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10 Healthtech Journalist to Follow on Twitter

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Where using internet services and social mobility in healthcare services was a personal choice in the past, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that it is now a necessity for both consumers and healthcare providers, making healthtech one of the fastest-growing emerging industries.

Thousands of healthtech companies usher in innovations and cutting-edge technologies every day. For such fast-growing coverage needs, health tech reporters must proactively illuminate the business strategies of the modern healthcare giants and dig into new research to create a detailed reporting piece of the healthtech industry.

This intersection of technology and health quickly evolves, attracting billion-dollar investments worldwide. So healthtech PR is always looking up to energetic and determined healthtech journalists for press coverage. They cover the latest trends and deliver deep insights and compelling stories on the healthtech industry.

Here are ten healthtech journalists to follow on Twitter. They will keep you informed of what’s around the corner and clearly show where the healthtech industry is heading next.

1.    Christina Farr

Christina Farr is a former healthtech reporter for CNBC, Reuters News, Fast Company, and other publications.

Christina is now a health tech investor and a principal at OMERS Ventures, a global early-stage venture cap. She was born and raised in London and graduated from University College London and Stanford University.

Christina Farr is the author of Second Opinion, a healthtech newsletter that publishes various trends revolving around pharmacy tech, women’s health, etc. It also features interviews with investors, executives, and healthcare founders. Christina applies her experience as a healthtech journalist and investor to dive deep into the world of healthtech news.

 

Her breakthrough works, and exciting healthtech stories have appeared in numerous publishing companies, including the New York Times, Bay Citizen, and Daily Telegraph. Christina frequently appears at health and technology conferences as a speaker and featured expert on ABC, Reuters TV, and others.

Her Twitter is @chrissyfarr, where she actively tweets about the latest healthtech trends and news.

2.    Nick Triggle

Nick Triggle is a health correspondent at BBC. His reporting mainly focuses on NHS, and he writes extensive articles demonstrating how the UK deals with challenges around social care and health inequalities.

Such articles, such as on mental health and the NHS crisis, target the issues of how healthcare provided by NHS is suffering a blow and dealing with many challenges like the aging population and obesity.

Many people highly respect Nick Triggle for being one of the most perspective health journalists as he gives equal and enough attention to the rising issues and trends related to healthcare and NHS. He digs deep into the matters revolving around health reforms, new acts, and the effects of the pandemic and other dangerous challenges for NHS with a much-needed context and data visualization.

Nick was awarded the “Blogger of the Year” by Medical Journalists’ Association in 2015. He is the lead journalist behind the breakthrough BBC projects, The NHS crisis – decades in the making, and the ‘Fantastic’ care calculator.

Nick Triggle highlights the pressing health stories in the UK on his Twitter account (he goes by @NickTriggle). He partakes in the debates and conversations that discuss national response to these challenges. His tweets are an up-to-date source for receiving the latest and authoritative views on NHS, social care, and public health.

Nick Trigger also previously worked on the Gerry Robinson TV NHS documentaries.

3.    Laura Donnelly

Laura Donnelly is a health editor at The Telegraph Media Group. She has written several well-researched articles in The Telegraph, which focus on the healthcare services in the UK concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

Laura Donnelly has won many awards for her energetic work on various topics, such as the NHS crisis, in-depth investigations, and exciting stories that bring research and scientific breakthroughs to her readers’ lives. Her latest works on NHS waiting lists and NHS strikes highlight the devastating effects on healthcare services in the UK.

Laura Donnelly channels the same energy and passion into her Twitter account, sharing her opinions and turning complex healthtech news into offbeat news and stories. You can find her on Twitter as @lauradonnlee.

Laura has worked at The Telegraph for more than 15 years and also has editorial experience at the Health Service Journal. Her past roles as a news editor and health journalist have made her one of the vital healthtech journalists to follow on Twitter.

