Kevin Pho

Kevin Pho is an American physician of internal medicine with influence in social media on the subject of health care. He is the founder and editor of KevinMD.com, a popular website visited by medical professionals.
He writes on issues of medical technology in practice and on doctors and patients engaging one another online and in social media. Pho writes on and speaks about how physicians can cultivate online reputations, and he is often cited on such issues.

Kevin Pho was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He went to high school at University of Toronto Schools before attending Boston University, where he earned his B.A./M.D. in 1999. He then completed the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Boston University Medical Center. As of 2013, he practices in Nashua, New Hampshire with the Nashua Medical Group.

In 2004, Pho started the blog, KevinMD, in response to positive feedback from patients who read his blog post about the Vioxx recall. He had previously worked as a research for Google Answers, where he would answer questions by patients, and realized that patients did not seem to be getting the information they needed in the examination room.

Pho frequently writes about the benefits of physicians using social media as a way to help patients locate reliable information about healthcare and to communicate issues with medicine to the public and among colleagues. Over 1,000 healthcare professionals contribute articles to KevinMD.com.

In 2009, his blog received 1.4 million unique visitors. That year, Pho raised $1,000 to support the United Way of Greater Nashua by using his Twitter and Facebook profiles.

Pho received criticism for posting an article about a surgeon whose supervisor intentionally harmed a patient during vascular surgery in order to provide a teaching opportunity. Pho removed the story after it was determined to be fiction and apologized for not vetting its truth.

Pho has appeared as a keynote speaker and panel member for the Massachusetts Medical Society, New England Journal of Medicine, Texas Medical Association, BlogWorld, and New Media Expo. He has been interviewed by CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and the Wall Street Journal.

In 2013, Pho published Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices.

Pho is on USA Today’s board of contributors. He is also a contributor to The New York Times’ “Room for Debate” and CNN.

Pho claims that electronic health records interfere with face-to-face interaction physicians with their patients.(based on a Rand Corp survey). He claims the U.S. federal government spent $22 billion to encourage providers to make the transition from paper.

Pho blogs on KevinMD.com was called a "must-read blog" by Rebecca Ruiz of Forbes. His Twitter account was recommended by CNN, The Gaurdian, and by Stat News. His opinion pieces appear in multiple print and online media sources.

In February 2010, Pho was listed in the New Hampshire Union Leader’s ‘Top 40 Under 40.’

In January 2012, Pho was listed on Klout as the #1 healthcare social media influencer and #1 social media influencer in medicine.