Meet Beverly Tchang, MD: One of the world’s most impactful Digital Opinion Leaders in Obesity

Last month, we explored the profile of Dr Icro Meattini, one of the most impactful Digital Opinion Leaders (DOL) in breast cancer, using our tool, DOL Finder. Our HCP social media intelligence platform enables you to discover every HCP who talks about a particular disease online, ranked by the impact they have on their online peers, and you can learn about them through the content they post.

With rising rates of obesity and weight-loss drugs taking the market by storm, let’s turn to DOL Finder to explore what HCPs are talking about in the online obesity conversation. Meet Beverly Tchang, MD, who ranks among the top 10 HCPs worldwide discussing obesity. Based in New York, Dr Tchang is an endocrinologist who is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. 

Let’s dive into Dr Tchang’s profile.

When you click on her profile in DOL Finder, you will see an overview of her digital impact and key details such as role and location. Dr Tchang ranks 6th globally among over 16,000 HCPs talking about obesity online and is active on two platforms: X and LinkedIn. Her ranking is based on four key metrics: obesity online activity, peer trust, social reach, and treatment activity.

While Dr Tchang ranks in the 99th percentile for three of these metrics, her social media reach ranks lower in the 85th percentile. Despite having fewer overall followers and less social reach than other HCPs in DOL Finder, this does not diminish her impact on her HCP peers – a metric uniquely measured by DOL Finder. When identifying the right DOLs for you, it is important to measure impact beyond vanity metrics, such as follower count, and identify influential DOLs based on metrics such as peer validation, trust, and impact. 

Peer Trust

As noted in our previous article, “In healthcare, where trust and credibility are essential, the peer impact of DOLs cannot be overlooked.” Let’s take a closer look at DOL Finder to explore the impact Dr Tchang has on her peers.

In the past year, Dr Tchang was referenced 143 times by other HCPs, with higher-ranking HCPs like Dr Michael Albert and Dr Neil Floch mentioning her on numerous occasions. In addition to this, HCPs shared Dr Tchang’s posts 356 times indicating that she is viewed as a credible source. Bariatric surgeon, Dr Floch alone amplified her content 47 times over the past year. This level of engagement reflects the trust and impact Dr Tchang has among other well established DOLs.

Treatment Interest

Over the past year, Dr Tchang mentioned 12 obesity products in her posts. While remaining primarily neutral when discussing these products, Dr Tchang expressed negative sentiment towards Wegovy and Zepbound in a handful of posts. This suggests that further exploration of her content may be worthwhile, to learn what drives her negative sentiment towards these products.

Moreover, Dr Tchang remained neutral as she discussed 7 clinical trials over the past year. This may suggest that Dr Tchang is a data disseminator who educates her audience by providing updates on the latest advancements in obesity research and trial data, without adding significant opinion. 

Obesity Activity

Dr Tchang posted 343 times about obesity over the past year. DOL Finder’s activity chart shows that Dr Tchang was consistently active throughout the year, with some significant spikes in conversation during the year. The chart also shows that while she frequently amplifies and responds to the content of others, she also consistently originates her own content. This type of behaviour reveals that Dr Tchang is a prominent voice in the online obesity space.

Let’s look more closely at the type of content Dr Tchang posts. DOL Finder highlights Dr Tchang’s interest in treatment as she frequently used hashtags such as #medicine and #weightloss in her posts. This is also indicated in the topics bar chart which reveals that research and treatment were the topics Dr Tchang posted most about.

Over the past year, Dr Tchang also used #webinar 15 times. Understanding her online behaviour provides valuable insights for DOL engagement and particularly for potential future collaborations around initiatives such as webinars.

Moreover, It’s intriguing that pediatric obesity is the third most discussed topic by Dr Tchang, given that research and treatment are typically the main topics of conversation among HCPs. This provides us with insight into the demographics that Dr Tchang is particularly concerned with.

