---
title: 'Embracing Influence, Variety, and Virality on YouTube with Doctor Mike'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=vWmBhy_Kbv4'
video_id: 'vWmBhy_Kbv4'
date: 2026-07-30
duration_sec: 1657
---

# Embracing Influence, Variety, and Virality on YouTube with Doctor Mike

> Source: [Embracing Influence, Variety, and Virality on YouTube with Doctor Mike](https://youtube.com/watch?v=vWmBhy_Kbv4)

## Summary

Doctor Mike discusses his journey as a practicing physician who successfully built a massive YouTube channel by combining medical expertise with entertainment. He shares strategies for content creation, the psychology of influence, and how he uses variety content to reach broader audiences while maintaining trust and educational value.

### Key Points

- **Responsibility of a doctor on social media** [00:43] — Doctor Mike highlights the challenge of balancing accuracy and entertainment, noting that many medical shows eventually pivot to pseudoscience to retain viewers.
- **Judo model for content** [02:45] — He uses the judo approach: instead of fighting against popular trends, he leverages them to deliver accurate information, like using humor or expert interviews.
- **Biggest mistake: going viral too soon** [04:03] — Trying to go viral too early can trap creators in a content type and lead to burnout; instead, constantly experiment even after success.
- **Redefining 'influencer'** [05:14] — He reframes influencer as someone who influences others positively—parents, teachers, doctors all influence people; content should aim to vaccinate against misinformation.
- **Simplifying complex topics** [09:55] — He uses mnemonics like 'never let monkeys eat bananas' to remember white blood cell types, breaking down dense subjects for himself and the audience.
- **Algorithm strategy with variety content** [13:07] — By making videos on popular topics (memes, dog grooming), he enters viewers' watch histories, then serves them educational content like polio videos.
- **Advocacy through YouTube** [18:42] — After a medical emergency on a plane without an EpiPen, he made a video that led to New York Post coverage, a Senate briefing, and eventually 70% of planes carrying EpiPens.
- **Need for training in social media** [21:37] — He criticizes telling doctors to start channels without training, comparing it to asking them to perform surgery without guidance.
- **Importance of sleep** [24:33] — He prioritizes 7 hours of sleep and believes society's sleep deficit contributes to rising dementia rates.
- **Future ambitions** [25:38] — He wants to produce in-depth documentaries and a medically accurate drama, but notes industry risk-aversion due to YouTube's dominance.

### Conclusion

Doctor Mike demonstrates that combining medical expertise with entertainment and strategic variety content can build trust and drive real-world change, but it requires continuous learning, balance, and authenticity.

