Impact and engagement of a virtual platform to provide equitable oncology education globally.

Yan Leyfman Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, Oceanside, NY info_outline Yan Leyfman, Shubhadarshini Pawar, Muskan Joshi, Maduri Balasubramanian, William B. Wilkerson, Gayathri P. Menon, Alexandra Van de Kieft, Sean Jackewicz, Rabab H. Abbas, Chandler H. Park

Authors Yan Leyfman Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, Oceanside, NY info_outline Yan Leyfman, Shubhadarshini Pawar, Muskan Joshi, Maduri Balasubramanian, William B. Wilkerson, Gayathri P. Menon, Alexandra Van de Kieft, Sean Jackewicz, Rabab H. Abbas, Chandler H. Park Organizations Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, Oceanside, NY, Shree Vighnaharta Hospital, Maharashtra, India, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, GA, Norton Cancer Institute, Louisville, KY Abstract Disclosures Research Funding No funding received None. Background: Social media has emerged as a powerful outlet for the dissemination of medical information, especially in resource-limited regions, due to its mass global reach. However, misinformation has presented an unexpected detriment to public health on a global scale. To address this, MedNews Week (MNW) , a free, virtual educational platform streamed on most social media platforms was developed to provide global oncology education through biweekly programming. Its leading show, Keynote Conference , features live virtual presentations from oncology’s premier global leaders discussing the latest developments in the field before a mainstream global audience. The aim of this study was to assess the worldwide reach and impact of this cost-free, virtual oncology education platform. Methods: From January 2022 to February 2023, MNW hosted 33 global leaders as Keynote Speakers discussing the latest developments in oncology. Viewership, impressions, and outreach data were collected from MNW’s social media accounts and Tweepmaps. Data was analyzed to assess MNW’s global reach and engagement and stratified based on engagement sentiment, gender, age group, and occupation. Results: During this period, MNW produced a healthcare social grasp score of 64% and generated over 64,000 Twitter impressions engaging 1.9 million viewers over 13 months in the US, UK, Ireland, India, France, and 16 lower socioeconomic (SE) countries and 99 cities. Most of the followers were from non-healthcare fields with more males than females (Table). Those who engaged conveyed positive sentiments (64%) contributing to a viewership increase from 47,589 (6 months) to 61,539 (1 year), where 60% of the audience was found to originate from lower SE regions globally. Conclusions: MNW has demonstrated an ability to attract and sustain a diverse, global, growing mainstream audience. Given MNW’s continued growth, it provides a proof-of-concept model to engage and disseminate medical information to mainstream audiences. The platform’s ability to showcase global leaders to mainstream audiences gratuitously, especially in lower SE regions that have been historically underserved, offers a practical approach to combat educational inequity. Consequently, such a platform has demonstrated great potential to positively impact global oncology education. Demographics of MedNews Week’s audience. Followers n (%) Age group 10 to 23 years 47 (4.58%) > 24 years 979 (95.42%) Gender Male 990 (47.96%) Female 854 (41.37%) Occupation Healthcare 887 (42.99%) Non-healthcare 1176 (57%)