DOL Finder also offers insights into how Dr Tchang discusses manufacturers and provides a closer look at the organisations and congresses she mentions. Over the past year, Dr Tchang mentioned 4 manufacturers and remained, for the most part, neutral when referring to them.

Dr Tchang also mentioned various organisations and congresses in her posts. With DOL Finder’s interactivity features, you can hover over the circles representing the congresses mentioned by the HCP. In doing so, we can see that Dr Tchang also frequently referenced the Obesity Week conference organised by the Obesity Society. 

Listening to the voice of HCPs during congresses and events are key, as these provide opportunities for data dissemination and HCP peer-to-peer collaboration. Our on-demand webinar provides further insight into the value of unlocking hidden HCP influence at congress.

Within the obesity activity section, DOL Finder also provides us with further insight into the type of content Dr Tchang engages with. In her posts, Dr Tchang referenced various healthcare news sites, such as ConscienHealth and Stat News, and amplified posts from their corresponding social media accounts. She also shared links to virtual meetings and events, via platforms such as Zoom, NEJM Group and Cvent.

DOL Finder’s conversation network map highlights online interactions between Dr Tchang and other HCPs discussing obesity. The map highlights Dr Tchang’s strong network, showcasing a high level of cross-specialty online discussions represented by the different coloured nodes on the map. 

Furthermore, as previously noted, Dr Michael Albert was the top HCP referencing Dr Tchang. In turn, he was the top HCP referenced by Dr Tchang. Understanding these peer-to-peer connections can uncover potential opportunities for meaningful collaborations within the online HCP community. 

Social Reach

Compared to the other metrics, Dr Tchang ranked slightly lower, in the 85th percentile, for social reach. Let’s turn to DOL Finder to understand why.

Although Dr Tchang is highly influential in the US, there is potential for her to strengthen her global social reach. Most HCPs who engaged with her and mentioned her in their posts were based in the US. The map reveals that a few HCPs in countries such as the UK, Spain, Brazil, and India also referenced her. This underscores an opportunity for Dr Tchang to grow her network online and further her global influence. 

Another factor contributing to Dr Tchang’s limited social reach is her follower count. Dr Tchang has 5,394 followers on X and 1,634 followers on LinkedIn. Compared to other HCPs who ranked higher than her, this is relatively low. For instance, Dr Neil Floch has amassed over 132,000 followers on X alone and Dr Daniel Drucker has over 32,000 followers on X. This reveals that Dr Tchang has the potential to grow her following and network, perhaps even beyond X and LinkedIn.

In the past, CREATION.co has worked with pharmaceutical companies to coach HCPs who are ‘rising stars’ and help them grow their influence and establish themselves as DOLs. By supporting them on their path to becoming DOLs, pharmaceutical companies can establish strong relationships early and continue to engage these HCPs as their influence grows.

Now let’s wrap up with a look at the terminology that Dr Tchang uses to post about obesity. With words such as care, medicine and weightloss highlighted, DOL Finder’s word cloud component reinforces Dr Tchang’s treatment interest. According to her bio on X, Dr Tchang states that she is “passionate about #obesity as a medical disease”. This is also alluded to in the terminology she uses when discussing obesity. 

Understanding Dr Tchang’s online social media activity is essential for DOL engagement. Identifying HCPs, like Dr Tchang, who are passionate about solving the challenges specific to your therapy area is key to forming meaningful relationships since these HCPs will naturally want to partner with you in addressing these challenges.

So, what have we discovered about Dr Beverly Tchang? 

• Dr Tchang is an impactful voice in the obesity space, with a particular interest in obesity treatment and care.
• Trusted by her peers, Dr Tchang is frequently reposted and mentioned by HCPs worldwide.
• While Dr Tchang is well-connected with her peers in the US, she has the potential to grow her following and strengthen her influence internationally. 

To learn more about DOL Finder or arrange your own personal demo, please get in touch.