David Zaas was diagnosed with leukemia on Valentine’s Day of 2017.

In the weeks that followed, he faced many challenges—breaking the news to his sons, undergoing chemotherapy, and learning how to be a patient. At his side for every bit of this was Aimee Zaas, his wife and like him, a Duke doctor.

David Zaas, MD, MBA is president of Duke Raleigh Hospital and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine.

Aimee Zaas, MD, MHS is director of the Duke Internal Medicine Residency Program and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases.

David and Aimee came to the listening booth to talk about the cancer experience and how it gave them new insights on what patients focus on when they’re ill.

Originally released: March 20, 2019

Tell Me Something Good—that’s the name of a weekly email Emily Depetris sends to her coworkers in the pediatric cardiac ICU.

In the PCICU, they take care of really sick kids. So Emily wanted to give the PCICU staff a weekly reminder of the good things that come from their work—in the form of pictures of their patients playing in the park, dressing up for Halloween, and graduating from high school.

Emily is joined by Anne Schmelzer, RN, a nurse in the PCICU, to talk about why she started Tell Me Something Good, and how it’s brought joy and inspiration to the team.

Originally released: March 14, 2019

What’s happening when the overhead speakers in the hospitals, hallways, and clinics of Duke University Medical Center alert everyone to a Code Blue?

A designated team of doctors, nurses, and Duke Life Flight medics is converging on a person in need of emergency care.

One day in October 2018, the person in need was Betsy Hames, chief human resources officer for the School of Medicine. She was in her office high in the Davison Building when she suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on her desk. Her colleagues called for help, and that triggered Duke’s Code Blue system.

But where was the sixth floor, and how was the Code Blue team to get to her?

Follow along as Hames and the team recount what transpired that day, and how each person played an important part in her miraculous recovery.

Originally released: March 7, 2021

Ahmad Adi, MD, was born to Syrian parents and went to medical school in Saudi Arabia. Heather Kim, MD, was born in Korea and grew up in Canada. Now, they’re both fourth-year psychiatry residents at Duke.

In this episode, they share what brought them to Durham, what psychiatry has taught them, and what it’s like to be immigrant physicians.

Originally released: March 1, 2019

For Krunal, it was a car accident. For Jess, an unrelenting, life-threatening illness.

The students who come to medical school come with different reasons for pursuing a career in medicine. In this episode, we hear from six Duke med students — each in their first year — as they share their motivation, their hopes, and their fears.

Krunal Amin, Sonali Biswas, Grant Cabell, Fred Heller, Elana Horwitz, and Jess Rames are first-year medical students at Duke. They came to the Voices of Duke Health listening booth in August 2018, soon after they started their medical-school journey

Originally released: February 21, 2019

Anthony Galanos, MD wants people to know what happened to his son, Nicholas. And he especially wants his colleagues across Duke Health to understand his grief about Nick’s untimely death.

“There probably are no good words,” he says in this episode of Voices of Duke Health. “So maybe we just have to acknowledge there’s no good words. I mean the theme is, everything helps, nothing works. You’re still left with biology. Your son died, he’s not coming back. So I don’t think there are words because there’s nothing that can fix it—I think what can fix it is that you just be present.”

Dr. Galanos—or Dr. G has he’s known around Duke University Hospital—came to the listening booth to have a conversation about grieving, humor, Nick’s love for the Blue Devils, and a whole lot more.

Originally released: February 7, 2019

Allison Chrestensen worked as an occupational therapist, and absolutely loved her job.

“I did some work in hospitals and in people’s homes and just really got to experience what it was like for people and families to overcome illness,” she said.

Seeing patients redefine their lives wass rewarding, and she saw that delivering the best patient care means having empathy for patients and their experiences.

Through her clinical work, Chrestensen thought she had a good grasp of what patients and families who were coping with.

And then a lifelong medical condition nearly took Allison’s life and changed her perspective on what it means to be a patient.

Allison and her husband, Michael Chrestensen, an information technology analyst for Duke Health Technology Solutions, came to the Voices of Duke Health listening booth to talk about what happened next.

Originally released: January 31, 2019

A few months after her 40th birthday, Jane Shealy woke up and realized she’d forgotten to get married and have children. One thing led to another, and a few years later, Jane found herself in China with baby Maggie in her arms.

Today Jane is an editor for the Duke School of Nursing. She came to the Voices of Duke Health listening booth to talk about her decision to adopt. Listen below as mother and daughter share what makes their relationship so special.

Originally released: January 24, 2019

Kara Lyven and Marianne Drexler wake up every day and go to work at Duke University Medical Center — the very place that saved both their lives.

Lyven is senior associate for patient safety at Duke University Hospital.

Drexler is program coordinator for the Longitudinal Clinical Skills Foundation course in the Duke School of Medicine.

In this episode, they share their patient stories, and reflect on how their experiences help them find joy and gratitude in everything they do.

Originally released: January 17, 2019

Sophia Smith, PhD, MSW, is a two-time cancer survivor, so she’s well acquainted with the anxiety that persists after treatment ends.

Through her research, she’s learned that many cancer survivors also struggle with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). This led her to create an app called the Cancer Distress Coach.

In this episode of Voices of Duke Health, Dr. Smith is joined by Bridget Koontz, MD, who shares how her patients responded to the app.

Dr. Smith is an associate professor in the Duke School of Nursing. Dr. Koontz is an associate professor of radiation oncology.

Originally released: December 20, 2018