## Transcript

there to give us all the news, all the intrigue, all the interest, everything from the latest meme review to interviews with the most important people in medicine in between boxing matches, races, and
being just an adorable Newfie dad on the internet. I'm Rene Ritchie. I am your you so much for sitting down with us. >> Thank you so much for having me, Rene. I really appreciate that cuz I feel like if there was ever a time to need a
now. Oh boy. >> Well, I mean you you hit the nail on the head there. How do you think about both the responsibility? Like you have a huge problem? Like the great responsibility. >> Yeah, yeah. With
what is it? Great responsibility Great power comes great responsibility. responsibility. >> Yeah, a great audience retention curve responsibility. Because what I've seen historically from doctors in media,
maybe perhaps not on social media cuz this is when I was first starting out, they would start their TV shows with great success, with great medical evidence talking about heart health and exercise
only until those topics became stale, audience numbers dropped, at that point Nielsen ratings dropped, and suddenly they would pivot their shows away from accurate evidence-based content to something ridiculous like how your
horoscope impacts your heart health. That's a legit topic on a real medical show on daytime television. So, I realized that there is a challenge here and I think it's a exciting challenge where you have legitimate problems of
progress where because now we have no gatekeepers, which can be a good thing cuz it creates space for all sorts of voices, gives people who are in the minority a chance to stand up and get an audience.
to bad actors and people who want to weaponize the system. So, what I have to do as a doctor is take good evidence-based foundational medicine and make it fun, make it interesting, make myself the butt of the joke in order to
general public in order to get that viewership because every time I put out a video, I have to compete against millions, maybe tens of millions, hundreds of millions of creators who are trying to do the same. So, there's a lot
every single day. >> But like you still like you're still human at the end of the day and there's immense pressure on creators. You're [laughter] Like I mean even as a tech creator, I
rumor videos would get the most views and then I would feel like I could get something you know would be a banger just in the culture versus like but you versus a topic that's really important but may not may not get all those views?
>> Yeah, I try and think about it almost I I don't practice judo at all but I I use the judo model in this where I try to use the forces that are working against me in my favor. So, if perhaps there's something in the ethos that's getting a
lot of attention that is inaccurate and I know that if I just subscribe to that making content in that regard, I would make a lot of views. I realize there is a way to make views by using its own power against itself and I would think
different formats that we can discuss this topic whether it's through humor, expert interviews, interviews with people who are not in that space, educating those people so that the audience feels educated. Almost
like the spinach muffin technique where if you want your kids to eat vegetables, way to get them to eat vegetables. So, that's what we do with content. We always try and create educational but also entertaining content at the
forefront and that's really a human first philosophy because as a doctor, when a patient comes into my exam room, I have to think about it not just making the right diagnosis, giving the correct treatment plan but truly understanding
the person across from me. what do they want to achieve with this visit? Do they want side Are they worried about side effects? Do they want a cure? Do they just want information? Nailing down what you hope to achieve
with every piece of content is a good first step before starting to think biggest mistakes I think creators make is trying to go viral too soon from people who don't necessarily support you. Because when the algorithm
thinks that uh your content's doing well, it's going to show it to uh a That could be problematic. That could take a toll mentally. Uh it could make you feel that you are now trapped in doing the same type of content over and
advice that I give to folks is to continually experiment even when you're already having a huge level of success because that way things don't get stale, burnout rates drop, you feel more fulfilled with what you're doing, and I
truly enjoy it. Because I actually think about the concept of being an influencer different than I do than I did when I first started. When I first started, I hated the word influencer. People would be like, "You're an influencer." And I
prankster. I'm a jokester. I'm not a real doctor." Like, I spent 10 years getting this education. It's not being taken seriously. psychology of influence and realizing how important all how important it is
influencers. If you're a parent, you're influencing your children to live a professor, you're influencing your students. If you're a doctor, you're lifestyle changes, potentially to take medications.
the word influencer and I started thinking, "Wow, if I do well with content on YouTube that's has some medical validity to it, that makes me a better physician influencer for my patients, for the
audience, for them to be vaccinated against misinformation." And really developed this uh pathway in thinking about creating through the psychology of influence. So, we don't just make content that is the
same or hits the same audience. We try and broaden the amount of people that we reach because what we've realized is familiarity carries influence. That's why all these brands, even historically, would work with a familiar face because
better than a random person selling you something. >> Exactly. So, now if I can pair my familiar face because they've seen me on a comedic podcast, on Last Meals, on The Basement Yard, and then they hear me
giving information about COVID-19, hantavirus, whatever topic of the day influential, more effective in delivering that message. responsibility because now you have that trust relationship with your audience.
doesn't pay off. Like, it feels like trust is something that you accrue very >> even faster. >> Yeah, it's a lot like money in in some ways because you can accrue money, but uh if you want to buy a few private jets
and yachts, that'll go really quick. So. >> Yeah. So, what got you into like cuz you did go to like real medical school, you're a real doctor. I wonder if people you're a real doctor. What got you into YouTube?