Laura Donnelly covers the latest trends in biomedical technologies and vaccine developments. She has an in-depth understanding of the healthcare system, and thus, her Twitter account is an excellent place to receive critical analysis and reporting on the latest healthtech news.

4.    Erin Brodwin

Erin Brodwin is an award-winning health tech reporter at Axios. Erin’s hard-hitting stories and newsletters are all focused on digital health, health ambitions and where the world’s technology giants are heading towards, and venture capital.

Erin Brodwin is a California-based healthtech journalist who graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York after receiving her Master’s in health and science reporting.

Erin Brodwin is one the most dedicated and passionate health journalists who actively contribute to the world of health and science publications. She has experience with some of the biggest names in science, health, and technology magazines. Erin has contributed many stories to Scientific American, which discusses the roles of AI tools in healthcare and clinical diagnosis, advertising campaigns that harm teenage psychology and health, chemical weapons, and much more.

Erin has also written for Insider Inc. and has broken several breakthrough news on health and technology stories and the latest trends. She has been a healthtech correspondent at STAT, covering many topics ranging from digital health, the role of key healthtech players like Facebook and Google, and challenges to people’s health that arose due to the misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Erin Brodwin is one of the healthtech journalists you must look for on Twitter. You can find her as @erinbrodwin.

5.    Andrew Gregory

Andrew Gregory is an award-winning British journalist and health editor for The Guardian. He received three British Press Awards for his high-impact journalism and his long and dedicated role as a health reporter exposing racial health inequalities in the UK.

The works of Andrew Gregory have captured a lot of attention by bringing such healthcare issues to light and produced a wave of fury and determination in public regarding healthcare inequalities.

Andrew has also won a Guild of Health Writers Award, a British Journalism Award, and many other nominations and awards.

Andrew chooses the most impactful and gripping healthcare topics to write about. The power of his words to resonate with the readers makes him one of the highly sought-after healthcare journalists. His exciting stories focus on the role of technology in healthcare, and he also shares his direct and honest opinions about the latest trends and news in healthtech in his breakthrough works.

Andrew Gregory has written many articles on the role of healthcare technologies like Artificial Intelligence and how they can help physicians and surgeons refine and improve their healthcare services. He uses his Twitter account to shed some light on his articles within the 280-character limit and then links the complete articles on The Guardian. You can find him on Twitter as @andrewgregory.

6.    Natasha Singer

Natasha Singer is a health technology reporter at The New York Times and passionately writes about topics like consumer privacy and education technology. She dedicates her work to the extensive and essential ways healthtech companies, their technology, and tools impact healthcare services and job opportunities.

Natasha Singer is currently attending The KSJ Fellowship Program. Most of her stories published for The New York Times are about tackling the mental health crisis in children and teens and its direct relation to the use of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. She has also received many awards for covering and reporting online tracking.

Natasha Singer highlights the intersection of science, society, and technology, focusing on behavioral advertising, health, and education.

Natasha Singer was also a correspondent for Outside Magazine before coming to the Times. There, she published important stories about wildlife conservation and biodiversity. Her Twitter account is a great place to receive a deep understanding of these topics, as Natasha actively posts about her works there. You can find her at @natashanyt.

7.    Kat Lay

Kat Lay is a health editor at The Times. She mainly explores stories and trends related to new advances in research studies and clinical trials and highlights the healthcare issues within NHS.

Kat Lay picks up the most exciting topics about public health in UK and NHS staff. She also highlights the role of healthtech in improving the clinical diagnosis of serious diseases, such as how they hold trials for AI programs to check for breast cancer in NHS patients and how Milton Keynes Trust has now adopted healthtech innovations to deliver cutting-edge care.

Kat Lay also received a Medical Journalists Association award for her news story that covered sexual harassment in surgical training and surgeries. Kat Lay joined The Times in 2012 as a graduate trainee, and since then, she has created a name for herself as one of the most well-deserved and dedicated healthtech journalists.

Follow her on Twitter at @katlay.

