Get Inspired. Meet 20 Healthcare Professionals Who Are Changing the Future of Medicine

Medicine is constantly evolving with new innovations, techniques and findings.  It seems almost weekly there is a new landmark study that shows promise to improving patient care. All practitioners struggle with running a full time practice, having some semblance of a work life balance and then having enough time to keep pace with the constant evolution of new medicine.  Fortunately, the surge in digital technologies has transformed health-related communication, making it easier for all medical professionals to follow the latest trends, share their expertise, and reach out to patients directly through social channels.

60% of doctors say social media improves the quality of care delivered to patients [AdWeek]

The following 20 powerful healthcare experts realizethe enormous impact of digital communications on patient care. They use various platforms and channels to promote their knowledge, connect with peers, and boost patient engagement.

Follow these influential professionals to get inspired and see how you can leverage the power of the blog and social media to build user-centric communication, enhance the patient experience, and engage your patients in a meaningful interaction to help them improve their health.

1. David Harlow @healthblawg

David is a healthcare lawyer, consultant, and speaker with over thirty years of private and public sector experience. He focuses on digital health laws and policies, including HIPAA compliance and state laws on healthcare data privacy and security. These are the topic areas he regularly explores on his blog, https://healthblawg.com/.

David also runs a podcast covering a vast range of issues ranging from health data analysis, healthcare technology and apps, and medical providers. Other healthcare professionals often appear on the show, sharing valuable insights on the latest trends and modern developments in healthcare.

2. Joel Fuhrman @DrFuhrman

Dr. Fuhrman is a board-certified family physician and an internationally-recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing. He’s widely known as the author of six New York Times bestsellers on healthy living, and preventing and curing diseases through nutritional methods.

Dr. Fuhrman is also the President of a non-profit Nutritional Research Foundation that promotes the impact of nutritious, plant-rich diet on health and treatment. More information about his work, books, and publications, and diet plans can be found on his website.

3. Dave Walker @drwalker_rph

Dave Walker is not only a a pharmacist consultant, he's a educational speaker, Advisory Board Member at MedShadow Foundation, and founder of @MedWhys, a medication information resource center.

Dave Walker has over 20 years of pharmacy management experience in various healthcare settings. He’s deeply involved in medication and pharmaceutical consulting, and regularly publishes curated content on two of his portals, Senior Med News and The Med Time News.

4. Natasha Burgert @DoctorNatasha

If you are looking for a trusted source of information (and inspiration) on pediatric care, sign up for our next expert’s blog. Dr. Burgert is a tech savvy pediatrician, a mom and an outstanding child's healthcare blogger.

On her website, KC Kids Doc, Dr. Natasha delivers heartfelt, informative posts on children’s healthcare. Our favorite piece is a lyrics-fueled doctor’s appeal to Justin Timberlake to vaccinate his kids. Brilliant!

5. Dr. Rangan Chatterjee @drchatterjeeuk

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee is a British physician, author, and podcaster who’s well-known to the public as a resident doctor on the BBC One’s Breakfast Show. He’s also a regular contributor on lifestyle medicine in several web journals.

Similarly to Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Chatterjee is an untiring advocate for lifestyle medicine. On his website, as well as in his books, he shares articles and insights, concentrating on the positive impact of healthy living on disease reduction and improving vitality.

6. Kevin Pho @kevinmd

Dr. Kevin Pho calls himself “social media’s leading physician voice,” and with over 158 K Twitter followers, he’s entitled to do so. His blog, KevinMD.com, receives 3 million monthly page views and publishes content by more than 1,000 healthcare contributors. 

The site gives voice to thousands of physicians, nurses, medical students, and patients who can share their insights, stories, concerns and ask questions to seek answers on a vast range of topics covering healthcare innovations, modern treatment methods, patient care, and lifestyle choices.

7. Lara McElderry @Married2Doctors

The facts are alarming. 40% of physicians admit that work leaves them no space for private life. The resulting overwork and fatigue have a devastating impact not only on healthcare professionals but also their families. The high levels of stress that doctors and nurses experience daily are also felt by their spouses, kids, and relatives alike. 

As a surgeon’s wife, Lara McElderry knows a thing or two about the challenges facing healthcare professionals’ families. Her Married to Doctors podcast creates a common space for them to network, share their stories, and seek support and advice on common issues affecting their community.

8. Dr. Joseph Maroon @DrJosephMaroon

The next professional on our list is is a true polymath. Dr. Joseph Maroon is a board-certified clinical professor of neurological surgery, author, and triathlon athlete. He is also a vice-chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the current Medical Director for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Having suffered from debilitating depression triggered by stress, fatigue, and a range of health issues, Dr. Maroon now shares his ways to beat the disease and work toward living a happy, fulfilled and balanced life.

10. Stacia Dearmin @ThrivePhysician

Stacia Dearmin is a Medical Doctor with over 20 years of experience in clinical medicine. Throughout her career, she’s witnessed and experienced the tragic impact of defamation and patient lawsuits and embarked on a mission to coach other healthcare professionals how to endure the ordeal of malpractice litigation.

Stacia delves into the issue on her website, Thrive Physician, where she also shares relevant podcasts, articles,  book recommendations, and provides her mentoring support.

11. Matt Walker @sleepdiplomat

Dr. Walker is a fascinating example of a niche medical practice. Dr. Matt Walker is a professor of Neuroscience at UC Berkeley, a sleep scientist at Google, and a sleep expert at Nike Performance Council. He examines the impact of sleep on human health and diseases. 

Dr. Walker’s shared research  in his books  and  on his Twitter profile proves invaluable because 35% of U.S. adults sleep less than the recommended 7 hours. Take a guess at who tops the list of being the most sleep deprived professions: physicians, nurses, and paramedics.

