First Person Medicine with Dr. Susan Nathan and Thor Ringler
The Nocturnists
Emily Silverman
4.8 • 614 Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Susan Nathan, a palliative care physician at the Boston VA, and Thor Ringler, a therapist and poet at the Madison VA, share the story of My Life, My Story — a groundbreaking program that brings veterans' voices into their medical charts through first-person narratives. Born from a desire to foster empathy and human connection in clinical care, the program has now spread to over 80 VA hospitals nationwide. Susan and Thor reflect on the origins of the initiative, the impact these stories have on patient-clinician relationships, and the profound moments of vulnerability, dignity, and healing that emerge from the storytelling process. We discuss the art of deep listening, the logistics of writing and sharing these narratives, and their vision for expanding this model to institutions beyond the VA.
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The Nocturnists is made possible by the California Medical Association and donations from listeners like you.
This episode of Conversations is sponsored by The Physicians Foundation.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support for the Nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association. |
| 0:04.3 | At the Nocturnist, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with health care privacy laws. |
| 0:09.6 | Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. |
| 0:13.1 | All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer. |
| 0:19.5 | This is The Nocturnous Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman. |
| 0:24.7 | Today I'm joined by Dr. Susan Nathan, a palliative care physician at the Boston VA, and Thor Ringler, |
| 0:31.8 | a therapist, poet, and longtime storyteller at the Madison VA. |
| 0:36.1 | Together, they lead My Life, My Story, a simple yet |
| 0:41.0 | revolutionary program that invites veterans to share their life stories in their own words. Volunteers |
| 0:47.5 | sit down with veterans for in-depth, open-ended interviews, carefully write up their stories |
| 0:53.2 | in the first person, and then read the |
| 0:55.3 | narratives back for the veteran's approval. Once finalized, these stories are added to the medical |
| 1:01.8 | chart, where clinicians can access them and see the person behind the patient. In my conversation |
| 1:09.0 | with Susan and Thor, we explore how a small idea in Madison grew into a national |
| 1:14.7 | program across 80 VA sites, the art of deep listening and writing stories that truly reflect a person's |
| 1:21.9 | voice, and how these narratives are changing the way clinicians see and care for their patients. |
| 1:28.3 | I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. |
| 1:31.4 | But first, let's hear Susan read one of the first-person narratives from the My Life My Story program. |
| 1:38.5 | Here's Susan. |
| 1:49.8 | I was born in Panama as a second of six boys. |
| 1:55.7 | If you include half siblings from my father, you would get all the way up to 12 boys and two girls. |
| 2:02.3 | My mother has been a teacher for as long as I can remember, and still, even at 80 years old, she is a teacher. |
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