Celebrity doctors include physicians, medical professionals, people with the title doctor, and some with the nickname "doctor" who have extensive media exposure. Some may have a secondary role as an entertainer. [1] Examples of celebrity doctors include Dr. Drew, Dr. Miami, Dr. Oz, Dr. Ruth, Dr. Weil and Dr. Om Murti Anil.
A "celebrity doctor" is a medical professional noted for appearances on television, the internet and social media, books, and speaking engagements. [1] [2] For many years, doctors such as Everett Koop, Benjamin Spock, and Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth) gave advice on the radio, on television, and in books. [1] With the growth of the internet and social media, medical professionals had more places to reach the public, especially with messages alternative to mainstream medical advice. [1] [3] [4]
Celebrity doctors are part of a "healthcare–media complex" that constantly seeks new attention of consumers in the 24-hour news cycle with catchy content about health in order to achieve and maintain high ratings. [2] There is a conflict between their roles and responsibilities as medical doctors, and their roles as business people and entertainers. [5] [6] [7]
Consumers generally trust that the content they receive from celebrity doctors is valid due to their credentials and their fame. Content may be exaggerated and simplified by the need to gain and keep the public's attention, and is often general and may not be applicable to an individual receiving the content. [1] [2] [3] [8] The problem of conflicts of interest becomes especially acute if a celebrity doctor endorses some specific product or approach to health when they deliver content about health, and also sells related products. [3] [9] [10] [11] Sometimes the content is dangerous because people who are sick waste time following poor or irrelevant advice and their illness advances and becomes more difficult to manage. [3]
In The BMJ's Christmas 2014 edition, a study determined that for the TV show The Doctors , "evidence supported 63%, contradicted 14%, and was not found for 24%" of recommendations made by the panel of doctors, and for The Dr. Oz Show , "evidence supported 46%, contradicted 15%, and was not found for 39%" of his recommendations; the study also said that "the public should be skeptical about recommendations made on medical talk shows." [12]
Deepak Chopra is an Indian-American author, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternative medicine. In the 1990s, Chopra, a physician by education, became a popular proponent of holistic approach to well-being that includes yoga, meditation, and nutrition, among other new-age therapies.
David Drew Pinsky, commonly known as Dr. Drew, is an American media personality, internist, and addiction medicine specialist. He hosted the nationally syndicated radio talk show Loveline from the show's inception in 1984 until its end in 2016. On television, he hosted the talk show Dr. Drew On Call on HLN and the daytime series Lifechangers on The CW. In addition, he served as producer and starred in the VH1 show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and its spinoffs Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House. Pinsky currently hosts several podcasts, including Ask Dr. Drew, The Dr. Drew Podcast on the PodcastOne Network, and The Adam and Drew Show with his former Loveline co-host Adam Carolla. From February 2019 - December 2023, he hosted Dr. Drew After Dark on the Your Mom's House network.
Andrew Thomas Weil is an American celebrity doctor who advocates for integrative medicine.
Medscape is a website providing access to medical information for clinicians and medical scientists; the organization also provides continuing education for physicians and other health professionals. It references medical journal articles, Continuing Medical Education (CME), a version of the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database, medical news, and drug information. At one time Medscape published seven electronic peer reviewed journals.
Travis Lane Stork is an American television personality, emergency physician, and author best known for appearing on The Bachelor, and as the host of the syndicated daytime talk show The Doctors from 2008 to 2020.
Mehmet Cengiz Öz, also known as Dr. Oz, is an American television personality, physician, author, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, and former political candidate.
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, later called simply Rehab with Dr. Drew, is a reality television show that aired on the cable network VH1 in which many of the episodes chronicle a group of well-known people as they are treated for alcohol and drug addiction by Dr. Drew Pinsky and his staff at the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California. The first five seasons of the series, on which Pinsky also serves as executive producer, cast celebrities struggling with addiction, with the first season premiering on January 10, 2008, and the fifth airing in 2011.
Christian Spencer Jessen is an English celebrity doctor, television personality, and writer. He is best known for appearing in the Channel 4 programmes Embarrassing Bodies (2007–2015) and Supersize vs Superskinny (2008–2014).
