Daniel Saurborn
Duke '92
After graduating from Duke with a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences and English Composition, Dr. Saurborn spent a year as Personal Assistant to Reynolds Price, Duke Professor of English. He then received his advanced medical training at Harvard Medical School and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (where he published extensively and received numerous awards, including the Harvard Medical School Teaching Award, and the Pendergrass Award for Medical Education), and went on to co-found several companies in the emerging fields of TeleMedicine, TeleHealth, and Connected Wellness.
Jocelyn Streid
Duke '13
Dr. Jocelyn Streid graduated from Duke in 2013 as an English major, PathWays Chapel Scholar, Robertson Scholar, & Hart Fellow. Through these experiences, she studied the role of religion and literature in shaping the culture surrounding end-of-life cancer care. Her senior thesis, The Salvation Project, was featured in the Huffington Post. A decade after graduating, Dr. Streid is now a resident physician in Boston, Massachusetts after receiving her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She continues to incorporate what she learned as an English major, specifically "the power to transform the structures through which we give and experience healthcare," into clinical practice and structured research.
Quinn Wang
Duke '10
Dr. Quinn Wang graduated from Duke in 2010 with high distinction and received the English department's award for "Most Original Honors Thesis” for her thesis Through the Lens of Medicine: Landscapes of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985), All the Pretty Horses (1992), and No Country for Old Men (2005). Following her undergraduate studies, Dr. Wang received a degree in medicine from Duke University School of Medicine and completed a residency in Ophthalmology at the University of California of San Francisco. She is the co-founder and CEO of Quadrant Eye (QE), a digital health startup with the mission of improving eyecare access and services.
Done in collaboration with the Writer's Collective and American Medical Women's Association (AMWA); planned by Sibani Ram, Min Ju Lee, Morgan Biele, and Isabela Agi Maluli
A special thank you to English Department's George P. Lucaci fund for its contribution to this event and for its continued support!
Grace Li
Duke '17
Author and Stanford medical student Grace Li graduated from Duke in 2017, where she studied biology and creative writing. At her HuMed event, she shared insights on her debut novel Portrait of a Thief, written about the Chinese-American experience. It was an instant New York Times bestseller, a #1 international bestseller, and is currently in development to become a Netflix series. She also discussed advice for students hoping to pursue a career in creative writing. “I think the most important condition to being a writer is being an active participant in the world,” Li says.
