04/04/2022

Friends of Franz Podcast S1 E15: Social Media and Medicine with Dr. Vinh Vu (VinhzCastle)

The past two years have seemed to bring about two "viral" contagions: the pandemic and social media. As the lockdowns allowed people to remain at home and brought cascades of popularity to phone applications like TikTok, workers within the medical field also seemed to join the tides. We have watched it all...new lingos created every day, people in scrubs dancing to the trending audios, and countless challenges on your "for you page." But this new image of healthcare professionals has been walking the hospital halls and providing care to countless patients for years before their limelight on social media. The traditional "prim and proper" and "demure" image of medicine with its symbol of the pristine white coat is long gone as it meets a new wave of representatives who seem to recast this history-long persona. With his full-sleeve arm tattoos, ear piercings, and viral shirtless and risqué dancing videos online, our episode guest medical resident Dr. Vinh Vu, who is more commonly known as "VinhzCastle" from YouTube and TikTok, is the paradigm of this new emblem of healthcare.

A Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) doctor in Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Vu seeks to show that one can excel at being a physician...and still have fun. A dancer, photographer, doctor, and dog daddy to his famed "teddy bear" Nugget, he takes us on his journey as he shares his dreams and visions within the polar worlds of medicine and entertainment.

From his early start on YouTube as a dancer to his journey in medicine to his "mistakes" and "realizations" on social media, and to his viewed demarcation lines between his roles as a doctor and as an online persona, we take a deep dive in both the harmonies and squabbles between the world of meticulous clinical procedures and of the entropic internet. Join us as we navigate the algorithms to find common ground between these two opposite worlds!