The kind of misinformation on reproductive and sexual health flooding social media has profound effects on young women, putting their physical and mental wellbeing under threat. It’s a code-red public health disaster and has prompted many doctors to take to social media to share correct information and to bust myths. Here are five physicians who talk facts about everything from menstrual health to contraception to fertility treatment.
1. Jennifer Lincoln, known to her over 2 million TikTok followers as @drjenniferlincoln, is a Portland, Oregon-based obstetrician-gynecologist. Lincoln’s short, humorous videos, based on scientific research, covers a wide range of subjects about health, mythbusting about period pains, treating vaginal infections with pseudoscientific cures or misinformation about sexually transmitted infections and safety of Covid-19 vaccines. She also uses her platform to discuss pressing issues like widespread inaccessibility of hygienic menstrual products, birth control, abortion or how to become an OB GYN whose practice is inclusive of people with different gender identities.
2. Alease Daniel, or @aleasetheembryologist on TikTok, is a Raleigh-based embryologist, who has introduced her more than 124,000 TikTok followers to her IVF lab. IVF is a method of assisted reproduction with sperm and eggs combined outside of the body in a laboratory dish. Millions of TikTok viewers have seen her work in the lab, talking through the procedures like prepping dishes for IVF to retrieving the eggs or counting sperm. She also uses her videos to debunk reproductive misconceptions. Daniel has told Wral that she’s posting videos because fertility treatment can leave people feeling out of control and having knowledge about the process provides a little bit of peace of mind.
3. Tanaya Narendra, @dr_cuterus on Instagram, is a gynecologist, who uses her social media account to post videos and illustrations about reproductive health, safe sex, body positivity or safety of Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, that prevent some strains of virus causing cervical cancer. Her posts in English and Hindi are short, funny and educational, like this video titled “Dude, where’s my vagina?” explaining the anatomy of the uterus using an anatomical model.
4. Ali Rodriguez, also known as The Latina Doc or @alirodmd on TikTok, is using her dancing TikTok videos to answer questions and clear misconceptions about reproductive health in English and Spanish. In October, she told VerywellHealth that being a Latina, she understands the stigma and secrecy surrounding reproductive health and contraception and her patients from the Latinx community often are exposed to misinformation or lack of information about it.
5. Natalie Crawford, or @nataliecrawfordmd on TikTok, is a Texas-based obstetrician-gynecologist and fertility specialist. Since 2019 she’s been sharing fertility-related information on ovulation, reproductive health and diets. She’s also been posting informative videos about endometriosis, a long-term condition where tissue that normally lines the inside uterus grows outside of it, usually causing severe pain and sometimes other issues such as infertility. Endometriosis can be debilitating and can take years to diagnose and treat accordingly. Crawford also runs Instagram and YouTube accounts to share information more extensively than she can do in few-second TikTok videos.