>> Yeah, so actually real doctor, I still practice. And I don't just practice seeing patients, I also train the future of doctors. So, I'm clinical faculty residents, seeing patients alongside
them. Allows me to see more patients and have more cases because I have three, keeps my numbers up because half the week is dedicated to YouTube. When I started, um I was in my residency and I would see the same pattern play
out where someone would be misled by something they read online or saw on television, uh perhaps saw on social media. And I said, "Man, it's such a vacuum online of good quality information
because in healthcare, we had this ivory tower philosophy where we don't talk about dense scientific subjects on social media. That's where pranksters, like I said, all those influencers go. We're
not influencers. We talk about this at scientific conventions and research medical journals." And I view that as such a missed opportunity because who that information is for is the average person. So, we basically created this
vacuum, allowed bad actors to thrive in that space, get better in that space how to be more effective in the algorithm, how to create better thumbnails. And I said, "We need to be there." So, I invested
heavily in learning the YouTube, learning what drives clicks, what drives attention, different formats, experimenting, learning from other great creators who do it very well. And that's probably my biggest point of jealousy.
Like, I'm legit jealous of Mr. Beast because when he thinks about making a video, he thinks about making the biggest, most viral piece of content. And I don't have the capacity to do that for a couple of reasons. One, it has to
still be somewhat medical. So, we have to tie to something meaningful and educational. And second, there is half of the week that's being spent actually taking care of patients. So, it limits my time.
All that being said, doing YouTube for I think this is our ninth year, part-time, 15 million subscribers, 6 billion views >> Yeah, how did you go like you mentioned the process that you were doing, but
to use a sports analogy, not all world champions are good coaches, and not all coaches are world champions. Not all people who have a deep background in any profession are good communicators, and not all good communicators have deep
you go about translating your knowledge for a YouTube audience? >> I'm not that bright. >> factual, sir. >> No, no, I'm serious. This is
>> This is [laughter] factual right here. I'm not that bright, so I have to break down very complex subjects incredibly simply for myself to understand. Otherwise, there's no shot I'm getting it. So, when I break down
how the immune system works and how white blood cells work, I have to create mnemonics like never let monkeys eat bananas, which is the number from top to bottom of different types of white blood cell
lines, or how I imagine a metaphor of police officers fighting to defend people who are committing crimes. I think about white blood cells in the same way. So, I simplify topics for
then easy to understand for the audience. That being said, I was terrible on YouTube when I first started. I just watched the other day some of the first days of filming. It's brutal.
>> I remember my videographer who I started my channel with, Dan Owen, said, "Mike, what kind of like patients you see." I think it took me like 50 takes to say I'm a family medicine doctor that sees patients of all ages and I try to
talking about cures. Now, it comes off very easily. So, I think all of this can be taught. Communication is a muscle. It could be hoping that the next generation of medical education puts a better focus on
the human aspect of medicine, on that communication piece. Because with AI now making its way into health care, more information is available to everyone, information, how you communicate that information, is what truly makes you a
>> I want to get more into like the type of content that you make. So, you do this seen you do this, I've seen Devin Stone, mutual friend LegalEagle do this. A lot of people have a hard time doing variety content on YouTube. Like if you're Casey
Neistat, Casey Neistat is your topic, people will watch you do anything. But they've become stuck like not stuck, but for a certain topic and if people watch something else from them, they're just
not as interested. But you've created this framework where you talk about like you do TikTok meme reviews, you do Well, you do meme reviews in general. dog [laughter] grooming videos, Grey's Anatomy, movie reactions, you interview
the Surgeon General. You You like you have this incredible gamut. You address common like health concerns and thing things like the hantavirus right now as And you still get like the audience to buy into that. You're like if you're
interested in doctor, like I will give you a smorgasbord of doctor. How did that evolve? >> Yeah, it evolved quite strategically and intentionally because I believe that in order to truly reach people, you need to
show your human side, which meant showing your lives with your your life with your dog, your life with sports, your diet, what you're eating in an everyday life even if it's imperfect,
share with the audience, the better relationship I've sort of formed with find a more pendulum focused balanced approach where you're not being too extreme in showing and sharing too much
parasocial relationships, but at the same time the audience is familiar with give them medical information, they know who it's coming from. At least a general understanding of who I am as a human. And then when we start creating the the
variety of topics, we think about it in a way of how the algorithm works. I know a way of how the algorithm works. I know that for my video on smallpox, on polio, for that to reach a person who generally doesn't interact with healthcare videos,
I need to be in their watch history. So how do I get in their watch history in order for them to potentially see, click on one of these polio videos that's a bit more hard-hitting, educational? Well, I could make a video
on one of the topics that's interesting to them. South Park, to them. South Park, dog grooming, car racing, boxing. Now, and they're being served more educational content, whereas I would
have never appeared on their homepage otherwise. So, there was a lot of value to branching out and diversifying our content, even though a lot of the higher-ups, a lot of the experts in the space said, "You're doing meme reviews,
