The 12 Top Voices in health care that you should be following now

Today we’re unveiling a special edition of our Top Voices list, highlighting the health care experts who are covering the COVID-19 pandemic. This group of medical doctors, many of whom are on the frontlines, are using LinkedIn to share what they’re seeing, what’s coming next (positive and negative) and offering insights on what all of us can and must do. We’re seeing members engaging with their content in extraordinary ways.

Every year, we publish Top Voices to surface the professionals whose posts, videos, articles or comments most light up quality conversations in their industries. As COVID-19 spreads across the U.S. and upends our personal and work lives, getting updates from trusted experts in health care is more important now than ever — and this group provides just that. There’s a former director of the CDC, the founder of a telehealth company and doctors documenting what they’re experiencing in hospitals around the country. In addition to saving lives and coming up with innovative solutions to help combat this pandemic, they’re sharing their experiences and expertise to help keep us safe and informed. They’re shedding light on the struggles they’re facing, reminding us about the importance of social distancing and revealing key insights about the virus. 

If you’re looking for relevant updates about the COVID-19 fight and the health care industry at large, this is a perfect place to start. Are there others you’re turning to? Mention them in the comments.

Note: These Top Voices are sharing their own expertise, experiences and opinions. Click here to get the latest COVID-19 updates and guidance from official sources such as the Center for Disease Control and World Health Organization. For more on the list’s methodology, see the bottom of this article.

Here are the #LinkedInTopVoices in health care right now.

What he talks about: Dr. Frieden — who has a long history in public health, including overseeing the Ebola epidemic as former director of the CDC — imparts his expertise on how we can defeat COVID-19 and prevent future epidemics. That includes guidance on when to get tested, when it will be safe to re-open communities and how to boost resilience for those with chronic disease.

What he wants you to know about COVID-19: “The streets are empty outside my Brooklyn apartment, yet I hear ambulances all the time,” Frieden writes. “It’s heartbreaking to know so many fellow New Yorkers, Americans and people around the world are struggling to fight or survive this virus. It drives home the fact that we really are all connected. What each person and each country does can affect every person and every other country.”

Follow Dr. Tom Frieden

What she talks about: Dr. Mehta supports and advocates for fellow physicians through her posts and an online group she founded with over 50,000 members. Over the past month, she’s raised awareness about a number of issues physicians are facing from the shortage of protective equipment to the stress being put on small practices.

How she sees COVID-19 reshaping medicine: “As someone who has been studying physician burnout on personal, organizational and societal levels for years, I've long held the belief that our current way of functioning was not sustainable and that systemic change was necessary,” Mehta tells LinkedIn. “I am fairly certain that these current challenges will escalate the pace at which these changes will need to occur. I hope, for everyone's sake, that years from now we are able to look back on this terrifying experience as a catalyst for a stronger, more flexible health care system.”

Follow Dr. Nisha Mehta

What he talks about: Dr. Frist, who is also a surgeon and former U.S. Senate majority leader, has been a calming voice of reason for many of his followers through his nearly-daily videos covering topics like how to improve your mental health during this time and experimental therapies for COVID-19. 

What he says has to change for us to beat COVID-19: “The vulnerable populations of this pandemic are not only the medically at risk, but children who depend on school lunches, hourly workers who have no sick days or child care, musicians, artists, rural and native populations who are far removed from health care facilities, people experiencing homelessness or who are incarcerated and have no freedom to practice physical distancing, the elderly and disabled whose support systems are compromised,” Frist explains in one of his videos and on his daily podcast. “If we don’t empower everyone, including the most vulnerable among us, with the ability to follow the government’s and CDC’s sweeping recommendations, the recommendations are effectively just words — words impossible to implement.”

Follow Dr. Bill Frist

What he talks about: The Indianapolis-based emergency room doctor often posts updates for his nearly 100,000 followers multiple times a day, sharing photos from the frontlines, guidelines should you need to visit an ER and helpful insights from his community. 

What it feels like on the frontlines: “This post sums up what I am feeling. I am scared, stressed, feeling like I am working in a thick ether as if we are the last line of defense in a world that is crumbling in some regards. All ER docs feel this way,” Profeta tells LinkedIn. “While we rejoice in the spirit of American ingenuity and the inner strength that comes from being a part of the greatest country on earth, we also know this virus is scared of no monument, of no words on a parchment, of no voice booming on a mic or echo from a podium under the rotunda.” 

Follow Dr. Louis Profeta

What she talks about: As the founder of a telehealth company, Dr. Romm shares pertinent information and resources for both physicians and patients quickly moving to a new world of telemedicine. She even posted a mock virtual doctor’s visit to help ease people’s anxiety about the experience.  

How she sees COVID-19 reshaping medicine: COVID-19 is a hurricane, and it will change the landscape of medicine forever. From visits going virtual (enabling health systems to vastly increase their volume of care) to reimbursement being broadened (setting the precedent that clinicians can be paid for their time texting and emailing patients) — “the world is going to look different on the other side,” Romm writes. 