8.    Amit Katwala

Amit Katwala is an award-winning science and technology journalist. After studying Experimental Psychology and graduating from Oxford University, Amit pursued his career as a writer and editor at several famous publications like Economist and Science Uncovered.

Currently, Amit Katwala is a writer and editor at WIRED, an essential source of breakthrough information regarding science, technology, and its effects on society. Amit has also written two books, Tremors in the Blood and The Athletic Brain, in which he discussed the impact of science and technology on the human brain.

Amit Katwala contributes great stories to WIRED based on his exciting research on health, science, and technology. He also shares his opinions about the collision of technology with culture on his Twitter account, and you can find him at @amitkatwala.

9.    Zaria Gorvett

Zaria Gorvett is an award-winning senior journalist at BBC Future. She mostly tells compelling stories about health, medicine, psychology, history, etc. Zaria is an aspiring health journalist whose articles were featured on Chartbeat’s list of the most engaging stories of 2021 and 2022.

Zaria Gorvett is a London-based science writer. After graduating, she worked for environmental charities in Tobago and Greece while earning two Master’s degrees.

Now Zaria is one of the essential healthcare journalists as she frequently writes about science topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccine doses to “untranslatable illnesses.”

Zaria Gorvett has also written for Scientific American and Asian Scientist, two of the most popular magazines highlighting worldwide health, science, and technology issues.

You can find Zaria on Twitter as @ZariaGorvett, and if you are interested in fascinating stories about healthcare and other related topics, she is the one to follow.

10. Jessica Kim Cohen

Jessica Kim Cohen is a precision medicine reporter at GenomeWeb, an online science magazine covering recent trends and compelling stories about molecular biology.

Jessica Kim Cohen writes about the latest research studies and developments in genetically targeted treatments.

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Can Growth Marketing and Public Relations Work Together?

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Can growth marketing and public relations work together. Growth marketing is about customer acquisition and retention, often through paid media, with relentless iterations and deeply engaged knowledge of the consumer. Public relations is reputation management of a company’s image, often through earned media and deep understanding of broader cultural and media trends. So what do they have in common? On the surface, not much, but when you dig deeper into the tactics and the metrics, we can see where together growth marketing and public relations can work together successfully.

Suppose the business objective for a consumer product launch is to increase sales through decreasing competitors’ market share. In that case, a digitally savvy PR agency knows how to do competitive research of the entire digital landscape and media landscape and use that data to determine the opportunities to overtake a competitor, while a growth marketer is reviewing how the company attracts customers and retains customers. But where do growth marketing and public relations work together?

Data Driven KPIs

Today’s modern PR firms and PR campaigns should be tied to business goals and identified public relations metrics that support and funnel up into that goal.  While growth marketers are developing ads, PR agencies are developing ways to capture the target audience’s imagination. PR agencies may present a word-of-mouth activation or a targeted quality over-quantity earned media campaign that overlaps targeted audiences. A PR agency might also recommend content which can boost SEO and support brand values that interest and retain customers.  Just like a growth marketer, a modern PR agency is tracking metrics. What metrics might a PR agency track in the above scenario?

  • Mention Quality
  • Article Reach
  • Brand Placement in Article
  • Share of Voice
  • Domain Authority

All of the above PR metrics are measures of awareness and credibility. These metrics support top-of-funnel AND bottom-of-funnel customer journeys and can support growth marketing efforts with a keen eye on target audiences and messaging which supports growth marketing.

The Digital PR Toolkit

For growth marketers, the digital tool kit is primarily paid (but not exclusively); for growth marketing PR, the digital tool kit is primarily owned (but not solely). But there are a few areas where growth marketing and growth PR connect. One of those is SEO. For the growth marketer, SEO provides opportunities for retargeting and organic acquisition, growth marketing PR adds value to both. With a savvy eye on keywords and quality inbound links, PR supports growth marketing objectives to funnel into business objectives.