12. Arshya Vahabzadeh @vahabzadehMD

What’s in a brain? Dr. Vahabzadeh says, power! He’s an award-winning Harvard Medical School-based physician, trained in medicine and psychiatry, with an extensive research portfolio in clinical neuroscience and neurobiology. 

Dr. Vahabzadeh leverages his impressive accomplishments to help students with autism, ADHD, and other brain-related challenges as a Chief Medical Officer at Brain Power, an intelligent learning platform dedicated to building skills relevant to self-sufficiency in students afflicted with the above conditions. Check out the website to see how Brain Power wearables empower students to function better at class and follow doctor Arshya's feed for healthcare trends and innovations in neuroscience.

13. Yoni Freedhoff @YoniFreedhoff

Obesity is becoming an increasing concern globally, and healthcare professionals are bringing out the big guns to resist and reverse this prevalent trend. One of the most outspoken obesity experts is Yoni Freedhoff, a Canadian MD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa, and the medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute, a weight management center. 

The  BMI blog under his supervision is an educational medium that offers copious dietary advice, and shares science-backed, verified insights into food trends, weight loss, and healthy eating. Dr. Freedhoff's own site, Weightymatters, features his thoughts on food, weight, and obesity medicine. Both websites lead in terms of providing reliable, high-quality content to anyone who seeks verified information and advice on healthy eating and weight loss.

14. Eric Topol @EricTopol

When compiling a list of the most influential healthcare professionals, we couldn’t miss a doctor who maintains a Twitter audience of over 168 K people! Dr. Eric Topol is an American cardiologist, professor of genomics, and digital medicine researcher. He is the director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California, a nonprofit research institute that focuses on biomedical sciences.

On his Twitter account, Dr. Topol covers all sorts of news and findings related to deep medicine and the impact of the latest technological advances on modern treatment methods.

15. Brittney Wilson @TheNerdyNurse

Since we are talking about innovative medicine and technology advances, we cannot miss Brittney Wilson, a.k.a. The Nerdy Nurse. Brittney is a registered nurse, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur in charge of an extremely popular blog, The Nerdy Nurse.   

On the blog, she covers a variety of topics relevant to the nursing community, including nursing issues, lifestyle, and healthcare news. Leveraging her background in clinical informatics, Brittany also acts as an intermediary between the realms of IT and healthcare services, helping nursing professionals gain confidence with technology.

16. Andrew Lopez @nursefriendly

With over 15 K of Twitter followers, Andrew is another incredibly influential nurse on social. He’s an NJ-based registered nurse, social media consultant, and nurse entrepreneur in charge of NursingEntrepreneurs, a website dedicated to helping nurses in their entrepreneurial efforts, and a directory of over 150,000 links to healthcare resources.

Aside from articles about the basics of nursing businesses, the website features profiles of successful nurse entrepreneurs, who share their stories and experiences covering all aspects of running a business. It’s a nurse to-go resource for any professionals who are planning to set up a company or would like to improve their entrepreneurial skills.

17. Regina Holliday @ReginaHolliday

Regina is the voice of a patient, a speaker, artist, and activist devoted to patient support and promotion of patient rights. Her drive to support patients originated in a host of medical errors and a series of dreadful encounters with doctors that her husband experienced while undergoing a cancer treatment.

Through her art, books, and keynotes, Regina shares her personal experience of caring for her husband and advocates higher quality, more personalized healthcare. Follow her to gain insights into patient rights and care, patient engagement, and features of stronger healthcare. 

If you are interested in enhancing your understanding of the patient experience and its impact on healthcare, check out these unique 21 patient experience statistics. 

18. Jane Sarasohn-Kahn @healthythinker

Jane’s career as a healthcare economist spans over 20 years. Throughout that time, she has worked with every stakeholder segment in health. Drawing upon her long-standing experience, she shares her knowledge and expertise in an outstanding Health Populi blog.

The blog is a valuable source of information on all things related to healthcare, technology, health policy, and people (consumers, providers, payors). Each post presents Jane’s unique perspective on the above topics and fills every reader with rich information on how they can optimize their healthcare business to enhance patient experience and at the same time, earn satisfactory profits.

19. Beverly Malone @DrBevMalone

Speaking of profit and healthcare management, here’s another influential healthcare professional to follow. Dr. Beverly Malone is well-known to the nursing community as the chief executive officer of the National League for Nursing. She’s very vocal about such issues facing the nursing profession as diversity, education, and the impact of technology on modern nurse care.

Dr. Malone doesn’t have her own website but uses Twitter as a platform to share her thoughts on nursing matters, leadership, and professional development.

20. Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter

We close our list with one of the most prominent and influential healthcare executives in the U.S. Robert Wachter is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, and a leader of the hospitalist movement  (he coined that term). Over 20,000 people follow his Twitter profile for news and updates on hospitalist issues, patient matters, and digital strategies in healthcare.  

Other areas where Dr. Wachter is actively engaged are patient safety and medical error prevention (he edits the U.S. government’s leading website on advancing healthcare quality and patient care). In 2017, he collected his observations and predictions about healthcare digitization in a best-selling book, “The Digital Doctor.” 

Takeaway

Changes in healthcare occur rapidly, and as a thriving medical professional, you need to keep up with them to stay relevant. The above medical experts are some of the most reputable and progressive healthcare influencers who provide detailed insights into the industry. By following them, you will receive powerful incite into the continual evolution of medicine. This invaluable (and free) content will keep you up to date on whats happening now in medicine and as a result will ultimately help ensure you are continuing to have a positive impact on your patients.

P.S. These influencers can boast impressive social media authority. We’re not there yet, but our digital community is growing. Join our Twitter and LinkedIn to get access to healthcare news, articles, and offers from your trusted HIPAA compliant medical answering services provider.