About Dr. Swanson
Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson is leading the way to a new age in medicine, in which innovations in digital, social media, and prevention leverage the combined wisdom of clinicians, patients, and researchers to help build stronger relationships. Dr. Swanson was the founder and Chief of Digital Innovation at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 2013, a community pediatrician, a weekly TV reporter, blogger, and has continued to be an important thought leader online for over a decade. Dr. Swanson speaks to digital health, innovation in public health, prevention, and healthcare advocacy. She provides pediatric advice to the press weekly. She is the Chief Medical Officer of Before Brands, makers of SpoonfulOne, leading communication and health translation to clinicians and parents to protect against the development of food allergies.
Dr. Swanson is a leading innovator in digital health, innovation and prevention
Dr. Swanson is a prominent advocate of evidence-based medicine and prevention. She pioneered new ways to revolutionize health communications by using social and digital media to bridge the gap between parents and doctors. She has collaborated with corporations on the impact of their products with the public, including with Amazon on the development of Alexa for Kids and with Proctor & Gamble on their new category creating infant monitoring and tracking. She piloted several groundbreaking technologies at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Virtual Handshake™, launched in 2014, which gives patient families information about the doctors and care team they’ll meet during visits, gives them further education during their child’s treatment, and tools for building a community around their child. She and her team have also supported the development of two apps: PRISM, to help teen patients manage stress, mindfulness, and resiliency during care; and P.O.P. Care, a mobile tool to track post-operative care and pain meds for tonsillectomy patients. She’s also partnered with solid organ transplant teams to create education curriculum and she guides hospital strategy for digital engagement. She created and piloted the voice skill for Amazon Alexa for influenza vaccination recommendations and illness questions as the first-ever Alexa devices in hospital waiting rooms.
Relationships and communication, access to data and care teams
Strong caregiver-patient relationships are built on communication, and Dr. Swanson has led the way in developing communication tools that are “dual-centric” — both patient-centered and clinician-centered. As the first physician blogger for a US hospital, she led the way for novel use of social media in healthcare. Her Seattle Mama Doc blog, podcast, and other social media channels have translated science and medical information to millions around the world. She is now online as @WendySueSwanson on Twitter, @DrWendySueSwanson on Facebook, & @DrWendySueSwanson on Instagram.
Credentials
Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson is a leading pediatrician, an entrepreneur and consultant, an author and media contributor and voice online. She was a health contributor to Seattle’s NBC affiliate station for 6 years, and continues to be an official spokesperson and public speaker. She is Chief Medical Officer of Before Brands, a health and wellness startup developing products and education to prevent food allergies based. She holds a master’s degree in bioethics and is the author of the book Mama Doc Medicine: Finding Calm and Confidence in Child Health, Parenting, and World-Life Balance, in addition to her blog and podcast.
Her credentials also include:
- MD, MBE (Masters of Bioethics), and FAAP (Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics)
- Recipient of a Gold Award from Mom’s Choice Awards for her book Mama Doc Medicine.
- Named to Time Magazine’s Best Twitter Feeds of 2013.
- Spokesperson, American Academy of Pediatrics, Council on Communications and Media. Close partnerships and work for various state Department of Health and for the Centers for Disease Control on education and health translation.
- Previous Huffington Post contributor, KING5 News medical contributor,
- Quoted widely in press on pediatrics, health and innovation in print, online, and TV
- Past, Chief of Digital Innovation, Seattle Children’s Hospital
- Past, Clinical Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington.
- Platinum Fellow & advisor to the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media.
