10 physicians to follow on Twitter

June 07, 2012 Michelle McNickle

Toward the end of last month, Mike Sevilla, MD, spoke to a crowd of 100 at the Connecting Healthcare + Social Media Conference on why physicians ought to be on social media. Although multiple such outlets exists — Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn — none have appealed quite so strongly to physicians as Twitter.

Here are 10 physicians, in no particular order, who have mastered the art of Twitter.

1. Kevin Pho, MD – @kevinmd With approximately 53,000 followers, Kevin Pho, MD, tops our list of doctors to follow on Twitter. Pho blogs regularly at KevinMD.com and is on USA Today's board of contributors. He is consistently cited by major media outlets, and touts his blog as, "the Web's leading destination for proactive physician commentary on breaking medical news."

2. Mike Sevilla, MD – @drmikesevilla Formerly known as Dr. Anonymous, Sevilla tweets regularly and is the blogger behind FamilyMedicineRocks.com. He is known for being an advocate for physicians on social media, all while giving followers and blog readers a behind-the-scenes look at life as a family practitioner. He also hosts Family Medicine Rocks on Blog Talk Radio, where he reviews current industry events, news, and all things social media.

3. Val Jones, MD – @drval Val Jones, MD, is a power tweeter and the founder behind Better Health, LLC, a network of 130 plus medical bloggers, which includes content partners like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Physicians, and Harvard Health Publications. Jones is the "anchor blogger" behind the network. Previously, she was the author of "Dr. Val and the Voice of Reason," which won The Best New Medical Blog award, back in 2007.

4. Tim Sturgill, MD – @SymTym Tim Sturgill, MD, is an emergency physician, manager, and director of social media at Emergency Medicine Physicians. He tweets regularly and has been blogging since 2004 at Symtym.com. Sturgill takes an active interest in not only emergency and disaster medicine, but also health law, policy and ethics, health informatics, and, most notably, social media.

5. Bertalan Meskó, MD – @berci Bertalan Meskó, MD, tweets regularly and is a speaker, blogger, consultant, and founder of Webicina.com, a collection of curated social media resources. On ScienceRoll.com, Meskó blogs about his "journey in genetics PhD and medicine through Web 2.0," as well as the integration of medicine, web services, and social media. Meskó graduated from the University of Debrecen Medical School and Health Center in 2009 and maintains a Hungarian medical blog as well at MedIQ.blog.hu.

6. Shelley Binkley, MD – @healthewoman Shelley Binkley, MD, tweets regularly and is an OBGYN advancing "healthEpeople." Binkley also founded HealthEwoman.org, where she writes brief articles on an array of topics pertaining to woman's health, making it easy for visitors to search and find quick answers to their questions. On HealthEwoman.org, Binkley makes clear she blogs for the sake of transparency and access, all while, as a physician, acting as a "sounding board to discuss [options] and together arrive at good medical decisions."

7. Mark Browne, MD – @consultdoc Mark Browne, MD, is a physician consultant, focusing on bridging healthcare, quality, and finance. He tweets regularly and blogs at the Pershing Yoakley & Associates Healthcare Blog, Bridging Business & Healthcare. Browne is clinically trained in both internal medicine and pediatrics and has more than 10 years experience in physician practice management and hospital executive settings.

8. Joseph Kim, MD – @DrJosephKim Joseph Kim, MD, is a physician executive and founder of MedicineandTechnology.com, NonClinicalJobs.com, MedicalSmartphones.com, and MobileHealthComputing.com. Kim has spoken nationally on topics pertaining to continuing medical education, mHealth, and social media. He is also the president of MCM Education, and he is a regular contributor to Physician Executive Journal.

9. Jay Parkinson, MD – @jayparkinson Jay Parkinson, MD, is a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist who tweets and blogs regularly at blog.JayParkinsonMD.com. He is also the founder of Hello Health, a combination of a secure social network and an EMR that enables doctors and patients to connect both in their office and online. Fast Company called Parkinson the "doctor of the future," and he was listed as one of the Top 10 Most Creative People in Health Care. Parkinson also recently launched a design firm, The Future Well.

10. Mehmet Oz, MD – @DrOz Mehmet Oz, M.D. is a cardiac surgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital, author and host of The Dr. Oz Show. He tweets regularly to more than 1,800,000 followers, and he blogs at DoctorOz.com. Oz has recently spoken on current business and technology challenges facing small physician practices. Oz also maintains his fan base on Twitter though the hashtags #OzTip and #OzApproved.