We were asked to come up with a list of digital health social influencers for a Klick event so naturally we figured this would make a great blog post. What could be more engaging to the health-focused social media audience than a list of influencers?
Anyone not on our list of 41 42 48 49 50 51 names will immediately want to know why not, and the reason is simple, we were completely arbitrary in how we pulled this list. First, we looked at what hashtags tend to get used by digital health proponents and chose:
Using Sysomos to scour Twitter data netted us 1,841 accounts with followers ranging from 1.3 million to zero. So, this was a good start, but most of these accounts won’t have real influence in the industry. The next step was for us to manually look at each account and determine how relevant each one is. The criteria we were looking for–and these criteria were for our particular purpose–may or may not work for others:
- Favor individuals over companies (for example, an individual reporter rather than a magazine brand)
- Has a blog or other property as well, showing a deeper involvement in the industry
- Posts regularly and without off-topic or spammy topics
So, without further ado, here is the list we developed. This is a living list so if you have suggestions, contact us and we’ll look at changing it! (But no guarantees, see above.)
| Twitter Handle | First Name | Last Name | Followers | Region | Description | Further Information |
| @GlenGilmore | Glen | Gilmore | 309,000 | US | FORBES Top 20 Social Media LI http://goo.gl/nSGBzO TIME man of action #SMM http://goo.gl/4do4M8 AUTHOR http://goo.gl/ZILqMN #SocBiz #IoT | GlenGilmore.com |
| @JenArnoldMD | Jen | Arnold | 246,000 | US | Mommy, Neonatologist, Simulation Educator, Cancer Survivor & co-star of TLC’s #Little Couple. Tweets are meant to be helpful, not prescriptive #tweetiatrician | jenniferarnoldmd.com |
| @Atul_Gawande | Atul | Gawande | 129,000 | US | surgeon, writer, public health researcher, practicing surgeon, professor at harvard | atulgawande.com |
| @kevinmd | Kevin | Pho | 122,738 | US | Physician, author, keynote speaker, USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. Social media’s leading physician voice. | kevinmd.com |
| @DrKevinCampbell | Kevin | Campbell | 98,300 | Internationally recognized cardiologist, on-air medical expert | drkevincampbellmd.com | |
| @donaldhackett | Donald | Hackett | 88,238 | US | Runs notable Rxwiki | RxWiki.com |
| @ValaAfshar | Vala | Afshar | 69,700 | US | CMO, Extreme Networks, writes for Huffington | huffingtonpost.com |
| @EricTopol | Eric | Topol | 59,825 | US | Cardiologist, researcher, Editor-in-Chief, Medscape, author of The Patient Will See You Now | stsiweb.org |
| @orenfu | Oren | Fuerst | 54,256 | Digital Health entrepreneur and inventor. Recent creations include @medivizor , @mentallyapp, @Prepex, @my_dario | linkedin.com | |
| @berci | Berci | Meskó | 44,432 | HU | Medical futurist, author of The Guide to the Future of Medicine, speaker, consultant, geek physician with PhD in genomics, founder of http://Webicina.com | medicalfuturist.com |
| @sarahkliff | Sarah | Kliff | 43,400 | US | I write for Vox. Formerly: Washington Post, Politico, Newsweek and, back in the day, Student Life. Health-care nerd. sarah@vox.com | sarahkliff.com |
| @picardonhealth | André | Picard | 35,677 | CA | André Picard is the health columnist at The Globe and Mail. | andrepicard.com |
| @DrFrankLipman | Frank | Lipman | 31,600 | US | Practicing physician, founder of Eleven Eleven Wellness Centre, and writer | drfranklipman.com |
| @ahier | Brian | Ahier | 29,415 | Passionate about healthcare, technology and government 2.0 | ahier.net | |
| @rilescat | Shawn | Riley | 28,700 | Leader Information Management Office, Mayo Clinic Health System at Mayo Clinic | linkedin.com | |
| @epatientdave | Dave | deBronkart | 27,532 | US | International patient engagement advocate, speaker, author of Let Patients Help: A Patient Engagement Handbook, blogger | epatientdave.com |
| @LionelReichardt | Lionel | Reichardt | 25,477 | FR | Pharmageek #hcsmeufr coordinator blogger #HIT100 #pharma100 #hcsmeu #ehealth | LinkedIn.com |
| @paul_sonnier | Paul | Sonnier | 25,237 | US | Founder, 30,000+ member #DigitalHealth Linkedi group, social entepreneur | storyofdigitalhealth.com |
| @susannahfox | Susannah | Fox | 21,545 | US | I help people navigate health and technology. Entrepreneur in Residence at @RWJF. | susannahfox.com |
| @JohnNosta | John | Nosta | 23,100 | US | DIGITAL HEALTH philosopher, strategist & advocate relentlessly seeking the unexpected. Lead thinker at NostaLab Google Health Advisory Board @ObiMobiles Health | nostalab.com |
| @drmikesevilla | Mike | Sevilla | 20,705 | US | Family Physician | Primary Care Advocate | Commentary on Medicine, Social Media & Life | Internet Talk Show Host | Formerly @DoctorAnonymous | DrMikeSevilla.com |
| @healthythinker | Jane | Sarasohn-Kahn | 18,803 | US | Health economist, advisor, communicator, trendweaver | janesarasohnkahn.com |
| @hjluks | Howard | Luks | 18,113 | US | MD Sports Medicine – Orthopedist | howardluksmd.com |
| @modernmeds | Amy | O’Connor | 17,475 | Sr. Director – Digital and Social Media Communications at Eli Lilly and Company | modernmedicines.com | |
| @cascadia | Sherry | Reynolds | 17,047 | Health Care Innovator and Patient Centered Care Evangelist – Founder Alliance4Health | paper.li | |
| @GaviSeth | Seth | Berkley | 15,600 | Switzerland | CEO of @Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Medical doctor specializing in infectious disease epidemiology and global health. | gavi.org |
| @healthblawg | David | Harlow | 14,431 | US | Health care laywer, consultant, speaker, blogger | harlowgroup.net healthblawg.com |
| @leeaase | Lee | Aase | 14,399 | US | Director, @MayoClinic Center for Social Media. Chancellor | social-media-university-global.org |
| @chimoose | Greg | Matthews | 14,197 | US | Healthcare. Social media. Change management. MDigitalLife, @W2OGroup. Advisor to @MayoClinic SMHN and @SxSW Health. Silly person. | about.me |
| @2healthguru | Glenn | Masters | 13,869 | US | Digital media architect & producer @ACOwatch @JustOncology @publichealthHQ @HIBCTV | healthinnovationmedia.com |
| @andrewspong | Andrew | Spong | 12,978 | GB | Helping pharma companies deliver on their promises to put patients at the centre. | stwem.com |
| @richduszak | Rich | Duszak | 12,374 | US | Dr. Duszak serves as the Neiman Institute’s founding Chief Medical Officer where he leverages his extensive experience as a thought leader in imaging economics and policy to develop and promote research supporting credible evidence-based health policy. | neimanhpi.org |
| @paulflevy | Paul | Levy | 11,648 | US | Author, speaker, former hospital CEO, negotiation advisor, advocate for patient-driven care. | runningahospital.blogspot.ca |
| @jkvedar | Joseph | Kvedar | 11,412 | US | VP, @Patnersnews, @connectedhealth, associate professor harvard medical school | chealthblog.connectedhealth.org |
| @jbbc | Marie | Ennis-O’Connor | 11,268 | IE | Award-winning Health Blogger. Social Media Consultant. Writer ‘BeyondThe Buzz: Healthcare Social Media’. Speaker @dotmedconf @doctors20 @StanfordMedX | hcsmmonitor.com |
| @gnayyar | Geeta | Nayyar | 10,900 | Chief Medical & Innovation Officer at Femwell Group Health, nationally recognized healthcare IT | huffingtonpost.com | |
| @elaineschattner | Elaine | Schattner | 9,741 | US | journatlist, physician, medical educator, semi-retired oncologist and cancer researcher, woman who’s had breast cancer, | forbes.com |
| @mindofandre | Andre | Blackman | 9,109 | US | Purposeful digital health. Connector. Co-founder @fastfwdhealth | andreblackman.com |
| @zdoggmd | Zubin | Damania | 9,059 | ZDoggMD is a physician, off-white rapper, and the founder of Turntable Health. He’s not a businessman. He’s a business, man. OK we stole that line from Jay-Z but you get the idea. A hospitalist at Stanford for almost 10 years, Dr. Z currently resides in Las Vegas—a city he finds simply adorable. | turntablehealth.com | |
| @chasedave | David | Case | 8,542 | US | Founder, Rosetium | linkedin.com |
| @jordanrau | Jordan | Rau | 8,542 | US | Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health News | linkedin.com |
| @DanaMLewis | Dana | Lewis | 8,470 | US | Built artificial pancreas (#DIYPS). Founder, #OpenAPS. Moderator, #hcsm (Sun @ 8pmCT). Thinker, doer, teacher of health & digital things. Thoughts/tweets = own! | linkedin.com |
| @meredithgould | Meredith | Gould | 7,937 | US | Using social media to build communicty, enhance spiritual life, and empower patients | linkedin.com |
| @dlschermd | David Lee | Scher | 7,009 | US | cardiologist, digital health tech consultant, blogger, chair @HIMSS | digitalhealthconsultants.com |
| @nickdawson | Nick | Dawson | 6,985 | US | Executive Director of Innovation at Johns Hopkins Sibley Hospital | nick2.net |
| @HITAdvisor | Justin | Barnes | 6,225 | US | Passionate about creating smarter, sustainable healthcare. Board advisor GozioHealth | justinbarnes.com |
| @daphnezohar | Daphne | Zohar | 5,918 | US | Founder & CEO, PureTech | puretechhealth.com |
| @spitzstrategy | Michael | Spitz | 4,647 | US | Digital Strategy & Biz Dev @KlickHealth, tweeting to help improve outcomes and quality of life for patients the world over. | klick.com |
| @NaomiFried | Naomi | Fried | 3,222 | US | Vice President, Medical Information, Innovation & External Partnerships, Biogen | linkedin.com |
| @CrisDeLuca | Cris | De Luca | 2,623 | US | Digital Innovation Leader @JNJInnovation Boston. 40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovator. Co-Founder, Ultra Light Startups | crisdeluca.com |
| @AndiKaraboutis | Adriana | Karaboutis | 2,423 | US | EVP, biogen | linkedin.com |
