One of the wonderful parts about organizing each issue of Voices is the opportunity to thoroughly read the submissions and to gain insight into the thoughts of each author. As we have grown over the past few years, we have received more submissions from patients and healthcare providers outside of the Duke network. In this issue, we feature several of these pieces.

Jacob Goeder’s analysis of funding for childhood cancer begins this issue with a clear review of the numerous impediments to achieving adequate funding for childhood cancer research. As a survivor of leukemia, Jacob is well-aware of the life-altering and societal bene ts that research funding can make possible. Leryiah Arant echoes a similar sentiment as her mother undergoes novel clinical trial treatment for glioblastoma multiforme. In her role as a patient’s daughter, she portrays her journey in a way that elicits incredible emotion each moment the prognosis changes. It reminds us of the responsibility with which healthcare providers must act when discussing their pa- tients’ states of health.

Sabran Masoud’s essay also reminds us that charts and diagnoses don’t always accurately describe the lives behind the medical jargon. We, as healthcare workers, are often inspired and humbled by the patients we treat, as Dr. Jooste and Dr. Bohannon so intricately demonstrate with their descriptions of patients through poetry. In our daily professional lives, it is important to remember the humanity that exists in each and every one of us. Elisabeth Abeson recounts this through her own struggles with rheumatoid arthritis. Karishma Sriram brings this to life on an individual level with her series, Humans of Duke Med, as she interviews individuals throughout the Duke Med community.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue as much as we have putting it together, and we would love to have your piece in our next issue. If you would like to join the editorial team, we are always looking for new ideas and ways to improve. Please submit your pieces, interest, and any other thoughts to dukemedvoices@gmail.com.

Your co-Editors-in-Chief,

Rui Dai, MD/PhD student
Ashley Adams, MS3
S. Tammy Hsu, MS3