Let's talk about Colon Cancer…
On this week's episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry we have Dr. Austin Chiang who is a triple board-certified gastroenterologist and advanced endoscopist who serves as an Assistant Professor in Medicine, Director of the Endoscopic Bariatric Program, and Chief Medical Social Media Officer for Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, PA.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness month and today we got to talk about one of the most preventable cancers we have. Dr. Chiang does a great job breaking down what is colon cancer, why do we have such a hard time getting people screened from it & his plans to make sure everyone who should get a colonoscopy actually gets one.
I also get to talk about a passion we both share which is to get as many physicians onto social media as possible. We will learn about an organization who purpose is getting the health experts (doctors) onto the platforms that they are needed.
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Introduction
Dr. Berry:
And welcome to another episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. I'm your host, Dr. Berry Pierre, your favorite Board Certified Internist. Founder of drberrypierre.com, as well the CEO of Pierre Medical Consulting. Helping you empower yourself for better health with the number one podcast for patient advocacy, affirmation and education. This week we bring you an amazing episode on colon cancer. Why? Because if you're listening to this on the day the episode drops, it is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. And guys I'll be honest, it has been so difficult to get a gastroenterologist to come on to talk to us about colon cancer. Really just gastroenterology things related. We were able to knock it out of the park with Dr. Andrew Berry. He's a resident. He's almost finished, but I got one who is finished, finito and I think I knocked this out of the park.
So I have Dr. Austin Chiang, who is a triple board-certified, dual ivy-league educated and trained gastroenterologist. He's an advanced endoscopist who currently serves as an Assistant Professor in Medicine, Director of the Endoscopic Bariatric Program, and the Chief Medical Social Media Officer for Jefferson Health. So not only did I get a gastroenterologist to talk to us about colon cancer, I got one who is in love with social media, who understands the importance of empowering patients with accurate medical information while he's online. And he has an MPH as well too. So I mean this is the perfect person to have on the show and guys, let me tell you, I didn't want to waste the opportunity so we talk about colon cancer on this episode. We talk about what has been his pursuits and his tips and tricks as far as getting people to do colonoscopies.
And of course I had to end the show and ask him why does he think social media is important. Again, if you know, I'm a big proponent of physicians being online to really try to combat all of this negative and really incorrect information that is out there, regardless healthcare is concerned. So he is a champion of it. He actually has his own organization as well that he's the president of. And I'm going to talk about that. So you gotta stick around towards the end of the show, listen and hear about how, especially if my physician colleagues who are listening, how you can be involved and get in the thick of things, especially when it comes to social media and healthcare.
So without further ado, get ready for another amazing episode here on Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. And like always remember to subscribe to the episode. Leave us a five-star review, especially if you're on Apple podcast or if you are one of my YouTube watchers, leave us a review as well and let's get ready. Talk to you guys later. Bye.
Episode
Dr. Berry:
Alright, Lunch and Learn community. You just heard introduction, and this is a topic that we've touched on, we've brushed, especially if you watch the Empower Yourself for Better Health series or you read some of the blog posts. We've talked about the importance of colon cancer. And of course, if you're one of my die-hard listeners, and you're listening to this at the time that is episode releases, this is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. So what better opportunity and time to reeducate the Lunch and Learn community, especially those who are on my podcast listeners, on such an important topic then in the month where everyone's talking about colon cancer awareness.
And I thought, I could talk about colon cancer but I don't think I would do it much justice. So I said, you know what, let me get someone who, that's what they do, that's their specialty when we talk about colon cancer and cancer to gut and gut health and everything in from digestion to anus. Let me get someone, that's what they do here. And that's why I'm so thankful for Dr. Austin for coming in to the show and blessing us here on Lunch and Learn community. Dr. Austin, thank you. Interesting, because most of the physicians that come on, I always just said Dr. Austin or doctor, whatever their first name is. You prefer Dr. Austin, Dr. Chang, let me know how, how we should be addressing you here on Lunch and Learn.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Dr. Austin is fine.