The Doctors is a daily American syndicated talk show featuring medical advice. It debuted on September 8, 2008 and aired until August 8, 2022. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Media Ventures. The series is a spin-off of Dr. Phil and is the first talk show to be a third generation talk show spin-off, as Dr. Phil itself spun off The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Embarrassing Bodies is a British BAFTA Award-winning medical reality television programme broadcast by Channel 4 and made by Maverick Television since 2007. In 2011, an hour-long live show was introduced, "Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic", which makes use of Skype technology. Various spin-offs have been produced in relation to the programme to target different patients, such as Embarrassing Fat Bodies and Embarrassing Teenage Bodies. The series' basic premise involves members of the public with a wide variety of medical conditions consulting the show's doctors for advice; in some cases, cosmetic or corrective surgery has been offered and undertaken to treat patients with more severe or noticeable ailments.
Ginni Mansberg is an Australian General Practitioner and television presenter. She is best known for her frequent appearances on Channel Seven's morning TV shows Sunrise and The Morning Show, and as the co-host of Embarrassing Bodies Down Under, which was broadcast in 2013.
Dawn Caroline Harper, known professionally as Dr Dawn Harper, is an English doctor, media personality and television presenter known for co-presenting the Channel 4 television series Embarrassing Bodies opposite Pixie McKenna and Christian Jessen. She works as a part-time GP in Stroud, Gloucestershire and runs several private clinics.
David Perlmutter is an American celebrity doctor, author, low-carbohydrate diet advocate and promoter of functional medicine.
Brad McKay is a New Zealand born Australian doctor, science communicator and author. He is best known for his television series Embarrassing Bodies Down Under, which was broadcast in 2013. He is also a regular guest on numerous Australian television and radio programs including Today.
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated daytime television talk show, hosted by Mehmet Oz, that aired between September 14, 2009, and January 14, 2022. Each episode features segments on health, wellness, and medical information, sometimes including true crime stories and celebrity interviews. It was co-produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions/Harpo Studios and OzWorks LLC/Oz Media in association with Sony Pictures Television.
Simon John Howard is a public health physician working in the North East of England. He has authored or co-authored a number of articles on public health in medical journals, and served as Public Health Registrar to Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies from 2013–2014, acting as Editor-in-Chief of the 2012 Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer.
The Dr. Oz Show is an American daytime television syndicated talk series that aired between September 14, 2009, and January 14, 2022. The host of the show is Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon who developed an affinity for alternative medicine. Throughout its run, various episodes and segment features have been vastly criticized for a lack of scientific credibility about the medical claims on the show. A study by the British Medical Journal in 2014 concluded that less than half the claims made on The Dr. Oz Show were backed by "some" evidence, and that fell to a third when the threshold was raised to "believable" evidence. The website Science-Based Medicine goes even further, claiming: "No other show on television can top The Dr. Oz Show for the sheer magnitude of bad health advice it consistently offers, all while giving everything a veneer of credibility." What follows is a selection of claims lacking scientific evidence.
Jungo TV, LLC is a privately-held media company that owns and operates television channels and streaming apps founded in 2016. Jungo TV is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in San Diego, Mumbai, and Manila.
Om Murti Anil is a Nepalese cardiologist, author and social media personality. He is the founder of National Cardiac Centre in Kathmandu. He has published two books: Ma Pani Doctor (2013) and Jiwanta Sambandha (2023). He has more than a million followers on facebook, where he shares his guidance and motivational posts on leading a healthy lifestyle.
Ma Pani Doctor is a book authored by Om Murti Anil, a cardiologist from Nepal, which was published in 2013. The book aims to promote awareness of health and prevent heart disease. It provides guidance on preventing and managing diseases through lifestyle changes, diet, and health awareness. The book's title, "I am also a doctor," is roughly translated from the Nepali language.
In 2002, the California Board of Psychology determined that McGraw did not need his license for the purposes of his show because he was "doing more entertainment than psychology."