Chicago doctor uses TikTok to provide reliable health information
CHICAGO - A Chicago physician decided to educate people during the height of the pandemic using the power of social media.
Dr. Adam Goodcoff is an ER doctor working the night shift and when the white coat comes off, he has found a way to become a TikTok star.
"I am going to teach you something today that could save someone’s life," said Goodcoff in one of his videos.
Doctor Goodcoff grew up in Albany, New York. He never thought his social media presence would jump to more than 1.8 million followers. He is known as @seethemedlife on TikTok and Instagram.
His following hit 100,000 during the start of COVID and when the second wave of the pandemic came around, so did his viewership. His most watched video has 37 million views.
During the height of the pandemic, Goodcoff knew people had health-related questions and that’s how he grew his following.
"I was living with my parents at the time, everyone was on lockdown and I remember hitting 100,000 followers," said Goodcoff. "It went to 400,000 over the summer and then when the second wave came there was a renewed interest, the COVID vaccine was coming out and people wanted to know about that."
Goodcoff says his goal is to educate people beyond the pandemic, so people understand how important their health really is.
"You can take something that gives people a lot of fear and anxiety and transfer your knowledge, help them gain that knowledge and make good decisions for themselves," he said. "The timing was right, it was during the pandemic and there were a lot of people looking for reliable information."
"And not just a reiteration of what they saw in the news. But a bit of a deeper dive," he added.
Doctor Goodcoff will graduate from his ER residency program in June of 2023.