Top COVID-19 Influencers You Should Be Following on Social Media

The crisis caused by the new coronavirus will go down in history for countless reasons, including this one: It’s the first pandemic of the social media age. Influencers are sharing health news, dispensing advice on platforms like Twitter and TikTok, and (for better or worse) helping define the way the public deals with COVID-19.

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.”

Uché Blackstock, MD

As the founder of Advancing Health Equity, an organization that works with institutions like the American Medical Association to address inequalities in healthcare for marginalized communities, emergency medicine physician Uché Blackstock, MD, was already making a national impact before the coronavirus crisis.

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.

Devi Sridhar

It’s no wonder Devi Sridhar, doctor of philosophy, professor and chair of global public health at Edinburgh University Medical School in Scotland, has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter. Her international perspective on how various countries are faring as they combat COVID-19 makes her widely retweeted messages essential reading, as when she recently touted the success of Australia and New Zealand in bringing new daily coronavirus cases to near-zero.

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.

Mikhail Varshavski, DO

Fans know him as Dr. Mike, and among his claims to fame are a turn as People magazine’s “Sexiest Doctor Alive” in 2015. Mikhail Varshavski, DO, is an actual physician, a board-certified osteopath and family medicine doctor who works at Chatham Family Medicine in New Jersey. Thanks not just to his looks but to his plain-spoken, energetic way of delivering medical information, he’s garnered more than five million followers on his Dr. Mike YouTube channel and 3.7 million on Instagram, where he shares straightforward, science-backed tips on COVID-19 prevention, among other health issues.

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.”

Marina Del Rios, MD

“Marina #TuLuchaEsMiLucha Del Rios” is how Marina Del Rios, MD, introduces herself on Twitter — “Your fight is my fight.” An associate professor of clinical emergency medicine and director of social emergency medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, Dr. Del Rios is at the forefront of efforts to combat COVID-19 in her state, particularly among the disproportionately impacted Latino population. She’s been using Twitter, where she has close to 2,000 followers, to share data on how COVID is affecting her community, and to raise awareness about systemic racial injustices in the medical system.

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.”