Dr. Berry:
Alright, I love it. So Dr. Austin again, thank you for coming on to the Lunch and Learn. Just for introduction, in case someone doesn't know who you are. You can give them a little introduction on who you are. I said I read the bio but I got a lot of people who skipped, pass my introduction. They do it on purpose. Because they want to get to the main meat of the episode. Tell them who you are.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
So I am a gastroenterologist by training and my area of focus within that is interventional or advanced endoscopy. And maybe we'll get into that a little bit later. But it's more sort of complex procedures, within gastroenterology as well as weight loss procedures, in the field as well. And my secondary interests is regarding healthcare and social media, which I know we'll get into a little later on. And so right now I am an assistant professor of medicine at Jefferson health in Philadelphia. I also lead the social media effort for the institution as the chief medical social media officer and I lead the weight loss endoscopy program there. And I'm sure you'll get to know me a little bit more throughout the interview.
Dr. Berry:
Definitely excited Lunch and Learn community and I was telling them right before we press record. I was looking for a gastroenterologist. I wanted to talk about colon cancer. But as I'm doing my deep dive, I'm reading his bio, I'm on his website, I'm on his YouTube page and I'm like, whoa, yes, he's a gastroenterologist. Actually a triple board and not even double boarded, triple boarded. He is one who I've been screaming for. He's one of these physicians who understands that the power of his voice can't be contained in the office. It has to be spread out here in the land of what we call social media, especially with all of the information that's out there. Some good, some not so good.
So again, I was a very excited and like I said, we are going to touch base on just like his importance of social media and of course he's MPH. Because of course, why wouldn't he be in a MPH? You guys know my preference of folks who have an MPH, right? So definitely appreciate you coming out to the show. So Dr. Austin tell us, for those who may not know what a gastroenterologist is. When a person, in particularly saying, yeah, you know what, I need to go see one, and it's so funny. I know in a hospital setting sometimes, I won't even say gastroenterologist, I'll say like stomach doctor, for short, I'll just shorten it because I think the word is sometimes frightens people a little bit.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Yeah, the word is a really long word and I think that you're right. A lot of people don't recognize what a gastroenterologist does or what it means. So the word itself, gastro means stomach and entero sort of stands for intestine. So anything related to the gut really, but you know, that term is a little bit of a misnomer because we also have to remember that the gut includes the esophagus, and other organs within the abdomen, like the liver, the pancreas. These are all things that fall within our purview. So anything related to these issues, which really is a very broad subject and you'll see that right now as time goes on, we're becoming more and more specialized because we're understanding every aspect of the gut about each of these organs. So much more that it's becoming too much for just a general gastroenterologist to handle a lot of the time. And so we have to specialize even further than that.
Dr. Berry:
And so true, especially when I have people, I have colleagues who, you know, they just do the intestines. I have colleagues who just does, liver so it's definitely interesting. Even when you sub specialize, you can even subspecialize after the subspecialty. Which is I think as physicians we're always learning and expanding our knowledge. So it was very interesting that we have people who are really becoming really honed in on really particular organ systems because it's so the knowledge out there is so vast that they actually have to.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Totally, I mean, we treat things from anything from acid reflux all the way to leading in the guts to cancers all throughout the gut. And interestingly, my role as advanced endoscopists, most often I'm treating complications of cancers. So complications of esophageal cancer, of pancreatic cancer. I help diagnose and treat complications of that, of colon cancer. So all of these, there's so much, and now, I said, my other area is in weight loss and obesity. So it's really expanded into all different fields.
Dr. Berry:
I love it. And you know, in speaking of course of the main party at here. Again, it says March and this is Colon Cancer Awareness Month and Colon Cancer is just one of those, no one wants cancer whatsoever. Right? And so when you hear about colon cancer and you hear about the instances of people who get it, people who die from it. What is that in general? So again, we know the intestines before, the Lunch and Learn community listeners, what does colon cancer entail and what does that mean? And why is this so important that we have to celebrate a whole month to be aware of it?
