While you may think anesthesiology wouldn’t necessarily be a popular topic of discussion on social media, the ten people on this list, and others like them, tell a different story.
This is something the recent Anesthesiology Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA on October 13 to 17 highlighted.
On top of the medical discussions taking place, there were also working sessions around social media that focused on:
With more than 14,000 professionals attending, and a hugely popular #ANES18 hashtag on Twitter, it’s clear that social media is an important medium for the industry.
The Growth of Anesthesiology on Social Media
“Whether you are aware of it or not, you already have a brand and reputation,” cites Anna M. Allred, MD, a critical care anesthesiologist and Associate Physician for U.S. Anesthesia Partners in Houston.
Anna moderated the session, "Define Yourself! Your Brand Value in the Workplace", in which she not only discussed the need to build a positive personal brand, but how to do it through productive relationships with peers, coworkers and influencers.
To accomplish that, technology continues to be a key solution for anesthesiologists. As well as using technology in their practices, they are also using it for growing their presence socially.
Twitter, with its instantaneous conversation and connectivity to others, is a prime example, as highlighted by both the #ANES18 and #ANEScontest hashtags from last month’s conference.
Anesthesiologist Ed Mariano shared a social media survey result that showed 53% of anesthesiologists use Twitter professionally. Their primary use was found to be:
- Interacting with connections globally
- Learning new methodology and advances in the industry
- Research
- Driving awareness around their practice
By staying connected and informed, and promoting their own findings and articles, their engagement has helped them create and grow their personal brand and authority.
As Marjorie Stiegler, MD, tweeted from her #ANES18 session, “Social Media Strategies for Physicians”, you need to “be a confident leader online, or be left behind.”
How We Chose Our Top 10 Anesthesiologists to Follow on Twitter
To recognize our industry peers who are leading the charge on social media, LifeWIRE partnered with Canadian agency Sensei Marketing to identify the influencers among the anesthesiologists.
From an initial list of 100+ anesthesiologists, we narrowed it down to 29 physicians from the U.S. and Canada. From there, we measured reach, engagement, influence, authority, impressions and outreach.
Sensei then narrowed the list down further, based on the actions each influencer inspired in their audience. More authority was given to those who drove more action from their audience - conversation, referrals, industry recognition, etc.
By combining the results of the various influencer identification tools used in this exercise, as well as Sensei’s influence marketing expertise, the following Top 10 Anesthesiologists to Follow on Twitter list was created.
1. Larry Chu, MD, MS (@larrychu) is a practicing physician and professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine. Aside from teaching data science for precision medicine and digital health, he is the executive director of MedicineX, Stanford University School of Medicine’s Anesthesia Informatics and Media (AIM) lab that is focused on patient-centered digital health research.
2. Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD (@DoctorJesseMD) was a combat veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan and continues to serve as a Commander in the United States Navy Reserve. As Doctor Jesse, he currently practices at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a strong advocate and voice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals thus he sits as Director of the Vanderbilt Program for LGBTI Health.
3. Ron George, MD, FRCPC (@Ron_George) is from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is the only anesthesiologist from Canada who made it to the list as his social voice resonates beyond the Canadian border. He is part of the Dalhousie Pain Management Network, and Associate Professor, Associate Medical Director of Research at the Dalhousie University Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine.
4. Michelle Au, MD (@scutmonkey) best describes herself as “one small anesthesiologist. One big world.” She is a practicing anesthesiologist in Atlanta, Georgia and married to an oculoplastic surgeon, with three kids. Other than her Scutmonkey comic strips, she maintains a blog, her online journal she started during her second year at med school and she also authored a book.
5. Ed Mariano, MD, MAS (@EMARIANOMD) says, “I am a physician, clinical researcher, and educator. I am also on Twitter.” This was how he introduced himself in a 2016 Social Media Bootcamp for his lecture on Twitter for Busy Doctors. Among his numerous lectures, he has preached on the value of social media to doctors. He is a Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, and con-currently Chief of the Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care Service and Associate Chief of Staff for Inpatient Surgical Services at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. He has published over 140 anesthesiology and postoperative pain control-related research papers.
6. Jason McKeown, MD, FASA (@jmckeownmd) never posts from the OR, so he says on Twitter, and that his tweets are not medical advise. As much as he is a proud dad and husband, he professes his Christianity in a personal blog about his reflections on his “travels through faith, family, medicine and the world.” He practices at Memphis, Tennessee and is affiliated with Methodist Hospitals of Memphis.
7. Marjorie Stiegler, MD (@DrMStiegler) has a private anesthesiology practice but takes more pride in her physician leadership in the digital world. She prescribes social media for doctors to “make a bigger difference in medical education, health literacy, patient advocacy, and research.” She claims to be a neuroscience junkie and has co-authored a book that offers practical suggestions for improving quality of care and patient safety in the perioperative setting.
8. Michael Joyner, MD (@DrMJoyner) from Rochester, Minnesota is a Physiologist & anesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic. He is also the Vice Chair for Research, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Mayo Clinic Rochester. He has served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NASA. His NIH-funded research lab at Mayo Clinic studies how the nervous system regulates blood pressure, heart rate and metabolism in response to these forms of stress. His blog Human Limits is about exploring human performance and health.
9. Karen Sibert, M.D. FASA (@KarenSibertMD) is staunch promoter of #WomenInMedicine. This anesthesiologist from Los Angeles, CA has been in practice for 25 years and specializes in thoracic surgery. Her blog that includes hard-hitting commentaries even against ASA to which she is a member, made it to Feedspot's Top 30 Anesthesiology Blogs and Websites in 2018 for Anesthesiologists. Writing is reflexive to her as she was first a reporter for the Wall Street Journal before becoming a doctor.
10. Sapna Kudchadkar, MD, PhD (@SapnaKmd) is both a pediatrician and anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins. Also, she is an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is from Maryland, USA.
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