Date : 04/11/2026 | Time : 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm |
This talk will be on Zoom. The talk is free but you do need to book a place using the form below to get access details. Please ignore references to payment.
We have gaps in information, service provision, research and more. Influencers and social media plug those gaps for better and worse. Do these influencers add to the costs of health care? How should health care respond? Can an influencer give objective advice about a product they own shares in? Do influencers operate is an unregulated space? Who bears the personal, societal and financial costs when things go wrong? Drawing on her research and book, ‘Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health’, Deb will consider the costs and benefits of social media influencers, whether lay or clinical. Can they be a force for good, or are there issues which should concern us?
Dr Deb Cohen is the author of ‘Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health’, a widely praised book exploring how the internet is reshaping the way we think about health, medicine and scientific evidence. Drawing on academic research and extensive interviews across medicine and technology, the book examines how social media platforms, influencers, commercial interests and online communities are changing trust in expertise, shaping our expectations of health and illness and even influencing how people interpret symptoms and understand medical evidence. Formerly Science Editor at ITV, Health Correspondent for BBC Newsnight, and Investigations Editor at The BMJ, Deb now works to improve how evidence is understood and communicated in the UK and internationally. With a background in both journalism and medicine, she specialises in translating complex scientific and medical issues for wider audiences.
Booking Process: Please register for the talk below. The talk is free but you do need to book a place to get access details. Please ignore references to payment.
Any queries about the booking should be sent to admin@harknessfellows.org.uk or call Lizzie on 07415 322811.
Bookings
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