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers out there. And it's actually one of the only preventable types where we actually screen ahead of time. So that's why it's really important that we understand what it is. And when we think about the gut, there's the small bowel, we have 20 feet of small bowel in our belly. And then after that there's the large intestine, which is also known as the colon. And so here, sometimes there are preventable types of colon cancer that start off as little polyps or growths in the colon. And if we detect them early enough, we can actually remove it and prevent cancer from happening altogether.
Dr. Berry:
And that's interesting, especially when you talk about the fact that we can prevent it. Because a lot of times, especially when we talk about prevention, as an internist, I did outpatient medicine. Everything is prevention, prevention. Whether it is eating right, whether it is taking your blood pressure, medications, diabetes, I like all of these things is to try to prevent the in-organ stuff. And when I think when people hear like, hey, you know what, there's chances out there that if we do what we need to do right in terms of getting screening, we can actually prevent it. I think that's such a huge deal that I think that you would think would get people rushing the door to do. But like you said, it's one of the most common cancers out there. So even though we have a cancer that we know can be screened for, clearly not a lot of people are getting screened. Who are the type of people who should be getting screened? When should they even be screened? For the listeners out there.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
You're totally right. We set a goal as an entire field to try to get 80 percent by 2018. And that actually we didn't actually end up meeting that goal, which is really concerning because like I said, it's a preventable type of cancer and yet we can't get the entire recommended pool of people to get screened. So the way we go about screening this, and I think we'll get into the tools that we use, but we start recommending screening typically at age 50, is what most of our professional societies recommend. There are some societies that recommend screening a little bit earlier. So this is definitely a changing topic and the evolving landscape. So the American cancer society currently recommend starting screening at age 45. And many of the other gastroenterology societies also recommend if, people of African American also start screening at age 45 because of a higher risk in that category. So, it does vary. But generally speaking, most people with average risk and average risk, meaning, without any significant family history of colon cancer starting at 50. But there are isolated situations that need to start colon cancer screening earlier. So I think at the end of the day, it's important to ask your doctor when it's appropriate for you.
Dr. Berry:
And that's interesting, especially because of the fact that you have these differences societies that are saying like, hey, you know, maybe we should catch them a little bit earlier, especially obviously, be an African American, I get more heightened when I hear that there's some cancer that for some reason they should check on me a little bit earlier than the recommended standard population. Now is it because it just in our community, it affects us more or we get caught at late? Why are some of these ages starting to shift down? Is that really because they're trying to get more people caught before, I guess that 80% threshold?
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Yeah. It's just from all the studies that have been done. Some studies have revealed that people with different risk factors be it race or other sort of genetic risk factors can develop these cancers earlier. So that's why it's offered to certain pop groups in the population earlier as well. Whenever these screening recommendations come out, these big organizations and agencies have to take into consideration what resources we have and whether or not it's going to overburden our health system. If we recommend screening everybody out there, because every time we expand it by a couple of years, if we dropped the age from 50 to 45, that's several million people there that we have to make sure we're able to accommodate. So they have to take that into account as well and see if it's truly worth recommending for everyone. And plus, we also have to remember that sometimes there can be screening procedures that lead to a false positives and sometimes that could drive a rare number of people down a path of treatment where they actually didn't need it. So we have to keep that in mind and make sure that we're recommending the right type of person and right category of people to get screened.
Dr. Berry:
And I know you alluded to it. I think we definitely should touch on it now. When someone says like, okay Dr. Austin I'm in your office. I'm ready to be screened for colon cancer. What are some of the ways people can actually be screened? Is that part of the reason why we're not necessarily hitting that 80% ratio? What options are there to get screened for colon cancer in the first place?
