The Dr Prévost Jantchou, associate clinical professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal, is winner of the 2024 Media Engagement Changemaker Award from Medical Post. This distinction highlights his ability to use social media to advance health care in the country by bringing scientific research closer to the general public.
Media presence and community engagement
With more than 330,000 subscribers on TikTok and a reach to more than 40 million people around the world, including many teenagers, the Dr Jantchou has established himself as a key figure in medical popularization on social media. His bilingual interventions and his talent for making complex medical topics, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, accessible have earned him the prestigious award.
Beyond his digital presence, he has inspired many medical students and young professionals through his leadership. Additionally, he created the INSPIRE Foundation, an organization that supports Afro-descendant youth in Canada through mentoring, scholarships and workshops. An initiative which, according to the jury, “contributes concretely to inclusion, diversity and equity in the health and research sectors”.
His beginnings in social media
“It all started during COVID-19. The mother of a patient asked me to intervene with her son who was skeptical about the health measures,” says Prévost Jantchou. This experience inspired him to use TikTok to educate the public on health issues.
The doctor defines his community in three circles: his patients, his colleagues and the general public. “I see myself as a knowledge keeper. My role is to open the door to knowledge and keep it open so that others can access it,” he says.
Concrete results
The scope of his work is measured on a daily basis. He cites the example of a mother who, after watching a video on the dangers of hair straighteners, stopped using them on her six-year-old daughter’s hair. “Thank you, doctor, I was ignorant…”, she wrote to him.
Faced with the rise of disinformation since the pandemic, the Dr Jantchou has imagined innovative formats, such as interactive riddles, to make medical information more attractive. His creative approach has notably made it possible to demystify medical procedures such as colonoscopy, encouraging reluctant patients to carry out this screening.
For the Dr Jantchou, not only does this award highlight the work of health personnel in social media, but above all it recognizes the crucial importance of the link with the community. A mission that he pursues with passion, as evidenced by the thank you note that an 18-year-old patient gave him for his 13 years of medical follow-up.
Free translation and adaptation of an article published on the Canadian Health Care Network Canadian Healthcare Network.
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