That’s not all; PR agencies working with media outlets to build revenue opportunities can help growth marketing with a high domain authority on inbound links as well as excellent reviews from credible media outlets, which send potential new customers searching for the product. These reviews could be in gift guides or hero reviews where the consumer product receives an in-depth study that meets Google’s product review update recommendations. Meanwhile, growth marketers will typically focus on reviews from influencers or existing customers. And a brand with positive customer reviews gives a journalist further confidence in a brand and a product.

Today, PR and growth marketing can use some of the same tools, they use them slightly differently:

  • Inbound Links
  • Owned Media
  • Credible Review Acquisition

Credibility: Where PR Fills The Gap

I often tell our clients PR creates the awareness and solidifies reputation; ads are the conversion driver – that’s how they work together, and they both work better. Why? It’s simple: earned media from credible media outlets is more trusted than paid ads. But few journalists look at it as their job to write conversion-focused marketing copy. The journalist’s job is traditionally to create the content that keeps you on the pages. From a longer tail and more strategic point of view – PR also builds brand credibility on the corporate level, trusted brands have faster aquisition and they have longer customer retention, meaning growth marketing is even more influential.

So when someone sees a great review of a product, and THEN they see the ad, they get the trigger to purchase the product, or maybe they sign up for a newsletter, or maybe the look for more reviews and do a Google search that lands them on another referral site. The pathways are endless, but they all come back to one thing: supporting the brand’s business goal.

I’m a fan of understanding and maximizing the media environment for our clients. The Avaans Media client is ambitious and goal driven, so understanding how our jobs support overall marketing strategies and business goals is essential. When we evaluate the landscape for our clients, we find a distinct point of view, and because our tools are different than growth marketers, we can glean insights and data that drive new insights. To be honest, I’m not concerned with being a purist about owned, earned, and paid. It’s the job of a digitally savvy PR agency to know what levers to pull when and how to shape campaigns that create success. That’s our job – and that’s why growth marketers and public relations can be best buddies.

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4 Defining Characteristics of a Modern PR Agency

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What does it mean to be a modern PR agency these days? There are 3 characteristics of a modern PR firm. Today’s modern PR firms are trust-focused, digitally savvy, purpose forward, and customer-obsessed. This means modern PR agencies can think long-term while staying nimble enough to be a strategic and operational resource in today’s fast-moving world. It’s difficult to do both, but that’s why modern PR agencies are so valuable.

Can a legacy PR firm also be a modern PR firm? Absolutely. And, a new PR firm isn’t necessarily more modern than a legacy PR firm. Digital PR firms aren’t necessarily more modern than those who focus on earned media. That’s because our characteristics supersede age and services and for depth and maturity. Depth and maturity are particularly important for fast-growing brands and hyper-growth companies because these companies need the savvy and emotional intelligence of a modern PR firm so they can stay nimble and focused.

 

      1. Trust Focused

        Modern PR firms are trust-focused. Consumers today are incredibly savvy. After all, we’re exposed to roughly 10,000 messages a DAY. To understand why trust is so important to modern PR, we have to go way, way, back into how we evolved. Our brains haven’t quite evolved to deal with this kind of input, so as a result, we manage this input in our subconscious. One of the most basic human survival functions is trust, that’s why we organize into social tribes. We trust our social tribes. See where this is headed?

        Today, our default reaction to almost anything is suspicion – even our most established institutions get the side-eye. 6 out of 10 adults say they distrust something until they see evidence.

        While there are initial trust signals, trust is the long game. Trust signals need to be consistent and thorough. Consumers today quickly recognize brands who say one thing, but do another. They recognize greenwashing, they see through insincerity. But it’s not just the cost of distrust that hypergrowth and fast-growing brands need to consider, it’s also the advantages of trust.

        Which means we trust brands who act and signal in ways that we trust. Our source of trust can come from several signals, but earned media, that is coverage where a brand, or person, is characterized in a trusted outlet and/or trusted person in an independent and organic manner.

