Bad Influence: The Rise of the Health Influencer. With Deb Cohen

About this episode

This episode explores the impact of health influencers on social media and their effect on medical information and patient safety.

In this episode, Annabelle is joined by Deb Cohen, author of Bad Influence , to explore how social media has become a major source of health information and how it is reshaping the way medical ideas, diagnoses, and treatments are promoted and consumed. We discuss the rise of the health influencer, the booming online market for health and wellness products, and why persuasive storytelling often outperforms traditional medical evidence. From parasocial relationships to fear-based narratives, we unpack the techniques being used to sell health online, how they interact with regulation, and what this means for patient safety, trust, and the future of medical truth in an attention-driven digital world.

People in this episode

Host: Annabelle

Guest: Deb Cohen

Topics covered

• health influencers
• social media
• medical information
• patient safety
• digital health

Keywords

• health influencer
• social media
• medical evidence
• patient trust
• digital health

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Bad Influence

More episodes of Digital Health Podcast- Royal Society of Medicine

• Informed Consent in the Age of AI. With Anthony Searle- Barrister · May 12, 2026 · 44 min
• Cybersecurity as a Clinical Risk. With Florence Hudson- Columbia University · April 13, 2026 · 32 min
• How can we fix the NHS-Healthtech relationship? With Liam Cahill · March 25, 2026 · 36 min
• Innovative Evidence: From Lab to Wrist with Loss-of-Pulse Detection. With Dr Jake Sunshine- Research Scientist at Google · March 17, 2026 · 26 min
• AI-induced psychosis- With Dr Josh Au Yeung · March 11, 2026 · 41 min
• Youtube & Health: Safeguarding Medical Truth in an Algorithmic Age. With Dr Vishaal Virani. · February 25, 2026 · 30 min