Dr. Austin Chiang:
There are a variety of options that are currently sort of recommended by the official agencies out there. And the most common and most preferred screening method is colonoscopy. So it is actually a procedure that we recommend. And there are other tests like certain types of scans and stool tests that can be done to also potentially detect colon cancer. Now there are a couple disadvantages to the noninvasive methods because those methods don't allow us to remove polyps on the spot. And if you can imagine some of these stool tests might not actually pick up a cancer until it's already turned into a cancer. And remember the whole idea of trying to prevent cancer from developing in the first place. And if we can spot an early polyp or an early growth, we can remove that and at a much earlier stage.
Dr. Berry:
I love that you touched on that because when I ended outpatient medicine, even now when I do inpatient medicine in the hospital, a lot of times when I ask like, hey, have you had your colonoscopy yet? I get in a crazy look, because one is, and again, you have better experience than me, right? Two things that seem to hold people up from wanting to do colonoscopy. One day they talk about this solution. That's all they know is like, oh my God, I'm not drinking that stuff. That usually holds it. And then to just really the act of the colonoscopy. They don't want something stuck up their butt. And those two things seem to hold a lot of people that unfortunately, from getting colonoscopy.
But you said there's other options, but you laid down some of the risks and issues associated with those in terms of the fact that they may not pick it up soon enough to, because again, would you rather pick up the polyp that's non-cancerous or have a noninvasive test? I said, hey, you got cancer. I think that's something that, it's difficult but sometimes you almost have to lay it out to your patients that way and like say, hey, these are the options that are out there. Yes, you can take that stool test in the comfort of your home. But the question is, and I always ask them like, okay, if you take that stool test and then let's say it does come back positive, aren't you going to have to get a colonoscopy anyways? I would just rather… (skip).
Dr. Austin Chiang:
This might all change in the future. We might have a good enough noninvasive tests out there. But we're not quite there yet. And we're trying to also improve on how we prepare for colonoscopy. So the solution that you're talking about, now there are solutions that are sort of based off of Gatorade and so they taste a lot better. You don't taste the tastes like ocean water anymore. And there's also things that we can to make people more comfortable during the procedure so that it's a little more tolerable.
Dr. Berry:
I love it and Lunch and Learn community listen, I hope you heard that. So if you're your mom, your dad, your aunt, your uncle, grandma and grandpa are trying to like say, I don't want, you really have to give these reasons. No, it doesn't taste bad anymore. No, they make you feel much more comfortable. You have to give these positive reinforcements to encourage your relatives. Especially, because a lot of our listeners fall between the ranges of about, 25 to 40. So they're early, but unfortunately they all have their parents, their grandparents, their aunt, their relatives are right in the thick of things. So they have to be the number one advocate to say like, hey, you know what, I just heard Dr. Austin say like, there's almost no more excuses not to get that colonoscopy. It tastes like Gatorade. It doesn't taste bad. The test isn't as awful as you may think it is. How long is the test, especially when we talk about the colonoscopy, how long is that procedure?
Dr. Austin Chiang:
It can vary. Usually it can be rather quick, maybe even like 10, 15 minutes. Obviously the longer, sometimes we want to take our time and really make sure we're examining every nook and cranny there. But if we find something like a polyp and we have to remove it. That's obviously gonna add time so it can be a little bit longer than that. Now most of the time really spent at the clinic or the hospital. Wherever you're getting this done is spent. I'm just waiting beforehand, getting prepared and getting positioned and all of that, and recovering. The actual procedure itself really isn't that long.
Dr. Berry:
I love that you said that because a lot of times, especially when my patients are going for surgery or stuff like that, that's always the number one question. How long is this? How long is this? And I say like hour, maybe two. Where is, the colonoscopy again, this may be 15 minutes, 30 minutes guys. You guys are watching hour long shows that will finish, that this colonoscopy is going to finish before your hour-long show is going to face. So now you can't even be time is a reason why you can't do this colonoscopy. Now question, are people awake, asleep? What's their status while they're doing their procedure?
