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Doximity Fellowship program: Improving medicine–technology connection
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More than 300 physicians from across the United States applied for the Doximity Fellowship program. Of these, only 90 were selected for a telephone interview and, ultimately, 47 were chosen this past January.
Edward C. Chao
Doximity is a physicians-only website with approximately 25% of US physicians as members. The site aims to enhance medicine by providing a convenient, HIPAA-compliant means for physicians to consult each other, as well as participate in other activities, such as discussing papers from more than 300 journals.
Lily Peng, MD, Doximity’s head of clinical content, was inspired to “bring the medical literature and discussions of papers on Doximity to all 150,000 members, and to provide a more interactive and timely manner for readers and authors to interact,” she told me via email.
In another email, Taylor Carroll, manager of public relations and marketing at Doximity, said, “The Doximity fellows program is comprised of physician leaders from around the country who are actively engaged with medical literature in their respective fields, who in every aspect advise the development of Doximity’s personalized news product.”
This year’s inaugural group of Doximity fellows represents a wide diversity of specialties, from allergy and immunology to rheumatology. Most are attendings, and there are a few fellows and residents. One of the fellows, Melinda Rathkopf, MD, said, “I’m really enjoying it so far. I enjoy reading the posts, posting questions and the camaraderie.”
As a member of the first cohort of Doximity fellows, I wanted to share a bit more about this experience.
As fellows, we post a minimum of three to four articles or comments per week during a 6-month period. The articles may come from DocNews, a feature of Doximity that consists of a broad array of articles from 300 journals and news updates, or may appear in iRounds, from our own reading. We comment on what we found interesting, surprising, what we agree or disagree with, or what was new to us. Quite often a lively discussion ensues, with Doximity members and other fellows raising questions and giving their opinions. I’ve posted papers on topics ranging from a new agent for treating diabetes (canagliflozin; Invokana, Janssen) to a New England Journal of Medicine commentary on the role of the NIH in nurturing more clinician-scientists. I’ve also learned so much from various discussions on posts — both those by me, as well as my colleagues.
Even in 2013, we still use pagers and fax machines on a daily basis, and medicine has been relatively slow to embrace technology. As physicians, we should fully harness its power — in everything from enhancing curbside consultations with our colleagues, to more effectively keeping up with the exponential number of papers in the medical literature, sharing innovative ideas and asking incisive questions. While many changes have arrived and continually shape how we practice and share information, many more are yet to be realized. You, too, can help shape the future. If you’re interested in joining the vanguard of physicians at the leading edge of an effort to continually improve the intersection of medicine and technology, I encourage you to contact me or Doximity to learn more about the Doximity Fellowship program.