Doctors can use the media to fight misinformation, educate public, become stars

CHICAGO — The public is yearning for accurate, evidence-based health information, and health professionals can provide it to a wide audience by engaging with the media, according to a presentation at the Women in Medicine Summit.

“Clear, compassionate, accurate and lifesaving communication improves patient care and health outcomes,” Lipi Roy, MD, MPH, FASAM, host of the YouTube series, Health, Humor and Harmony, said during her presentation.

“Physician voices and specifically women’s voices matter now more than ever, and specifically health messaging matters,” said Roy, who is also medical director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Transition Housing Sites at Housing Works.

The public’s need for information dramatically increased as the COVID-19 pandemic began, Roy said, as misinformation began to saturate the media environment.

Lipi Roy

“We need people like us to know what we’re talking about and be out in public talking about it, so we can counteract those messages of the quackery out there,” she said.

A path to the public

“Science and storytelling can actually build trust with the public while also combatting misinformation,” Roy said. “We are a highly trusted profession. We need to leverage that trust and knowledge in order to distinguish medical facts vs. fiction.”

In March 2020, a producer at MSNBC called Roy and asked her to appear on air to discuss COVID-19. Roy asked the network’s producers to formalize the relationship and now, as a medical contributor, Roy has since appeared on MSNBC and NBC News more than 350 times.

Few media careers, however, start with a phone call from a cable news network. Roy already was speaking at conferences frequently when she reduced her clinical work to part time so she could concentrate on her media and consulting work in 2019. She began by writing free articles.

“I didn’t start writing for Forbes. I started writing,” Roy said, adding that she kept pitching articles wherever she could.

Plenty of benefits await health professionals in media, Roy said, such as the personal and professional exposure, branding potential and simply sharing knowledge and expertise in educating, informing and empowering the public. Opportunities in clinical work, writing, teaching, speaking and elsewhere open up as well.

Challenges, criticism and self-care

These appearances take a lot of work. For example, Roy said, a 3-minute television appearance requires hours of preparation. Producers will tell her what topics they would like her to discuss, and she will then hit the journals and consult with colleagues to make sure she is up-to-date on the latest research — and that she knows it cold.

“If you ever watch me on TV or watch other experts on TV, they’re not reading notes,” she said. “They are looking into the camera. I have to understand it myself, and then make it digestible to the audience.”

Roy attributes her repeat appearances on television to her ability to convey information without talking down to her audience.

“I’ve been told I’m good on camera. That doesn’t mean you have to look like Gisele Bündchen. What it means is that you’re able to explain things that are understandable,” she said.

References to fashion models aside, appearance does matter in television, she said. Those hours of preparation before news segments also include lighting, hair and makeup — especially for women.

There’s a double standard in appearance for men vs. women, Roy said, but there is also an advantage to being well coifed and well dressed.

“When we look presentable, people are more inclined to listen, and that’s why I do it,” she said.

But not everyone in her audience has been receptive. Roy said that she also has been the target of a constant barrage of online and sometimes in-person criticism and judgment as well as insults, misogyny and racism. These attacks come with a cost, too.

“Being in the public eye and utilizing media can really take a toll on your mental health,” she said. “It can be incredibly taxing and challenging and stressful.”

Health professionals who pursue a career in media need to practice self-care, she said. Roy enjoys meditation, yoga, journaling and prayer. She also emphasized the need to get 7 to 8 hours a sleep a night, eat, exercise and hydrate. Leisure is important as well.

Most importantly, she continued, health professionals should ask for help when they feel like they need it.

“We tend not to ask for help because we perceive that as weakness, particularly in the medical field. Don’t do that,” she said. “Physicians, particularly during the pandemic, have had historic rates of burnout in large part because we just don’t seek help.”

Other ways to advocate

Health professionals do not need to commit to a media blitz if they want to improve the quality of information in the public sphere.

“More doctors and health care professionals could and, I believe, should be advocates,” Roy said. “Elected officials and other key decision makers tend to listen to us. When we speak, they tend to listen.”

Roy urged professionals to send quick emails or make brief phone calls to their mayor, governor or senator. Signing online petitions, attending protests, using social media and donating time or money have great impact for the time involved as well, she said.

Specifically, Roy said that women’s voices matter in these efforts.

“Data shows that progress accelerates when women and girls speak out,” she said. “Women leaders have a proven track record.”

Despite all these factors indicating a challenging journey on the road to media stardom, Roy said, communication efforts are worthwhile.

“Health care professionals are highly trusted by the public,” she said. “Media is a powerful way to have a meaningful impact on a large audience.”