Dr. Austin Chiang:
We typically, I think the practice varies across the country depending on where you are. But for the most part we offer some sort of sedation and sometimes depending on the resources and the staff there that are available. There's sort of a lighter twilight sedation versus little heavier. And it also depends on the patient's risk factors. If there is a heart disease or lung disease or something, we want to make sure and be have control over or the anesthesiologist needs to have control over and then they may recommend something like general anesthesia for this.
Dr. Berry:
Okay. Perfect. When I told people I'm going to be talking to the gastroenterologist about colon cancer, the amount of questions I got regarding the colonoscopy like, they don't even, they're like, yeah, okay. I worried about the colon cancer and all, but tell me about this colonoscopy. It's such a rate limiting. It's funny that that's one of the rate limiting steps in trying to battle to try to get over that 80% threshold that the procedure and of itself and really preconceived notions. So there's not even actual truthful issues associated with the procedure is their preconceived notion seems to stop people you afford attracts. How the patients you've come in contact with and of course, obviously, I guess gastroenterologist, I know you've done plenty of colonoscopies, how do you get your patients to just jump right in. So, all right doc, let's go. Well, Dr. Austin, I'm ready to go. Let's get this colonoscopy. My 50th birthday is coming up. Put me down there.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
I think you're right. I think that there's a lot of misconceptions about the procedure and obviously if they're able to even just come in and speak with me, that's the most important step because that can clarify and reassure and sort of sort these out. I think that what's really helped a lot of people, honestly, even before coming in to see me is the fact that some celebrities have even documented their journey through getting a colonoscopy publicly. Katie Couric, most recently Jimmy Kimmel and Will Smith have done that. And I think it's really great that they've put themselves out there to show that, you know it's really not that big of a deal. We can get this done comfortably and quickly and I think that people think that the process of getting prepared can be a little messy, but the actual procedure itself, once everything is clean is really not that bad. And of course, at the end of the day, we want to weigh the risks and the benefits of doing this procedure. And the benefit is you can potentially prevent cancer from happening altogether.
Dr. Berry:
I love it. And Lunch and Learn community, he's definitely gonna list the information as far as links, especially towards the end of the show, how we do it. But Dr. Austin has a great video just talking about Will Smith's journey like. Especially if you guys, I'm not sure if you guys, I'm assuming you do right follow Will Smith and he actually chronicalized him getting into colonoscopy. Dr. Austin did a great video on his YouTube page. I definitely want to make sure you know that link will be in the show notes to make sure you can watch that video. Because again, it's interesting. Again, once a celebrity does it, people are a little bit more, okay, we're doing it. I think the cloud, it is removed. The shadows are gone and all of a sudden it's, hey, well, you know, Will Smith can do a colonoscopy, surely I can do a colonoscopy as well.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Exactly.
Dr. Berry:
So just to wrap up on the colon cancer because I really want to talk about this social media stuff. Wrapping up on this colon cancer. So we have one of the, unfortunately on one hand, an extremely preventable cancer that we're not necessarily winning the battle just yet. But it is also one of the most number of cancers as well. And I love that we do have a full month stop. Of course, in March a lot of things happened in March. But colon cancer is such a big thing from an awareness standpoint and again, Lunch and Learn listeners, even if you don't fit the age. I know your mom does. I know your dad does. I know your grandma, I know you have family members who fit the age, who should be getting this colonoscopy done.
Please reach out and get in touch with your gastroenterologist as soon as possible. Because again, and I'll tell you as a hospitalist, the amount of patients that I see come in with abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, that I unfortunately have to let them know, hey, you have colon cancer. It's so sad. Because I'm thinking to myself like, wow, if someone like Dr. Berry would have been there 10 years ago. And Dr. Austin would've been there 10 years ago and they would have listened to a video or they would have watched a video. They listen to a podcast to say, get your colonoscopy. Maybe this person in front of me doesn't have colon cancer. It breaks my heart. Because again, it is one of those things where like, could have just got the colonoscopy, wouldn't even be a unfortunately happens discussion. So again, wanted to definitely thank you for really highlighting such an important topic that is colon cancer. Again, thank you for that.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
For sure. Yeah.
