"The Social Network" from Upstate Medical University's Alumni Journal, Spring 2011

the social network B y R e n é e G e a r h a rt L e v y

It used to be enough to just practice good medicine. Today’s doctors are challenged not only to stay current in their fields, but also to adopt new technologies and to “brand” themselves via social media.

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n December, 2010, orthopedic surgeons Brett Greenky, MD ’84, and Seth Greenky, MD ’83, launched a blog. The physicians are brothers who specialize in joint replacement, both partners at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists. With topics such as “Boning up on Osteoporosis,” and “Blood Conservation During Joint Replacement Surgery,” the blog is intended to be another vehicle to offer information to patients. “More and more, patients are getting medical information from digital media,” says Dr. Brett Greenky. “Blogs are an increasingly popular way of having an informal conversation with patients, a way of getting medical information to the public and cutting through some of the complexities.” The Greenkys may be on to something. Consider Kevin Pho, MD. In 2004, Pho, an internist in private practice in Nashua, New Hampshire, launched a blog to discuss breaking medical news. At the time, he had no grand expectations about the endeavor. Today, Pho’s blog, KevinMD.com, averages 310,000 page views per month, making him one of the nation’s premiere physician bloggers. Pho is regularly sought out for commentary in national media and as a presenter at medical meetings. His online presence has expanded to popular social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, where he has 30,000 followers.

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One of those is Bob West, PhD, SUNY Upstate associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and a staunch proponent of the use of social media in medicine. “In this day and age, with all that’s possible on the Internet, health care is just way behind the curve compared with other industries,” he says, particularly when it comes to the use of social media. “If you’ve got physicians sealed off behind private walls, is that really helping the patient? It’s kind of a defensive mode.” Two years ago, Dr. West started an elective in the College of Medicine that explores what he describes as “two opposite poles revolutionizing medicine.” The first is the Human Genome Project and its forthcoming genomic information. The second is the use of social

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Professor Bob West, PhD, and medical student Aaron Stupple ’12 advocate physicians using social media professionally.

J o u r n a l   /   s p r i n g

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