Joel Bervell

About Joel Bervell

Dr. Joel Bervell, MD is a Peabody Award–winning Ghanaian-American physician, science communicator, host of The Dose podcast with the Commonwealth Fund, and creator of the YouTube animated series The Doctor Is In. Widely known as the “Medical Mythbuster,” he uses viral social media storytelling to expose racial disparities in healthcare, uncover the hidden history of medicine, and challenge overlooked biases that shape clinical care. His platforms have grown to over 2 million followers, 500+ million impressions, and a monthly reach of more than 20 million people. His work has earned recognition across both mainstream and medical communities. He is a 2025 Peabody Award recipient (Interactive & Immersive), 2025 Webby Award winner (Health, Wellness & Fitness), and was named a Time 100 Creator and to the Forbes’ 2025 30 Under 30 list in Social Media. He’s also a 2024 TED Fellow, Smithsonian Channel Cyclebreaker, Scientific American Revolutionary, Rock Health Top 50 Leader in Digital Health, 2023 Anthem Award Gold Winner, and 2022 “40 Under 40 Leader in Minority Health” by the National Minority Quality Forum. He received the National Medical Association’s Emerging Scholar Award—the organization’s highest academic honor for a student. Joel has spoken at events hosted by the White House, FDA, Congressional Black Caucus, Clinton Foundation, TED, SXSW, Aspen Ideas: Health, the Milken Global Conference, Google, Meta, TikTok, the AMA, and the Association of American Medical Colleges. His work has been featured by The New York Times, Good Morning America, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Today.com, HuffPost, NPR, Yahoo News, WebMD, Al Jazeera, Vox, and Brut Media. He has published academic research in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. He serves on high-level advisory boards for the Council for Responsible Social Media and the World Health Organization’s Operation Fides, and previously served with the White House’s Health Care Leaders in Social Media Roundtable and The Atlantic’s Health Equity Advisory Board. He’s also collaborated with leading brands like Google, Neutrogena, Microsoft, Meta, Samsung, BET, and the American Medical Association to develop social media campaigns that advance health equity, fight misinformation, and reach diverse audiences with evidence-based storytelling. As Mashable said, he\'s “Your next must-follow creator.” Learn more about him at and follow his work on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram (@joelbervell).

Experience

1. COO and Co-founder

   Hugs For Ghana

   Sep 2007 — Present

   Hugs for\' is an entirely student-led 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to empowering global student leaders to giving material and financial donations to underprivileged children world wide- Spearheaded grassroots fundraising efforts. To date over worth of material and monetary donations collected and delivered- Impacted youth across Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and the United States- Established multiple branches of Hugs for in 10 states and over 150 volunteers- Regularly a speaker at conferences for social entrepreneurship, civic leadership, and managing a start-up.Visit to learn more about our projects.

Education

• The Johns Hopkins University

  Orthopaedic Research Fellowship

  2022 — 2023

• Boston University

  Master's degree

  2017 — 2019

• Yale University

  Business/Corporate Communications

  2013 — 2017

• Washington State University

  Doctor of Medicine - MD

  2019 — 2024