But while some influencers are spreading dangerous misinformation, and others are there just to entertain — looking at you, hilariously confused press conference lady — a growing number of doctors and public health professionals are using social media to convey useful, evidence-based recommendations and informed opinions on the fast-changing news. Ranging from epidemiologists to infectious disease experts, these influencers deliver their messages to diverse audiences, always with a solid dose of personality. Here are seven to follow:
Austin Chiang, MD
Austin Chiang, MD, the chief medical social media officer at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, was already dancing out his messages on TikTok (where his videos have garnered close to seven million likes) and sharing health tips on Twitter and Instagram when COVID-19 came along. Now he’s using these platforms to debunk coronavirus myths and help his audience make sense of perplexing developments in science and politics. He’s also teaching his colleagues how to use social media to connect with the public, work that he describes as “where my heart is.” His own style is by turns straightforward and provocative: When an official at the World Health Organization (WHO) commented during a press conference on June 9 that coronavirus transmission by asymptomatic people appears to be very rare — a claim she quickly walked back as a “misunderstanding,” according to CNBC, after it drew widespread criticism from the scientific community — Dr. Chiang responded with a TikTok video in which he danced to the “Stan Wrong Song.” With the pandemic her voice has been amplified even more on social media, where her nearly 44,000 Twitter followers include the likes of MSNBC’s Joy Reid. In a recent Tweet, Dr. Blackstock quoted a New York Times headline (“Will Protests Set Off a Second Viral Wave?”), rewriting it as “Will Racism Set Off a Second Viral Wave?” A former associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York City, Blackstock recently testified on the racial disparities in healthcare to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. She also uses her wit to skewer bad judgment wherever she sees it. “Feels more and more like Game of Thrones. Kings play for power, people suffer and winter is coming. (Before I get hammered, this is a joke),” she wrote in a recent Tweet. “What’s the formal term for ‘sticking your head in the sand and hoping a problem goes away’ approach?” went another. Dr. Sridhar’s appearances on the BBC, and her publications in mainstream outlets and medical journals worldwide, keep her insights top of mind in her field and among the wider public. In a recent video, he lauded the many Black Lives Matter protestors for taking the right COVID-19 safety precautions, emphasized the health dangers of systemic racism in hospitals, and dispensed tips for how to practice COVID-19 safety at pools and beaches this summer. He has vowed to donate and match all advertising proceeds from that video to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Bob Wachter, MD
The chair of the department of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco, Bob Wachter, MD, is a fixture on the Bay Area’s KQED radio, discussing all things COVID-19 with listeners on a call-in show. As California ventures into reopening along with much of the United States, he is keeping a close eye on case counts and offering his views on what the public can do to stay safe, and how officials should adapt their policy response. In early June he made a request via Twitter (where he has more than 85,000 followers) to major U.S. airlines asking them to instruct passengers to keep masks on for the entire flight: “I appreciate that it’s a chore for the crew, but they already enforce policies designed to ensure safety. In a pandemic, I’ll take consistent mask-wearing over keeping my seat upright for takeoff and landing.” She shares personal struggles too, recently tweeting about the dilemma she’s facing about whether to go home to her kids after treating COVID-19 patients: “I have my #PPE, but I’m sure am still a walking petri dish. Difficult to decide between mental health and togetherness versus physical health.”
