MD

Creator + Host + Showrunner

Sponsors

The Nocturnists is made possible with leading support from the California Medical Association.

The Nocturnists’ programs are also supported by grants from: