From giving out medical advice to participating in the latest viral trends, healthcare professionals are using Instagram and TikTok to brand themselves as physician influencers.
Here are 10 of the most-followed physician influencers from TikTok and Instagram, based on reporting by MM+M and Becker's searches of the social media platforms, listed in order of followers:
1. Mike Varshavski, DO. Dr. Varshavski has 4.3 million followers on Instagram and 8 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He started to acquire followers by showing his medical school journey. Now, he posts about medical education, entertainment and fitness.
2. Brian Boxer Wachler, MD. With 3.2 million followers on TikTok, Dr. Wachler, who founded the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Boxer Wachler Vision Institute, gives his followers advice on how to take care of their health and well-being.
3. Adam Goodcoff, DO. With 1.8 million followers on TikTok, Dr. Goodcoff posts videos about the reality of working in a hospital's emergency department, answers patients' health questions and details how to manage time on a physician's schedule.
4. Tiffany Moon, MD. With 1.1 million TikTok followers, Dr. Moon is a certified practicing anesthesiologist who practices in Dallas. She posts skits about encounters in the hospital as well as videos on her daily life.
5. Audrey Sue Cruz, MD. With 119,000 followers on Instagram, Dr. Cruz is an internal medicine physician at Las Vegas-based Intermountain myGeneration Clinic. She uses her platform to discuss her inspiration behind becoming a physician as well as documenting her everyday life.
6. Cedric Rutland, MD. With 73,500 followers on Instagram, Dr. Rutland is a board-certified pulmonary, critical care, and internal medicine physician and owner of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Rutland Medical Group. He uses his platform to post healthcare videos that explain different concepts in the medical field.
7. Austin Chiang, MD. With 70,900 followers on Instagram, Dr. Chiang of Philadelphia-based Jefferson University Physicians uses his platform to provide patients with accurate health information online and is one of the biggest voices in gastroenterology.
8. Stella Clavecilla, DO. With 65,900 followers on TikTok, Dr. Stella is a board-certified physician who gained her popularity on TikTok by posting health information while doing popular TikTok dances. Some of her videos include COVID-19 updates and highlighting CDC guidelines.
9. Jake Taylor, MD. With more than 65,000 followers on Instagram, Dr. Taylor, chief urology resident at NYU Langone Health, gained popularity by posting in scrubs around New York City. He also uses his platform to discuss topics like diabetic health and prostate cancer.
10. Andrea Tooley, MD. With nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram, Dr. Tooley of Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, uses her platform to post about the day-to-day life of an oculoplastic and orbital surgeon.