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.

Social media is saving lives. If that sounds like an extreme statement, listen to this conversation.

There must be few of us who have not been touched by cancer in some way. It’s an area of healthcare where it seems there’s so much work to be done. But listening to Dr Shaalan Beg, who is a medical oncologist based in Texas, gave me so much hope.

In this episode he talks about the amazing ways that cancer treatment has progressed in recent years - and also the challenges that all this new medical science brings with it.

He’s passionate about access to clinical trials, and I learned from him about some of the challenges in the current system that lead to inequity of knowledge about, and access to, those trials.

We talk about AI, and how it can be used to support clinical decisions, for better patient care.

And we talk about Dr Beg’s journey on social media. He shares how vital he believes it is for oncologists to be present today, and he talks about where it’s going. I loved how he shared some of his favourite doctors on Instagram and TikTok and the impact they have on reaching the public.

And of course we talk about the future.

I first met Dr Kevin Fernando in person at a European medical congress where thousands of doctors were meeting to learn about the latest science in diabetes care.

I felt like I knew him already, because I’d been listening to his social media posts and seeing the impact he was making online among healthcare professionals all over the world, through the work I do at CREATION.co.

But what I really loved about recording this episode with Dr Fernando was how much he talks about how social media is what allows him to learn - to keep on top of new science - and then to share that knowledge.

He’s a GP with a special interest in diabetes and cardiometabolic disease, and he practises in a small town on the East Coast of Scotland, but from there he reaches healthcare professionals all over the UK, and in fact all over the world.

I loved learning from his predictions about the future of primary care in the UK, and about the future or social media for doctors and patients, and the role of industry in the online medical conversation.

Hi, I'm Daniel Ghinn, and this is Better Listening for Better Health.

It's a podcast about how healthcare professionals learn and share medical knowledge.

We're going to discover this together, by listening to some of the most inspiring doctors, nurses and scientists I've met.

We'll hear them talk about how social media impacts their work and helps them achieve better health.

Our first episode is coming soon, so follow or subscribe now on your favourite platform.