My conversation with Prof. Partha Kar was a journey into how to use social media to drive access to better healthcare.

We talk about health equity; we talk about data, and the vital role that communication plays in effective health leadership.

And Prof. Kar talks about how important social media is for that. In fact, he says that without social media, there would not have been what he calls the explosion in access to better technology for people with type 1 diabetes in the UK.

So we talk about some really practical ways in which social media has been used to help shape policy, to drive access to technology, and better patient care.

And you don’t want to miss his great advice for any healthcare professional who wants to build their network and use social media effectively for better health.

Back when doctors were first getting onto social media, Dr Richard Brady was already learning and collaborating on Twitter. Today, he’s at the cutting edge of new medicine and surgery.

In this episode, he talks about advances in patient diagnosis and also the new challenges that has created in the health system.

I was so excited to catch up with him again, years after we first started collaborating together with CREATION’s insights to inspire other doctors to engage online.

Dr Brady also talks about how social media has played a vital role in communication for healthcare professionals, and how it’s flattened the professional hierarchy when it comes to learning.

But more that that - he says that social media does not only allow learning and sharing, but that it’s transformed the advancement of medical science itself.

And if you’re new to this. you don’t want to mis his tips on how to get started in building an online medical community.

My guest in this episode is one of the most passionate doctors I’ve spoken with about social media. So much so that while he describes being a doctor as his “day-job”, he talks about being on social media as his “passion project”.

It’s a kind of passion for learning, and also for teaching. If you’ve been following the show, you’ll already know from other guests that doctors are using social media to learn and share knowledge, but Dr Amar Puttanna takes it to another level, setting up new kinds of channels for doctors to learn and share with each other.

I loved hearing what a significant part he believes social media has played in his own career.

And he’s one of what might be a movement of doctors who want to bring fun to serious education.