Pediatrician Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson helped found Digital Health at Seattle Children’s in 2013 and currently is the Executive Director of Digital Health and author of the Seattle Mama Doc Blog for Seattle Children’s Hospital. She also authored her first book, Mama Doc Medicine: Finding Calm and Confidence in Parenting, Child Health, and Work-Life Balance, which was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in March, 2014.
Seattle Mama Doc Blog was started in 2009 by Dr. Swanson and was one of the first blogs written by a pediatrician for a leading children’s hospital. To date, more than 500 articles and videos have been posted to the blog. The blog will celebrate its 5th anniversary on November 11, 2014. Dr. Swanson is working to revolutionize health communications by using social and digital media to bridge the gap between parents and doctors. As one of the first pediatricians to blog for a leading children’s hospital, she works diligently to offer patients and parents relevant, practical and timely health information in accessible, online formats. Swanson is also working to innovate and reform how care teams communicate with patients and families everywhere.
Besides being a keynote speaker nationally on physician use of social media, digital health and innovation and its role in advocacy and public health, she is also an executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media. She is on the Board of Advisors for Parents magazine and is on the board for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. She is a weekly medical contributor with NBC affiliate KING 5 News in Seattle and is a practicing pediatrician with The Everett Clinic. She has nearly 24,000 followers on Twitter and was named to TIME Magazine’s Best Twitter Feeds of 2013.
Dr. Swanson graduated with Honors in Psychology from Kenyon College. She earned an MD and MBE (Master’s in Bioethics) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and then completed her residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital. In addition to her blog, she can be found on Twitter (@SeattleMamaDoc) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/SeattleMamaDoc).
