Curator of Inside Stories and in-Training Staff Member
Columbia University
Annie Robinson completed a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University in 2014. She previously studied the healing power of stories as an undergraduate at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Annie works as Narrative Coaching Specialist with Eating Disorder Recovery Specialists, helping individuals in the early stages of eating disorder recovery through mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and narrative practices. She is also the Program Officer at Health Story Collaborative, a non-profit that creates forums for individuals to tell their stories of personal health challenges, and curates another oral narratives projects called On the Road to Recovered: Voices from the Eating Disorder Recovery Community.
Annie is a coordinator and full-spectrum doula for The Doula Project in New York City, providing compassionate care for women during experiences of abortion, miscarriage, and fetal loss.
As a yoga teacher, writer, educator, and co-founder of NYC-based wellness community Pause, Breathe, and Connect, Annie shares her passion for integrative approaches to wellbeing. She is dedicated to creating spaces for people to explore the healing potential of interweaving of stories, spirituality, and somatic experience.
Inside Stories
Inside Stories is an oral narratives project which invites medical students to share their experiences in medical school in the form of brief podcasts published and archived on in-Training. The project aims to provide a means of personal healing, self-realization and empowerment through the sharing and receiving of personal stories, as well as to cultivate community among students in the often isolating medical school environment. The title Inside Stories reflects the project's mission to encourage students to go inside themselves and bring forth things that often go unspoken. It also represents the inside look listeners are granted into the sometimes private, challenging and confusing experiences students may have.
Made possible in part by a grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and FJC.
How can doctors-in-training not let beautiful moments with patients get buried beneath the challenges and monotony often experienced during medical school? Lisa, a fourth-year medical student about to join the University of Chicago NorthShore family medicine residency, recounts her favorite rotation on which she experienced the magic of delivering babies. She also reflects on what it means to not just be a good medical student, but a good physician.
How can doctors-in-training prioritize human connection with their patients, especially during beginning and end-of-life experiences? Ellie, a fourth-year medical student in New York heading to Santa Rosa, California for a family medicine residency, reflects on what she can offer — and gain — from being present with patients during birth and death.
How can doctors-in-training put narrative medicine into practice? Gab, a third-year medical student in Pittsburgh planning to pursue internal medicine and pediatrics, discovered narrative medicine as an undergraduate majoring in English literature. She describes how engagement with medical humanities not only facilitates deeper patient relationships but also provides a vital means of self-care.
How can doctors-in-training incorporate lessons from their own health experiences into the care of their patients? Brieze, a fourth-year medical student at Mt. Sinai, shares about the serious health issues she had as a child which led her to explore integrative approaches to healing that she now offers to both her patients and fellow health care providers.
How can doctors-in-training help improve the experience of minority populations in places where there are few providers with whom they can identify? Carlton, a fourth-year at the Medical University of South Carolina interested in anesthesiology, describes his motivation to pursue medicine in the South, where members of his African-American community are relative newcomers to a primarily white health care system. He also discusses the importance of treating patients as he would like himself and his family to be treated.
How can doctors-in-training learn to confront mortality with humility and self-compassion? Rehema, a first-year resident training in pediatrics in Washington D.C., reflects on the challenging experience of losing a patient as a medical student. She also shares her motivation for pursuing pediatrics: the significant opportunity to influence and prolong children’s lives.
How can doctors-in-training address human rights issues through medical care? Hieu, a first-year medical student at Rush, interested in public health and preventive medicine, shares how his experiences as a community health worker in Uganda propelled his motivation to combat structural violence as a physician. He also reflects on the significant distinctions between treatment and care.
How can doctors-in-training honor their cultural heritage in their practice of medicine? Angie, a second-year medical student in Texas, describes how her Syrian heritage and deep concern about health care in Syria today drives her motivation to become a physician.
How can doctors-in-training discern when it is appropriate to detach in the face of suffering, and when a humanistic approach is needed? Robin, a fourth-year medical student completing a fellowship on the biopsychosocial impacts on health at the National Institutes of Health, describes her strategies for connecting with suffering patients.
How can doctors-in-training bring mindfulness into medical practice? Morgan, who is currently exploring healing around the world while applying for family medicine residencies, shares how her experiences at a Zen meditation center inspired her desire to be more present with her patients.
How can doctors-in-training face the fears and failures they may experience in medical school? Nicole, a medical student taking time off after a difficult first year, candidly describes how the roadblocks she confronted were “blessings in disguise.”
How can doctors-in-training explore the relationship between being a medical practitioner and a healer? John Andrew, a fourth-year medical student from New York City, reflects on how witnessing his family’s loving care for his ailing grandmother illuminated what healing really entails. And at the end of the podcast, he summons listeners to a challenge!
Curator of Inside Stories and in-Training Staff Member
Columbia University
Annie Robinson completed a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University in 2014. She previously studied the healing power of stories as an undergraduate at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Annie works as Narrative Coaching Specialist with Eating Disorder Recovery Specialists, helping individuals in the early stages of eating disorder recovery through mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and narrative practices. She is also the Program Officer at Health Story Collaborative, a non-profit that creates forums for individuals to tell their stories of personal health challenges, and curates another oral narratives projects called On the Road to Recovered: Voices from the Eating Disorder Recovery Community.
Annie is a coordinator and full-spectrum doula for The Doula Project in New York City, providing compassionate care for women during experiences of abortion, miscarriage, and fetal loss.
As a yoga teacher, writer, educator, and co-founder of NYC-based wellness community Pause, Breathe, and Connect, Annie shares her passion for integrative approaches to wellbeing. She is dedicated to creating spaces for people to explore the healing potential of interweaving of stories, spirituality, and somatic experience.
Inside Stories
Inside Stories is an oral narratives project which invites medical students to share their experiences in medical school in the form of brief podcasts published and archived on in-Training. The project aims to provide a means of personal healing, self-realization and empowerment through the sharing and receiving of personal stories, as well as to cultivate community among students in the often isolating medical school environment. The title Inside Stories reflects the project's mission to encourage students to go inside themselves and bring forth things that often go unspoken. It also represents the inside look listeners are granted into the sometimes private, challenging and confusing experiences students may have.
Made possible in part by a grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and FJC.
