From making sure people are getting the right care and promoting new, innovative medications and treatments to helping demystify current healthcare laws and insurance coverage, healthcare is really a multifaceted industry. The top healthcare influencers include a mix of providers and advocates. Get to know some of the doctors, care providers, patients, and others who are using their influence and reputation to help make healthcare better for all.
25 Top Healthcare Influencers
Yoni Freedhoff, MD
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff is author of “The Diet Fix” and writes the blog Weighty Matters. He is a top healthcare influencer with 39,800 Twitter followers and is known for championing a different approach to dieting and weight loss. He’s also the co-owner of the Bariatric Medical Group, which takes a non-surgical approach to helping obese people lose weight.
Barby Ingle
Barby Ingle is a chronic pain advocate who’s suffered from complex regional pain syndrome for nearly two decades. She is one of the top healthcare influences with 27,100 Twitter followers. She is the president of the International Pain Foundation.
Amanda Bisk
Amanda Bisk is an Australia healthcare influencer, and is a former pole vaulter. She discovered how fitness could be medicine after she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue. As one of the top healthcare influencers, she has 657,000 Instagram followers, and offers a range of fitness and health programs on her website.
Kevin Pho, MD
Kevin Pho, MD is a top healthcare influencer with 159,000 Twitter followers and is probably one of the most well-known doctors on social media. He built up his influence with the blog KevinMD, where he offers commentary on current issues facing doctors and healthcare as a whole.
Andrew Lopez, RN
Andrew Lopez, RN is one of the top healthcare influencers on Twitter, where he has 14,500 followers. He regularly advocates for nurses’ rights and healthcare reform.
Dave Walker
Dave Walker is a pharmacist and top healthcare influencer on Twitter with 16,900 followers. He regularly tweets about issues that affect patient safety, and about new developments in healthcare and pharmacology.
Sanjay Gupta, MD
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a neurosurgeon and the chief medical correspondent at CNN. He is certainly one of the top healthcare influencers with more than 2.5 million Twitter followers. He covers pretty much every topic there is to cover health wise — from the health of the current US president to the troubles facing healthcare reform.
Joel Fuhrman, MD
Dr. Joel Fuhrman is a family physician known for using nutrition to help people improve their health. As one of the top healthcare influencers, he has 64,100 Twitter followers.
Joe Cross
Joe Cross, aka “Joe the Juicer,” created the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” which detailed how he went from being obese to fit and healthy by drinking juiced vegetables. Today, he’s one of the top healthcare influencers by turning his documentary and experience into a empire known as Reboot With Joe. He has 30,400 Twitter followers.
Berci Meskó, MD, PhD
Dr. Berci Mesko is a top healthcare influencer and a “medical futurist.” He’s particularly concerned about the impact of tech on the future of healthcare. He has 80,700 Twitter followers.
Christina Farr
Christina Farr is a top healthcare influencer with 29,100 followers on Twitter. She’s also a health reporter at CNBC. She mainly covers topics that focus on the convergence of healthcare and technology.
Gary Taubes
Journalist and author Gary Taubes has 53,900 Twitter followers and has his sights set on sugar. The top healthcare influencer has written several books pointing the finger at sugar as the reason behind the obesity epidemic, and as the main cause of unwanted weight gain.
Melissa Hartwig
Melissa Hartwig is one of the founders of the Whole 30 diet, a reset diet that has many devotees, and that attracts plenty of people’s attention every New Years. The diet promises to help people look and feel better by eliminating all of the foods that can contribution to inflammation. As one of the top healthcare influencers, she has 248,000 followers on Instagram.
Kelly Starrett
Kelly Starrett is a physical therapist and CrossFit trainer who focuses on reducing injury risk and pain while improving athletes’ performance. He’s a top healthcare influencer with 115,000 followers on Twitter.
Atul Gawande, MD MPH
Dr. Atul Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and a member of the board of trustees for LifeBox. He’s a top healthcare influencer with 234,000 Twitter followers, to whom he often tweets about issues in the healthcare industry in a humorous way.
Jennifer Arnold, MD
If you watch reality TV, you might recognize Dr. Jennifer Arnold as one half of the Little Couple. In addition to being a top healthcare influencer, she’s also a neonatologist and cancer survivor with 268,000 Twitter followers.
David Perlmutter, MD
Dr. David Perlmutter is a neurologist who’s written a few books arguing against a low-carb diet. Hey, your brain needs those carbs! The top healthcare influencer has 49,300 Twitter followers.
Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS
Dr. Josh Axe is a chiropractor and doctor of nutritional medicine known for encouraging the use of food as medicine. He’s a top healthcare influencer with 263,000 followers on Instagram.
Kris Carr
Kris Carr is a cancer survivor and wellness activist with 149,000 followers on Twitter. She’s one of the top healthcare influencers all about encouraging others and helping people to live the healthiest lives possible.
Mehmet Oz
Dr. Oz is a surgeon and host of a TV show. With more than four million Twitter followers, he might be one of the most influential people in healthcare today and certainly one of the top healthcare influencers. Whether that’s good or bad depends on who you ask. Although plenty of people do love him, he’s also come under fire for recommending potentially ineffective or even dangerous remedies.
Joseph Mercola, DO
Dr. Joseph Mercola is another controversial, but still prominent healthcare influencer. He has 283,000 Twitter followers, and is known for recommending a slew of “natural” remedies, some of which might not actually do anything to improve health.
Mark Hyman, MD
If you love avocados and other high-fat foods, you can thank top healthcare influencer Dr. Mark Hyman for helping those foods land on the “healthy” list. He’s the author of “Eat Fat, Get Thin,” and has 153,000 followers on Twitter.
Marion Nestle
Marion Nestle is the author of the book “Food Politics,” and a professor of nutrition at NYU. She’s a top healthcare influencer known for trying to educate people about how to eat healthy, without resorting to weird gimmicks or tricks. She has 143,000 Twitter followers.
Michelle Obama
Former First Lady Michelle Obama used her time in the White House to encourage kids to get active, and to encourage healthy eating. She has 9.89 million Twitter followers.
Andrew Weil, MD
Dr. Andrew Weil is the OG of alternative or integrative medicine. He’s a top healthcare influence who’s been encouraging a holistic, nutrition-based approach to wellness for decades. These days, he has 660,000 Twitter followers.
