As a woman, of mixed Asian descent dealing with multiple health conditions, both physical and mental I have always struggled with my identity and self-worth.

Growing up with little emotional support, I found my passion in helping others.  I began to use my negative experiences in a positive way, to help impact change in healthcare. I was establishing amazing connections and was finally feeling like I mattered. I had begun traveling and sharing my perspective with people who actually could make a difference, and then Covid hit.

As someone who traveled, to find real connections, my world shut down and in the midst of everything else falling apart, I was recommended to self quarantine. I fell into a deep depression which spiraled downward quick. As someone who is distant from my own family with no children or spouse of my own, for the first time, I felt truly alone.

It was in the depths of that despair when a stranger from the UK reached out to connect and not for any other reason than to just say he cared. From that friendship, spawned an amazing group, rare disease advocates from all over the world who were willing and open to share their experiences and their perspectives.

We formed an amazing bond that we hope can help change the future of healthcare but only time will tell. With as much negativity that has come out of this pandemic, I am grateful for so many things, and as a society we must try to focus on the positives. In my public speaking, I often say that I wish something would happen to everyone to make them realize what really matters in life to help us change my perspectives and ultimately change the world. I’m just hoping maybe this is it.

Director Bio - Christine Von Raesfeld & Paul Shepherd

As Founder/CEO of People with Empathy, Christine Von Raesfeld is a leader in bringing a critically needed patient perspective to cutting edge medical innovations. Committed to providing patients with chronic and rare diseases with the support they need, Christine works with patient advocacy organizations, industry representatives, and individual patients and their loved ones. Living with many rare and chronic diseases, she believes that in order to foster understanding and empowerment, patients must be treated as people first. As a patient involved in Stanford's Human wide program, she speaks on the benefits and advantages of precision medicine, with a special interest in pharmacogenomics.

Christine’s drive to make lives better for patients has been nationally recognized. In 2019, she spoke on stage at the Startup Health Festival as an invited guest of Sanguine Biosciences. In 2018, Christine served on the Team of Patient Advisors for PatientsLikeMe. She was also recognized as a Wego Health 2018 Top 10 Healthcare Collaborators Patient Leader as well as named one of Silicon Valley Business Journal's 100 Women of Influence for 2019.

Producer and Director, Paul Shepherd is an expert in non-fiction and experimental storytelling, having worked with major institutions including Stanford University, the White House, Red Bull Music Academy and more. He has received a number of awards including the Special Award in 2013 from the FleEXiff Festival in Sydney and his film “traces of A city” (made in collaboration with the Tokyo Broadcasting Systems) was a Finalist at the Damah Film Festival in 2009. Paul recently joined the Academy of Film at HKBU as Professor of Practice in Animation and Media Arts.