Follow Dr. Sylvia Romm

What he talks about: Dr. Sohail, a professor and the chair of cardiovascular infectious diseases at Mayo Clinic, has been sharing what he knows about coronaviruses and what he’s learning about COVID-19’s spread and symptoms.

What he says has to change for us to beat COVID-19: “We are in the middle of a pandemic and need to make some drastic changes in how we do business in medicine,” Sohail writes. “Considering the unprecedented nature of this situation, government, insurers, hospitals, and medical boards must ease HIPPA regulation, change billing practices, remove onerous licensing and credentialing requirements, and limit malpractice suits to allow HCWs to easily work at new locations and facilities, share medical records, and work in states where there is greater need but where they are not licensed to practice.”

Follow Dr. Rizwan Sohail

What she talks about: Dr. Joe, who is a practicing ER physician and CEO of a health care consulting firm, posts relevant information on topics ranging from treatment guidelines to the CARES Act and how to bill for telehealth. 

How she sees COVID-19 reshaping medicine: "Despite the awfulness of COVID-19, it accelerated the adoption of telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, and digital health tools more in one week than we've been able to do in the last 10 years,” Joe tells LinkedIn. “Equally as impressive, digital media facilitated knowledge sharing and collaboration among experts, scientists, and health care workers to create solutions to tackle global life-threatening issues with unprecedented speed and efficiency in a way never seen before in history. We will fight this together, and come out stronger."

Follow Dr. Jennifer Joe

What he talks about: Dr. Brown, the head of emergency medicine and the coronavirus task force for a company that connects 27,000 medical providers across the U.S. to the right hospitals and care centers, shares best practices for hospitals working to combat COVID-19, policy updates on screening and the usage of masks, and more.

What’s keeping him motivated: The thousands of Envision Healthcare physicians and clinicians on the frontlines who he’s mobilizing, re-deploying and supporting right now. “It’s an honor and privilege to support these healthcare heroes who are working around the clock to provide lifesaving care and comfort to those in need,” Brown tells LinkedIn. 

Follow Dr. Adam Brown

What she talks about: Seattle-based Dr. Medows has been spreading information about what the public can do to protect health care workers, messages of gratitude and ways to prioritize wellness in a time of uncertainty.

What she wants you to know about COVID-19: “The most important thing I want people to know is that we will get through this by all doing our part,” Medows tells LinkedIn. She writes three ways you can do so here, including, most critically, staying home and focusing on prevention. 

Follow Dr. Rhonda Medows

What she talks about: As someone on the frontlines of this pandemic from both a care and an innovation standpoint, Dr. Fusaro shares regular updates on development of safer testing options and what she and her colleagues are going through.

What’s keeping her motivated: The support from her community, from her neighbors clapping for health care workers every night to people sending pizzas and thank you notes to her hospital. “Just another reminder that we are all in this together,” she says. 

Follow Dr. Angela Fusaro

What he talks about: Dr. Galea, dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health and former president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, shares about the pandemic’s impact on society and the health gaps it intensifies. 

What he wants you to know about COVID-19: “COVID-19 has revealed deep disparities in the health of populations. We are starting to more fully see the conditions that create poor health – the marginalization that leaves immigrants, low-wage workers, older Americans, people struggling with addiction and other vulnerable groups at a unique disadvantage during this pandemic,” Galea says. “We also see how their health links to ours, and ours to theirs. No one is separate, and no health is possible while anyone is sick. The better we understand this, the healthier we can be.” 

Follow Dr. Sandro Galea

What she talks about: A professor and health care consultant, Dr. Nehal covers a range of topics including lessons from South Korea’s response to the pandemic, the tradeoffs hospitals are being forced to make and being wary of data published without peer review.

What she wants you to know about COVID-19: “The most important thing to know about COVID-19 is that, as counterproductive as it sounds, doing nothing and staying home is the way you can save lives,” Umbereen tells LinkedIn. “Physical distancing does not mean isolation, though, and take care of your mental and physical health.”

Follow Dr. Umbereen S. Nehal

How we compiled the list

LinkedIn’s Top Voices lists rank the members whose content — posts, articles, videos and comments — generate outsized downstream engagement in their industries and who reflect the world we work in today. You can read more here. For this Special Edition, we added additional guardrails: Candidates were required to be health care professionals, either operating on the frontlines or with backgrounds in public health, epidemiology or health care innovation. Potential Top Voices also had to have at least 1,000 followers, demonstrating organic demand for their conversations, and be a regular contributor, publishing multiple times a week at minimum — and covering the pandemic with credible, trustworthy insights and data. Ranking is based on both downstream engagement and quality insights, especially as related to COVID-19.

Reporting by Ashley Peterson and Laura Lorenzetti.