Twitter is a social media channel that allows users to connect according to their shared interests, and the academic surgery community is no different. In a new series, we’ll interview our most Twitter-savvy faculty about their online presence and how they use the platform to stay connected.
Herb Chen, M.D.
Chair and Professor, UAB Department of Surgery
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Fay Fletcher Kerner Endowed Chair
Surgeon-in-Chief, UAB Hospital and Health System
Senior Advisor, UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Handle: @herbchen
- Followers: 1,747
- Tweets: 1,590
Why do you use Twitter? It’s exhilarating to see our @UABSurgery team support each other and their peers from other institutions on Twitter – where they can network with and learn from a community who shares their zeal for social media and surgery – and then to build on those relationships when they meet one another at surgical meetings. I use social media to stay connected in that academic surgical community, from both a research and clinical perspective. Twitter lends itself to so many avenues for sharing and discussing surgical research on Twitter, such as journal clubs like #AAESjc and #WJSjc, and it allows surgeons to see what it’s like for other clinicians all over the world, through hashtags like #ILookLikeaSurgeon, #GlobalSurgery or the #NYerORCoverChallenge, which our UAB women in surgery participated in last year.
What do you tweet about? I love to celebrate the accomplishments of our brilliant faculty, staff and trainees within @UABSurgery and to share some of my favorite things about Birmingham in general, like our rich history as the Magic City and our thriving foodie scene. I also try to advocate for endocrine diseases as the current president of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons and for diversity and inclusion as the current president of the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons Foundation.
Daniel Chu, M.D.
Assistant Professor
UAB Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery
- Handle: @DChu80
- Followers: 602
- Tweets: 1,281
Why do you use Twitter? I use Twitter to keep a pulse on what is going on in academic surgery. Through Twitter, you can see what's going on at academic meetings (without actually being there), quickly browse through journal articles (with hyperlinks to full articles) and learn about new ideas/research concepts. It's also a really constructive way to network with people from around the world.
What do you tweet about? Personally, I like to tweet about UAB Surgery (I admit I am biased) and love sharing the fine work and accomplishments of our many talented staff and trainees. From Grands Rounds and visiting professors to research papers and talks, I like to give readers who have never been to Alabama a sense of what is going on in Birmingham.
Brenessa Lindeman, M.D.
Associate Director, UAB General Surgery Residency Program
Associate Designated Institutional Official, Graduate Medical Education
Assistant Professor, UAB Department of Surgery
- Handle: @BrenessaL
- Followers: 520
- Tweets: 294
Why do you use Twitter? I have to admit that I was very reluctant to use Twitter even a year ago! I was talked into creating an account at a meeting, but I got started when I had the opportunity to take a historic photo of the three most recent chairs of surgery at Johns Hopkins and everyone requested I share it. So, with that first tweet, my relationship with Twitter was begun!
Since I started using it, I have found three primary reasons that I keep going back:
- Keeping up with advances in surgery and medical education. I follow journals that relate to my specialty and scholarly interests and often find articles that I may not have picked up on if left to just the journal’s table of contents. It’s even better now that many are doing #VisualAbstracts!
- Raising awareness about important medical conditions that I and my partners can address, as well as working with our national societies like @TheAAES.
- The ability to hear thought-provoking commentary and make personal connections with leaders in different fields all across the country. There really is a network of #SoMe users who you develop close relationships with, and it’s always fun to meet these individuals in real life at meetings!
What do you tweet about? As far as my own tweets go, I like to promote important medical issues – like that September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month (#CheckYourThyroid) – as well as new advances in the fields of endocrine surgery and medical/surgical education.
[Note: Follower and tweet counts as of Sept. 26, 2018. Marina Moody contributed to this report.]