By Jessica Forres, Executive Vice President, Top of Mind Public Relations
As health information becomes harder to navigate, public relations can help medical professionals bring credible expertise, research, and context to wider audiences.
- Help credible medical voices cut through misinformation and online noise
- Bring important research beyond medical journals and into the public conversation
- Build relationships with reporters looking for trusted experts who can explain complex health issues
Open TikTok or Instagram and within minutes, you can find someone explaining why you are tired, what your symptoms might mean, which tests you should ask your doctor for, or what treatment you should consider. The problem is that it is not always clear who is qualified to give that advice or what people should believe.
We are living in a moment when health information is everywhere. Some of it comes from highly credentialed medical professionals. Some comes from people sharing personal experiences. Some is oversimplified, taken out of context, or simply wrong. And increasingly, patients are being asked to sort through all of it themselves.
In a crowded information environment where anyone can offer health advice to a mass audience, elevating credible medical voices has never been more important.
Surgeons, physicians, oncologists, principal investigators, researchers and other medical specialists spend years developing expertise that can help people better understand diseases, treatments and emerging medical advances. But expertise alone does not guarantee that those perspectives will reach the public.
That is where public relations can play an important role.
Medical Experts Need to Be Part of the Public Conversation
For many doctors and specialists, the idea of public relations can feel uncomfortable. Medicine is built around evidence, clinical judgment and patient care, not self-promotion. But effective PR does not have to be about becoming a celebrity or building a personal brand. At its best, it makes credible expertise available when people need it.
When a new study makes headlines, a disease begins receiving national attention, or a new treatment is approved, reporters need qualified experts who can explain what the development actually means.
Is the research significant? Does it change the way patients are treated? Are there limitations people should understand? Is the headline overstating the findings? Medical experts are uniquely positioned to answer those questions.
If qualified doctors and researchers are not part of those conversations, the information vacuum does not remain empty. Other voices will fill it.
Important Research Should Not Stop at the Medical Journal
Medical professionals are also producing an extraordinary amount of research that can change how we understand, detect and treat disease. But publication in a medical journal does not necessarily mean that research will reach a broader audience.
Healthcare reporters constantly cover new studies, clinical trials, treatments, technologies, and public health developments. They cannot read every paper published across every specialty journal. Patients certainly cannot either. A thoughtful public relations strategy can help bridge that gap.
PR professionals can work with researchers to identify what makes a study important, explain the findings in accessible language and bring the research to the attention of reporters who cover that particular disease, specialty or area of medicine. That does not mean oversimplifying the science or exaggerating its significance. In fact, good healthcare PR should do the opposite. It should provide context, communicate limitations clearly and help journalists understand why the findings matter.
Sometimes the most valuable part of a research story is not the headline finding itself, but what it tells us about where medicine may be headed next.
Reporters Need Medical Experts They Can Trust
Journalists covering healthcare often work on tight deadlines. When news breaks, they need experts who can quickly help them understand what is happening and put it into perspective for their audiences. That is why building relationships with reporters before a major news moment can be so valuable.
A surgeon who regularly speaks about advances in minimally invasive procedures, an oncologist who can explain developments in cancer treatment, or a researcher studying early disease detection can become a trusted resource for journalists covering those topics. Over time, that visibility can create a body of credible commentary that shows reporters exactly where an expert can add value. And importantly, the relationship can work both ways.
PR professionals can help medical experts understand what reporters need. For example, clear answers, context without jargon, and an ability to explain complicated medicine in terms that someone without a medical degree can understand. The goal is not simply to get quoted. It is to help the public better understand the story.
Visibility Can Extend the Impact of Medical Expertise
Public relations also offers practical benefits. A strong media presence can increase awareness of a physician’s or specialist’s work, build professional credibility and create opportunities for speaking engagements, collaborations, referrals, research partnerships or advocacy. But those benefits should be the result of providing value, not the sole reason for seeking attention.
For medical professionals, the bigger opportunity may be to extend the impact of their work beyond the patients they see each day. A doctor may educate dozens of patients in the exam room. A researcher may present findings to hundreds of colleagues at a medical conference. But a thoughtful interview, op-ed, podcast appearance, or news story can help credible medical information reach thousands, sometimes millions, of people. That reach matters at a time when misinformation can travel just as far, and often much faster.
The Goal Is Not Fame. It Is Trust.
Medical professionals do not need to become influencers, comment on every health trend, chase every headline, or offer opinions outside their expertise. In fact, the strongest medical spokespeople tend to do the opposite. They know their areas of expertise. They communicate carefully. They are transparent about what the evidence does and does not show. And they make complicated information easier to understand without sacrificing accuracy. That is ultimately what good public relations should help accomplish.
People will keep looking to TikTok, Instagram, Google, podcasts, news outlets, and other sources for answers about their health. Reporters will keep looking for experts who can help them make sense of new research and medical developments. The question is whether credible medical professionals will be part of those conversations.
Good medical information does not automatically rise above the noise. Sometimes, it needs help reaching the people who need to hear it. That’s where public relations can make a meaningful difference.
About The Author
Jessica Forres is Executive Vice President of Top of Mind Public Relations, where she leads the firm’s Law and Advocacy Practices and oversees the agency’s Traditional Media team. With a decade at the firm, she brings deep expertise in strategic media relations, thought leadership positioning, and issue-driven advocacy campaigns.
Jessica has guided communications strategies for national nonprofits, international coalitions, and leading law firms, securing high-impact coverage across top outlets while shaping narratives on complex policy, legal, and social issues. Known for her ability to bridge traditional journalism instincts with modern PR strategies, she helps clients elevate their voices, influence public discourse, and build lasting visibility in an evolving media landscape.