they're crushing, just do more meme reviews." And we really said, "That's not our our main goal. It's not to crush on YouTube, it's to be effective on YouTube." And that meant spacing out meme reviews, creating a diversity of
topics. And I've personally had a lot of fun with that. I think it allows me to show who I am in a genuine way, show that doctors aren't robots, we have passions outside of healthcare. I actually have this course called
Professionals Media Academy, where we educate experts who want to share their passions on social media. And on there, we explain that if you want people to buy into your expertise, you need them first to buy into you.
>> And for me, that means the dogs, the boxing, the car racing. But for others, that could mean music, that could mean travel. You need to share this side of yourself in order to foster that one-on-one connection, instead of just
constantly giving medical information and hoping that has some sort of longevity. It's hard on YouTube to have success over a decade. I think there's >> in any form of entertainment to have success over a decade. Yeah, yeah.
audience. >> Yeah. I think that I think that part to have multiple hit albums, it's very hard to have like top-rated season after season of a TV show. Not every movie in a franchise is great. Like it's like
really hard, but I love what you said about like like you're basically assigning jobs to be done to videos. And I know some people just do it for as a way to express themselves. They do not care at all about growth. And some
people care only about growth, so they do like focus on one person, one audience, one avatar exclusively. But I love that you like the job of this video is to get me into watch histories. And then once I'm in the watch histories, I
knowledge. The job of this one might be like to to be searchable for a popular topic. The job of this one might be to service my core audience because they less views. Like I think one of the things that's hard for creators in
movies, someone will do a blockbuster and then they'll do an arthouse film. they know it's not going to get as many views or as much money. They will do the blockbusters to be able to do the passion projects. But I think sometimes
views and then does a passion video and it doesn't get a million views, they get like not happy about it. >> Yeah. I think there it becomes more of a personal journey situation where they have to figure out what they're doing
this for. And I just recently this weekend was invited to watch a play off Broadway with Hugh Jackman. And it was a 45 minute monologue of him just telling a story. No music, no special effects. And
know, hundred million billion dollar films, but he gets joy from that. So he's doing it for the love of the game, not for the viewership, not for the money. It's the same way that I feel when I'm in my community health center
spending 30 40 minutes with a patient not because that's going to get me financially well off. It's because I want to be there for them. I get joy from that. When my administrators say that my notes are late or patient
complains that I'm 5 minutes late to an encounter, most people would hate that. I think that brings me joy being one-on-one with the patient. So YouTube one-on-one with the patient. So YouTube is just an accelerant, uh a way that we
reach more people. So, that's what I love. If I truly just love getting I probably wouldn't have as much fun doing what I'm doing. And that's why it yourself. >> Yeah, no, I love that. Like I would do a
me the most views, but then I could do the accessibility view like video and I going in, but it was super important to me and I wanted to be able to do that and the phone reviews let me do that. Uh going in more into the professional
stuff like you were talking about how you got into YouTube, but what has YouTube done for you as a doctor? Like what do professionals get out of being >> I think YouTube uh and expertise, whether that's doctor, lawyer, or
otherwise is a symbiotic relationship. And it's a surprisingly symbiotic relationship because most people thought when I was doing social media that it's healthcare, whereas I think it's only strengthened it. Obviously, you need to
be quite thoughtful about it and avoid missteps of which there are many online. So, I think that it could truly allow your message to reach a broader audience, allow you to have better control of your messaging. And I want
holistically. It's not just about your channel, not just about your expertise, but we also live in a a governing society where public uh health, uh society where public uh health, uh public debate, public nuance is of
greater importance than ever. So, like a little story that I have is I uh I was emergency. Gentleman went into anaphylactic shock, didn't have an EpiPen. The emergency kit didn't have an EpiPen. It was a disaster. We couldn't
land. I ended up MacGyvering one from some of the stuff on the plane. And I'm going to tell the press this is a big issue. We need to get allergies." And no one covered it. And I said, "Hold
on a second. Let's go to YouTube. Why am I trying to go presser out?" I make a YouTube video, 10 million views, New York Post writes about it. Uh Senator Chuck Schumer calls me. We do a a briefing in front of the Senate podium.
Uh now 70% of planes have EpiPens on them. So, if you want to have access, you want to be an advocate for your expertise, there is no better place than >> What do you see like what do people get wrong when they're just trying to
to YouTube? Like what is the what is the path to success and what do you avoid? >> I think they struggle with both ends of extremes. Some try and be too aggressive in their approach and their experimentation where
like as a as a doctor an example of that would be making fun of patients to try and get comedic value. We don't make fun of patients. We want to make sure that whether it's in the office or on social
also be too conservative where they think they're doing PowerPoint presentations at a research symposium. That also is not going to work. So, you experimenting while at the same time being conservative with your messaging
which is tough, but in the day and age of YouTube shorts, the production value has never been lower, the bar has never been lower in order to start creating content experimenting with different forms. The algorithm now works in your
favor where my 15 million subscribers mean less than they did 10 years ago. So, now the playing field has been more leveled. So, I encourage uh experts to go into this, but at the same time go into it with eyes wide open knowing that
