Doug Kanter 康德 worked as a freelance photographer in New York City and Beijing for sixteen years. He covered events ranging from September 11th to the Beijing Olympics for leading international media publications, including The New York Times, Agence France-Presse, Business Week, Financial Times, and Wallpaper. He also worked for a range of commercial clients including Nike, Apple, and the World Economic Forum.

Doug met David in 2003 during his first year living in Beijing. They discovered a common interest in exploring the hidden corners of China, came up with the idea to collaborate on this project, and struck up an enduring friendship. They made their first journey to Hunan together in 2004. Over the course of the next thirteen years, Doug made multiple trips to photograph members of the Jiang and Li clans at home and in Dongguan, where several of them worked stints as migrant laborers.

In 2011, Doug left Beijing and returned to New York. He founded a startup software company focused on diabetes (a condition he has had since a boy). He earned an M.A. from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program with a focus on interaction design and data visualization. He became a leading voice for patient-centric design and has been a featured speaker at Stanford MedicineX, Quantified Self Public Health Symposium, Health Datapalooza, and the Precision Health Initiative. His design work has been featured by the BBC, Fast Co. Design, Popular Science, and Book of Circles: Visualizing Spheres of Knowledge.

Doug lives in San Diego where he is a lead designer at a diabetes medical device company. He enjoys long-distance running and attempting to learn how to surf.