Dr. Berry:
So now that now that we've got colon cancer tucked in the way. Dr. Austin, please tell me your thoughts on social media, in health education. And again, here I am, I'm talking on a podcast and so you already know where I stand on the side of the fence, right? But tell me your thoughts on it. And let's get to that.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Chances are if you're listening to this podcast, you are here to learn, to be exposed to medical knowledge and that's the whole thing is that there's a lot of information out there. Like you said, some of it is really good, but there's a lot of it that can be really bad. And my belief is that we need more health professionals who are trained to talk about these topics, to be present on podcasts, on social media, to be that voice of accurate information.
Dr. Berry:
What I love about that feeling, that talk that you're going. Because I remember when I was a medical student and I remember being a medical student and when I started blogging a little bit. Because I was like, you know what, I gotta get this information out here. Because if I know it, I might be a medical student, maybe, I don't know about it, just learned it. I already know the general population does not. And so I remember being in every semester, a Dean of my college would, they've emailed me to say that Dr. Pierre come to the office, or at the time was a medical student Pierre. And it'd be like, hey, just wanted to let you know, we know you got a blog out there. Just remember some of the stuff, you can't say someone's stuff that you can't do.
So it was such a taboo thing to even get out there and talk medical latest stuff. And again, I wasn't a professional, I was still a student at the time. With the amount of eyes that I used to have on me that would say like, hey, just make sure, you don't see nothing crazy or you don't do nothing crazy or you don't wanna embarrass us or say something worst. It was very interesting. So I love that this new dynamic that I'm seeing now that people are like, no, no, no, no, no, we need more experts. And that's really what we are. And I think again, I think a lot of times physicians and I tell my physician colleagues all the time, like, guys, you are health experts. Please go out there and kill some of this madness that I'm seeing online, and on Facebook, and on Twitter and all these places here. Because, fortunately the general population is believing in it.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Yeah, you're absolutely right. I think that we need to be out there putting out good information. And you're right, the dynamic has totally changed and now it seems like it's a little more encouraged. I think that there's still some resistance, but it's becoming more accepted and it's such a disconnect that those of us going through medical training, I'm working in medicine or often told that we feel that our jobs are really just in-person encounters. But at the same time, we have an obligation to meet our patients where they're getting their information and if we're not, then other people are going to be putting out information that isn't bedded, that isn't necessarily accurate or put in the right context.
Dr. Berry:
Yeah, I'll be honest. Especially with me, because I ended up getting my master's in public health at the same time as my medical degree. And I remember a lot of my professors, he was very big on that. He was very big on like, hey, you gotta get out of the office. This one on one talking does absolutely nothing. Yes, you can treat this person that's in front of you. But you gotta understand it, a whole community behind that person that needs that teaching as well. So he felt like I was almost doing disservice to the community if I only focus on this one person in front of me. So I definitely liked to use that backpacking knowledge of the public health, to really say like, no, no, no. It's not just a one on one thing.
This is a community wide event and needs to be addressed. When we're talking about blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, colon cancer, like anything. That's why we're here today, right? Because I said, I can't just talk about this and just talk to my patient one on one. I have to let the whole world know, and who's ever any earshot and where it was an eyeshot. Like, hey, this is a topic that's important. I promise you it's important. And guess what? I got an expert that says it's important too.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
I think that one of the most telling things is when I come across a patient of mine who has an idea of what my job is like, the conditions that I treat. And you're right. I talk about colon cancer a lot but really a lot of what I deal with, like I said, it's pancreas or bile duct related. And I think that having a greater understanding of those areas I think can really change how people think about my field can change the type of people, the young aspiring doctors to understand more about what I do and potentially join my field. And we're always looking for talent. And so I think that by putting ourselves out there, it can also just change our perception of what we do and what medicine is actually like.
