Director Statement: History of Present Illness portrays the initial, daunting, years of medical school from a medical student’s perspective. Inspired by my own conversations with classmates and meeting with advisors, I wanted more than anything to capture the way stress and anxiety compound the profound sensation of isolation that medical students feel on a daily basis. Medical school advisors, dealing with their own personal troubles, are often powerless to help students confront our unique issues. At the end of the day, medical students are expected to somehow push through and continue studying, because as we are told, “it only gets harder.”
Contributing Writer
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Phillip Luis Anjum, MD, is a second year resident at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, and a graduate of the Ohio State University School of Medicine. His interests including photography/filmmaking, cooking/culinary medicine, and traveling. He plans to pursue a career in primary care.