         

        Trust becomes a brand cornerstone because trust begets loyalty and loyalty begets advocacy. Trust is also a considerable cornerstone to brand value. You can’t really have considerable brand value without considerable trust. And damaged trust, on a grand scale is incredibly expensive to repair.

        That’s why modern PR firms place an important emphasis on trust – because they know that’s what their clients are really after. It also takes discipline for a modern PR agency to stay trust-focused, for the same reason it takes discipline to be a trusted brand-there are indeed short-term shortcuts that look good today, but can have devastating affects in the future.

        A GREAT modern PR firm will help you define a wide range of strategics and values and aligned KPIs so you can track your trust-building efforts.

      2. Digitally Savvy

        Modern PR firms are digitally savvy. This doesn’t “only” mean they understand social media. It also means they understand how to earn trust in digital formats from forums to social media. It means they know how PR and SEO can work together, and where they separate. Digitally savvy PR firms are monitoring review sites, your search results, and other digital signals for red flags. Digitally savvy PR firms understand how earned media, paid media, social media and owned media work together and how to pull the levers of each type of media for a stated campaign aim.

        Digitally savvy PR firms also have their pulse on other avenues growing in influence. For example, media relations today include trusted magazines, blogs, and increasingly newsletters. Newsletters are an outstanding example of trust AND digital intelligence. Think about it – if you’ve given your email to receive a newsletter in your inbox, that’s a big trust signal. Several years ago, newsy newsletters took on renewed relevance and when Substack courted journalists, it was another endorsement for newsy newsletters. Some of Substack’s email publishers are making well over $100K per year on subscriptions. Newsletter impressions and reach are difficult to track, but that’s offset by the incredible trust value they bring.  While the “ROI” might be difficult to pinpoint, the digitally savvy PR firm knows how to evaluate newsletter appearances

        Using digital tools wisely also helps a modern PR firm deeply understand your customers or target customers. Our deep analysis isn’t only observational, it’s data driven from a multitude of sources, that give us a wide view of what’s happened, and what is likely to happen. We also use a multitude of sources to engage on a deeper level with journalists.

      3. Purpose Forward

        Because consumers are aligning with their tribes, it’s more and more important for brands to align with a larger purpose. Purpose, like trust, is an inside-out job. Purpose HAS to be authentic. The good news is that for most brands, there actually is an authentic purpose; it’s just a matter of aligning that purpose with other campaigns, including sponsorship, social media, word of mouth, and earned media.

        From an earned media perspective, it’s rarely enough to have a purpose. It’s important that brands today activate on purpose and align on purpose. There’s no doubt that purpose can be a landmine, so that’s where public relations comes in. Modern PR firms are emotionally intelligent and able to guide brands on choices that may be consistent with their stated purpose. PR can help guide ad campaigns, sponsorship, and influencer campaigns to improve outcomes and brand reputation.

      4. Customer Obsessive

        How can a PR agency help its clients improve trust, loyalty, and brand if it isn’t client obsessed? Now, your definition of client obsessed might differ from someone else’s. That’s why it’s important to know the client characteristics that you really need. Do you need a PR agency that is on-call 24/7? Do you crave a stable, intelligent PR team that becomes an extension of your team? How does your PR firm stay aligned with your strategies and objectives, even as they change? Our entire model is based on your needs – from our Strategy Driven Pricing  to our Product PR Sprints for DTC or CPG brands everything we do is designed to move the needle for you.

 

Today’s modern PR firms come in all sizes, from the extraordinarily large to the boutique. But to be a truly modern PR firm, it takes a village, so it’s not enough to have a micro-agency or freelancer. No one person can see the entire landscape alone. Smart agencies hire emotionally intelligent team members. At Avaans, we hire emotionally intelligent PR executives. Our experienced team has successful track records and comes from an array of backgrounds. That’s why we call our team the A-Team. If you’re a fast-growing or hyper-growth or ambitious brand, and you’d like a modern PR firm that’s also experienced, please reach out to us.

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