things can go wrong, mistakes can happen. Social media, anything you post on social media is technically forever. Being conservative while at the same time experimenting, like keeping all of that in your mind at the same time
realizing this is a full-time job. Yeah. This isn't something you can do as a hobby or if you're running a company, say, "Oh, the intern will take care of it." This isn't important. It's a skill. When major medical organizations tell
doctors to start social media platforms, I cringe a bit because it's almost like telling doctors, because we all have a degree that's physician and surgeon, shouldn't all operate if we don't have training in operating.
But it's like telling the doctors, "Hey, perform surgery with zero guidance, with no textbook to guide you, with no sort of play-by-play, no mentorship." You're
You're bound to have negative outcomes there. And fortunately for me, when I went through this journey, I went through it learning from the greats, studying the platforms before putting out content, understanding the
doing a little bit of learning on the go. So, I think before we tell every doctor to perform surgery, be on social media, we need to tell them to educate it's not you. >> Yeah, yeah, that's true, too.
where I feel like you're a perpetual student because like like you will still Like even though you've been doing this for years, you have a whole team around data point X and not Y?" And I love that. I think that's part of what makes
you like you. >> Yeah, I think that's kind of a hallmark trying to learn. We know the algorithm's evolving every second, so we need to be evolving and we need to be catching up to it.
Sometimes we probably spent too much time digging into these analytics and trying to figure out trends because the reality and what makes YouTube special reality and what makes YouTube special is I think it's a mirror. It's It's us.
We're the humans. So, if you don't know what you like, it's going to be tough to likes. So, I think you have to be a consumer first and understand what drives your click, what drives your attention in order for yourself to be
>> Yeah, the algorithm tries to follow the audience. I think a lot of creators will the audience. And like then they're almost like reductionist in what they opinion, you have a vision, you have those sorts of things and that's what
gives the algorithm its data that allows it to figure out like who else could be part of this audience. >> Which is why I've had differing opinions on the management of misinformation on YouTube. I've had some of my colleagues
say that we should shut people down who are spreading miss- and disinformation and I see where they're coming from and during pandemics and emergency states maybe there's a role for that. But in general I think discourse and debate
welcomed with better discourse and better debate. So like that's why I put myself on platforms like Jubilee surrounded, sit with people who disagree with me, allow them to say whatever they want, speak back to them empathetically,
understandingly, but at the same time passionately explaining what I know to highlighting what I don't know to be true so that they could see that there's a human across from them that sees them, that validates them, but at the same
also have a lot of knowledge about medicine but like you're in a demanding. Like a lot of people will like just accurate about like how hard it is to go through medical school. I know what it's
you're on that hamster wheel. How do you address like just maintaining your own you're doing these two very demanding things? sleep. I think that is the most undervalued
part of our health. I think that's going to come back to bite us. I think this is a bit theoretical. We don't have 100% proof of this, but I think society skimping on sleep is one of the reasons we're seeing increases in earlier
dementia, Alzheimer's. So I think we need to really respect that. When I don't get enough sleep I feel it in my performance, I feel it in my mental make sure at the very least they're
getting their 7 hours as adults. So, I really prioritize that. many different avenues, when YouTube isn't going well, I focus more on the healthcare aspect of helping patients. When there's difficulties with patients
or notes overwhelming me, I think about the YouTube side of things and the success that comes from there. So, I think actually the variety of things we think actually the variety of things we do end up functioning as a coping
>> context change. It gives like one gives you a break from the other. And then >> Yeah, [laughter] exactly. Get that anger out, you know? Yeah. >> at a time. What do you see as like the future of YouTube for you, of the Doctor
Mike channel, of what you want to build? >> Yeah, I'd love to move into different avenues of reaching people. when we started YouTube, I thought about different types of content we could
make, as you said, the medical meme reviews, the TikTok reviews, medical But there's some things that have been out of our scope because we don't have would love to do more in-depth documentary pieces, to do a medical
drama that's medically accurate and equally dramatic and fun. I mean, The now. But we've wrote one, and we've shopped it around with the streamers, and while there's interest, the issue is people
are very risk-intolerant these days because of all the changes that are because of the changes that are happening, it's because YouTube is dominating so damn well that they're all afraid of YouTube. So, they they don't
want to take chances, but I think in the end, the fact that they're not taking the opportunity to just completely put a foothold on it. like you have a podcast on YouTube. You have shorts on YouTube. How do you think
formats just ways for you to reach different audiences? person's going to watch a meme review, but I need to reach everyone. As a the whole family. I'm there for my patients in the hospital, in the ER, in
the nursing home. We make home visits at times. So, I need to be there on social media for all of them, not just one subgroup. So, if we could do that with short-form content, with podcast content, with podcast content comes
clips, clips reach a whole new audience, that brings in that audience to potentially watch the entire podcast, functions as a commercial for who you are and the content you make. So, there's a lot of brand strategic moves
content we want to invest in. >> I love that. Mike, thank you so much for >> this is all I know you have patients and videos to make. letting me geek out on a little bit of a YouTube.
YouTube. >> Anytime.