Dr. Berry:
What has been your drive? Because obviously, there's that public health aspect of why physicians in general should get out there. What motivated you to, and when I say you are out there, you're out there, right? What's been your push? You're again, I've never heard of a person who was the chief of social media for, I'm like, whoa. I didn't even know that was a position. So what's been that push?
Dr. Austin Chiang:
A lot of it really is centered on that misinformation piece of everything. But it's also thinking about how there's been a growing distrust in the medical profession. And I think part of it is because, at least for myself, before I entered this whole medical training journey, I used to sort of think of doctors as being really serious and stuffy and robotic almost. But if we can put ourselves out there and show that just like everyone else, we have the same interests and the same struggles and put that out there, I think we can relay a little bit better. Our patients can relate to us more. And certainly, the patients follow me on social media. I think really enjoy following my journey or following what I do on a day to day and what my life is like. And I think that it just builds a greater amount of trust if we use it right. I think that there are a lot of ways that could use it inappropriately too. But I think that that's where we can also, aside from preventing misinformation or combating misinformation is to humanize our field.
Dr. Berry:
I love that human aspect because there are people who follow me on Instagram, Twitter. And before, they used to almost be shocked, right? I could say my journey was, especially on the, depending on the platform, my journey was kind of backwards, right? When I was on social media, yes, I was Dr. Berry Pierre. But you really just saw more of the human side. I'm talking about the Lakers. I'm talking about this. So I had to slowly let people know like, no, no, no. I'm actually physician, internist. I'm kinda smart too and bringing that medical side. And it was very interesting to see projection like, oh, okay, all right. I didn't know you did this as well because they were so used to seeing that opposite side.
And you're so right. I see a lot, especially that, of course I follow a lot of physicians as well and sometimes I see that, yeah, I see a lot of them are on that one side of the pendulum where it's, medical education, education, education. I'm like, that's great. And you know what? What about the rest of your life? Right. Because I hope that medicine isn't everything right? Because unfortunately it can be. We've talked about it before. I've had a couple of guests, about Dr. Erin as far as talking about burnout and everything else. And we understand like that flight when you all out medicine to be everything. So I love when I follow a physician journey and I just see him doing random stuff. This has nothing to do with medicine or just posting. Because again, they are human. And I think a lot of people sometimes forget your doctor, even though it seems like the smartest person in the world because you come in with a constellation of symptoms and they tell you what the actual answer is, is a human as well too. So I love being able to see both sides of the human and the doctor and educated, and letting folks know that yes, I am a de facto person to go to.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Exactly. Yeah. I think that that's people often forget that we are not just doctors, but we're patients ourselves. Sometimes we also share the same sort of struggles, the personal struggles that everyone else does. And we're just trying to do a service out there.
Dr. Berry:
I love it. And so before I get you to go, I got to ask, what is the Association for Healthcare Social media? Like I said, Lunch and Learn community, when I typically, I'm looking out for guest and I think topic first. Then I just see like, oh, who could fit this topic? And I think it literally just happened to be by chance. I had been following him for a while on Instagram and I'm like, oh, he's a guess, oh okay, let's see. I slid in his DMs and he said yes. So that's why he's here. But then when I go to do my homework, because again, I think it's important to inquire about your guests, right? This side was just kinda knocking me off my feet. So let's talk about this organization.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
The Association for Healthcare Social Media is the first nonprofit professional society devoted to helping health professionals use social media. And it's the first of its kind because really up until the past couple of years, now we're seeing more health professionals actually be out there themselves. And this isn't talking about the communications or the marketing or PR people out there who are talking about health. This is those of us who are practicing medicine, ourselves and being out there because we're in a very unique role as clinicians and health professionals to be talking about health online. And there are a lot of tricky things to do this both effectively as well as the responsibly because there are a lot of ways this could go wrong. And the reason why this all came about actually was a group of us on Instagram over a year ago at this point actually saw that there were some people who were calling themselves doctors or physicians, who either were not at all or were trainees who were still in school and a not fully qualified or credential to be talking about some of the things that they we're talking about or claiming to be physicians, that should say. I think that obviously there's value to students and trainees talking about their journeys and talk about health, but sometimes if they portray themselves in a certain way, it could be misleading. And the whole issue is we want to try to, that whole issue brought attention to a lot of other problems with social media that still exist. And we're hoping that we can provide some guidance and define some of those gray areas a little bit better.
