This Black Physician Is Using Generative AI to Bring Medicine’s Untold Stories to Life

Medicine is often discussed through statistics, diagnoses, and treatment plans. And in the Black community, those conversations can sometimes feel frightening due to ongoing medical mistrust, limited understanding of certain health conditions, and past experiences where patients may not have felt supported by medical providers. 

But behind every chart is a story — and a patient who could benefit from trust, care, and understanding from their physician. 

Dr. Keven Stonewall, a physician, TEDx speaker, and storyteller, is working to shift that narrative through his series The Floor, a narrative medical show available to watch on Instagram at @thefloorchicago. The show uses generative AI to bring these moments to life. 

Instead of focusing on how artificial intelligence (AI) can make healthcare faster or more efficient, Dr. Stonewall is using the technology in a different way to highlight the emotional and human moments that happen between doctors and patients every day.  

From missed diagnoses on darker skin tones to the trust it takes for patients to feel heard, The Floor visualizes the complex realities of healthcare in ways textbooks often cannot. Across the series, Dr. Stonewall explores different health conditions patients may face and the difficult conversations that often come with diagnosis, treatment, and navigating the healthcare system. 

While the stories in The Floor are fictional, they are inspired by common patient experiences and real-life moments that often unfold inside hospitals and exam rooms.

We spoke to Dr. Stonewall about what inspired the series, why storytelling may be one of the most powerful tools in medicine, and what’s next for The Floor.

BlackDoctor.Pro: What inspired you to create The Floor?

Dr. Stonewall: I created The Floor because I kept asking myself how to show people what those moments actually feel like. Most people are visual learners, and generative AI gave me a way to bring those experiences to life in a cinematic way. Instead of just talking about medicine, I wanted people to see the emotional reality of it. 

BlackDoctor.Pro: Why did you choose generative AI as the medium to tell these stories?

Dr. Stonewall: Medicine gives you moments that stay with you forever. The patient who walks in scared. The one who has been let down by the healthcare system so many times that they already expect the worst. Those quiet moments between a doctor and patient can shape the entire outcome of care, but they rarely make it into textbooks or public conversations about medicine.

BlackDoctor.Pro: Most conversations about AI in healthcare focus on efficiency, documentation, or automation. Why did you want to use it to explore the human side of medicine?

Dr. Stonewall: Efficiency in medicine matters. If technology helps doctors move faster, document better, or catch something earlier, that can absolutely save lives. But there’s something technology alone can’t replace, and that’s trust. The most powerful diagnostic tool a physician has isn’t a machine — it’s the relationship with the patient sitting across from them. Trust is built through listening and understanding someone’s full story. 

With The Floor, I wanted to use AI not to speed up medicine, but to slow it down and highlight the moments where the connection between a physician and patient can make all the difference.

BlackDoctor.Pro: You also explore how certain conditions present differently on darker skin tones. Why is this still a gap in medical education?

Dr. Stonewall: Medicine has made progress, but historically, medical education was built around a very narrow image of what patients look like. For years, many conditions were primarily taught using images of lighter skin. That creates a real diagnostic gap. 

When physicians aren’t trained to recognize how diseases present across different skin tones, important warning signs can be missed. Storytelling helps bring that reality into focus. Instead of just reading about it in a textbook, people can see what those differences look like and understand what’s at stake when they’re overlooked.

BlackDoctor.Pro: What role can visual storytelling play in helping physicians better understand bias, trust, and the complexity of the physician-patient relationship?

Dr. Stonewall: Visual storytelling allows people to step inside moments they might otherwise overlook. In medicine, physicians often move quickly from one patient to the next. But patients walk into those rooms carrying their own histories — times they weren’t believed, times the system failed them, or moments when they felt invisible. 

When you see those experiences play out on screen, it can shift how you think about the interaction happening in an exam room. It reminds physicians that every patient encounter is more than a diagnosis — it’s a relationship that requires empathy, attention, and trust.

BlackDoctor.Pro: What do you hope patients and physicians take away after watching The Floor?

Dr. Stonewall: For patients, I hope they see themselves in these stories. Sometimes seeing a situation play out on screen can help someone recognize symptoms earlier or feel more confident speaking up about their health. 

For physicians, I hope it’s a moment of reflection. The best doctors are always asking how they can show up better for their patients. 

And more broadly, I hope it expands how people think about what technology like AI can do. It doesn’t only have to make things faster. It can also help us tell stories that build empathy and understanding.

BlackDoctor.Pro: What upcoming episodes can viewers expect?

Dr. Stonewall: Season 1 of The Floor is complete, with 12 episodes, each inspired by real moments that happen in medicine and set against the culture and energy of Chicago. Season 2 is already on the horizon, and the vision is expanding beyond one city. 

Every community has its own healthcare stories — patients navigating the system, physicians carrying the weight of difficult moments, and families hoping someone will truly listen. The next chapter of The Floor will explore those stories in new cities and communities while continuing to highlight the real human experiences that shape medicine every day.