We give voice to healthcare workers through our live performances and acclaimed medical storytelling podcast.
We give voice to healthcare workers through our live performances and acclaimed medical storytelling podcast.
We give voice to healthcare workers through our live performances and acclaimed medical storytelling podcast.
We give voice to healthcare workers through our live performances and acclaimed medical storytelling podcast.
By humanizing healthcare, we foster joy, creativity, and connection in the medical profession and the public it serves.
By humanizing healthcare, we foster joy, creativity, and connection in the medical profession and the public it serves.
By humanizing healthcare, we foster joy, creativity, and connection in the medical profession and the public it serves.
By humanizing healthcare, we foster joy, creativity, and connection in the medical profession and the public it serves.
LATEST EPISODE
JUNE 19, 2025
Uncertainty in Medicine: The Good Life
What does it mean to live well in a world where nothing is certain — not in medicine, not in life? In this episode, we follow a high school teacher who asks his students to examine “the good life” through philosophy, Buddhism, and existential inquiry. We meet two women — a Buddhist monk and a disability rights advocate — who bring spiritual wisdom to the messy realities of illness, caregiving, and embodiment. Their stories, woven with reflections on impermanence, suffering, and compassion, offer a new way of thinking about uncertainty: not as something to fix, but as something to live with.
Featured Project
We are delighted to announce that The Nocturnists — in collaboration with Arts Practica, and with generous support from the ABIM Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation — is producing a new podcast series on the theme of "Uncertainty in Medicine."
First episode drops April 3.
We are delighted to announce that The Nocturnists — in collaboration with Arts Practica, and with generous support from the ABIM Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation — is producing a new podcast series on the theme of "Uncertainty in Medicine."
First episode drops April 3.
We are delighted to announce that The Nocturnists — in collaboration with Arts Practica, and with generous support from the ABIM Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation — is producing a new podcast series on the theme of "Uncertainty in Medicine."
First episode drops April 3.
We are delighted to announce that The Nocturnists — in collaboration with Arts Practica, and with generous support from the ABIM Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation — is producing a new podcast series on the theme of "Uncertainty in Medicine."
First episode drops April 3.
the satellites program
the satellites program
The Nocturnists Satellites helps clinicians and clinician groups produce live storytelling shows in their communities. By partnering with people across the country, we amplify the movement we’ve been building over the last eight years — to support clinician wellbeing through creative expression.
The Nocturnists Satellites helps clinicians and clinician groups produce live storytelling shows in their communities. By partnering with people across the country, we amplify the movement we’ve been building over the last eight years — to support clinician wellbeing through creative expression.
The Nocturnists Satellites helps clinicians and clinician groups produce live storytelling shows in their communities. By partnering with people across the country, we amplify the movement we’ve been building over the last eight years — to support clinician wellbeing through creative expression.
The Nocturnists Satellites helps clinicians and clinician groups produce live storytelling shows in their communities. By partnering with people across the country, we amplify the movement we’ve been building over the last eight years — to support clinician wellbeing through creative expression.
Hi, I'm Emily.
Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a doctor. But during my medical residency I found myself spending more time with computers than people, pressured to be efficient at the expense of human connection. This led me to ask deeper questions about our profession, and the direction it was taking.
In 2016, I founded The Nocturnists as a way to explore those questions. What began as a personal quest quickly grew into a vibrant community of healthcare workers celebrating our shared humanity through storytelling. To date, our live performances and award-winning podcast have featured the voices of over 450 frontline clinicians.
By airing our 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.
Hi, I'm Emily.
Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a doctor. But during my medical residency I found myself spending more time with computers than people, pressured to be efficient at the expense of human connection. This led me to ask deeper questions about our profession, and the direction it was taking.
In 2016, I founded The Nocturnists as a way to explore those questions. What began as a personal quest quickly grew into a vibrant community of healthcare workers celebrating our shared humanity through storytelling. To date, our live performances and award-winning podcast have featured the voices of over 450 frontline clinicians.
By airing our 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.
Hi, I'm Emily.
Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a doctor. But during my medical residency I found myself spending more time with computers than people, pressured to be efficient at the expense of human connection. This led me to ask deeper questions about our profession, and the direction it was taking.
In 2016, I founded The Nocturnists as a way to explore those questions. What began as a personal quest quickly grew into a vibrant community of healthcare workers celebrating our shared humanity through storytelling. To date, our live performances and award-winning podcast have featured the voices of over 450 frontline clinicians.
By airing our 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.
Hi, I'm Emily.
Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a doctor. But during my medical residency I found myself spending more time with computers than people, pressured to be efficient at the expense of human connection. This led me to ask deeper questions about our profession, and the direction it was taking.
In 2016, I founded The Nocturnists as a way to explore those questions. What began as a personal quest quickly grew into a vibrant community of healthcare workers celebrating our shared humanity through storytelling. To date, our live performances and award-winning podcast have featured the voices of over 450 frontline clinicians.
By airing our 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.
The Nocturnists asks questions like: What is caring and healing? What fuels alienation or connection in healthcare?
The Nocturnists asks questions like: What is caring and healing? What fuels alienation or connection in healthcare?
The Nocturnists asks questions like: What is caring and healing? What fuels alienation or connection in healthcare?
The Nocturnists asks questions like: What is caring and healing? What fuels alienation or connection in healthcare?
Listener Reviews
“What a beautiful show. Often it feels like medicine gets too much credit, but The Nocturnists made me feel like it gets too little.”
“What a beautiful show. Often it feels like medicine gets too much credit, but The Nocturnists made me feel like it gets too little.”
• BJ MILLER, MD •
• BJ MILLER, MD
“As a chaplain whose hope it is to see a gentler and kinder medicine emerge from our broken system, these stories are like little cups of cold water in the desert.”
“As a chaplain whose hope it is to see a gentler and kinder medicine emerge from our broken system, these stories are like little cups of cold water in the desert.”
• JOANNAH H •
• JOANNAH H
“I am so grateful for your work. Always relevant, thoughtful, inspiring. I am a public health pediatrician and writer, among other things. This podcast feels like home.”
“I am so grateful for your work. Always relevant, thoughtful, inspiring. I am a public health pediatrician and writer, among other things. This podcast feels like home.”
• JENNIE A. MCLAURIN, MD, MPH •
• JENNIE A. MCLAURIN, MD, MPH
newsletter
Stay updated with our newest stories, episodes, and events.
Stay updated with our newest stories, episodes, and events.
Humanizing healthcare through storytelling.
podcast
Humanizing healthcare through storytelling.
podcast
Humanizing healthcare through storytelling.
podcast