Dr. Berry:
Perfect. And so the goal really is to establish like criteria, but to say like, hey, you know, these are kind of, sometimes in the guidelines that you do. I love it. And again, I wish you guys would've been there and when I was a medical student. Because I can say, hey, no, no, no, I'm here. And Lunch and Learn community, like I said, because I was doing my research. I will be a member of this organization because again, I'm already doing it. So there's really no reason that I shouldn't be a part of the organization that's really calling out that siren. I've been trying to call for years. And again, I tell all my friends. Unfortunately, what I noticed, especially in our field as we've got a lot of smart people.
But a lot of them are smart insight, right? They don't want to boast out to the world like, hey, this is why I am, this is what I do on a daily basis. It's this weird sense of humility that they have for the general public that they don't seem to have when they're talking to us general. It's just a crazy thing that our colleagues do. But that's okay. I definitely make cited about a mission of organization like this that's really trying to standardize the playing field and say like, no, no, no. If you have a health topic, health concern, these are the types of people you should be listening to. Not that blog that has 30,000 readers, right? Not that. A person who you know, calls himself a health coach.
But like again, I can go on for years. I won't do it. I won't keep you all along because you know, I've been talking to your head off long enough. But again, I definitely want to shout out that organization – the Association for Healthcare Social Media is definitely something. And remember Lunch and Learn community members, all those links that we've mentioned will be in the show notes so you don't have to worry about writing it down or anything. Everything will be in there for your pleasure. Before you go here. And I probably did it a couple times. Before you go, give the people a chance to follow your journey. Where can people find you, listen to you, subscribe, all of that stuff there. This is the promo timeframe before I get you out of here.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Well, finding me is pretty easy. All the social media platforms, the major social media platforms, I'm on pretty much all of them. So you can find me on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube. TikTok. I'm on Snapchat, I'm on Facebook. My name pretty much is standard across all of the platforms. It's Austin Chiang, MD and yeah, follow along my journey. Each platform is a little bit different. So you might see that some are a little more technical than others. Follow along and reach out to me whenever if you have any questions. I am very accessible and always happy to answer questions.
Dr. Berry:
Lunch and Learn community members, it's almost like a two part episode, right? Where you got a chance to talk about colon cancer. You got to learn about colon cancer. Educate yourself about colon cancer. Remember, this is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. If you have a relative who needs a colonoscopy, let them know, Dr. Austin says stop with these excuses. The drink doesn't taste bad. The procedures is less than that time that you're going to watch a Myriad of Medicine or Housewives or whatever that those show. Let's stop this craziness. Get your colonoscopy today, next week, this month. Get it done. No more excuses and of course like always go to your local physician you know for all the expert advice and a way he can educate you.
He or she can educate you on, when you should be getting this procedure. But again, no more running away from this disease that affects many and it shouldn't be affecting as many people as it is, which is colon cancer. And then you also got to learn about social media. And again, and now you hear a second person, there's a lot more people that do it, but you get to hear another physician's position on why you should be out there. I remember I wrote a blog that said, A True Life. My Doctor isn't on Social Media. Because it was just shocking to me that we don't like, we're not running to the hills to try to get on social media. So again, Dr. Austin, thank you so much for such an amazing episode. Like I said, I'm excited to learn and I'm excited to follow your journey. As well as like I said, I'm going to become a member of this organization. I'm in the thick of things and I want to help that membership grow as well.
Dr. Austin Chiang:
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. This is so exciting to be on your show. And hopefully we can keep putting the good word out there on social media.
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