Joel Bervell
Born
NationalityAmerican
Education
Years active2019 - present
Websitehttps://joelbervell.com/

Joel Bervell is a Ghanaian-American Internet personality and medical student sometimes referred to as the "medical mythbuster.[1]

Early life and education

edit

Bervell was born in Richmond, British Columbia.[2] When he was two years old, his family moved to Mukilteo, Washington, where he was raised.[2][3][4][5] Bervell's parents are from Ghana, and his family made frequent trips to Ghana throughout his childhood.[4] Bervell's father is a transportation engineer for Snohomish County and his mother works as an administrator at a local hospital.[6][7]

While in middle school, Bervell and his siblings founded a nonprofit organization called Hugs for Ghana.[5] The nonprofit was founded in honor of his grandmother, who had died from malaria while living in Ghana.[8] The organization's first project was a stuffed animal drive which gathered more than 5,000 donations.[2] Between 2007 and 2022, Hugs for Ghana raised over $500,000 for medical and school supplies in Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.[5] Bervell and his family traveled to Africa each year to distribute the supplies.[2][9][10]

Bervell attended Kamiak High School, where he served as Student Body President and president of seven school clubs.[2][6] He graduated from the school in 2013.[5] He then attended Yale University, receiving a bachelor of science degree in molecular cellular developmental biology in 2017.[4] Bervell's college education was funded by $150,000 in scholarships.[6] While at Yale, Bervell was on the Yale College Council.[11] Bervell began attending Boston University in 2017, receiving a master's degree in medical clinical sciences in 2019.[8] In 2019, Bervell was accepted to the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University.[4][5][12] He began attending the school in 2019 and is one of the first Black students at the medical college.[4][1]

Career

edit

In 2019, during his first year of medical school, Bervell created a TikTok account, posting his first video in December of that year.[4] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bervell read an article about pulse oximeters which cited a research finding that pulse oximeters have the ability to overestimate blood oxygen aspiration levels in people with darker skin.[4] Despite the research being decades old, the Food and Drug Administration did not have a warning on pulse oximeters.[12] In response, Bervell created a TikTok video about racial bias and pulse oximeters, which began a series on racial bias in medicine.[4][12] Following attention from Bervell's video, the FDA added a warning to their website about the effectiveness of pulse oximeters on darker skin.[7][12]

In 2021, Bervell was named a top TikTok "Voice for Change"[5][3] and was later awarded a TikTok Black Creatives Grant of $50,000 to work on his "dream project."[13][14]

By September 2022, Bervell had amassed more than 391,000 followers on TikTok and more than 60,000 followers on Instagram and had collaborated with US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy for a TikTok video.[15].[3] Bervell also received a message from a woman who was able to identify a precancerous lesion on on her foot after watching one of Bervell's videos.[15] In 2022, Bervell earned more than $100,000 in brand deals and was charging a minimum of $4000 per video.[16] His brand deals included partnerships with Neutrogena, Johnson & Johnson, Gushers, Samsung, and Quizlet.[16]

In 2023, Bervell was invited to the White House's Healthcare Leaders in Social Media Roundtable.[1][17] Later that year, Bervell was named to Seattle's local Forbes 30 Under 30.[18]

By February 2024, Bervell had more than 600,000 followers on TikTok and more than 200,000 followers on Instagram.[2] In March, Bervell appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show.[19] In April, Bervell was chosen as a TED Fellow.[20]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Gross, Rachel E. (March 19, 2024). "The Unbearable Vagueness of Medical 'Professionalism'". New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Nishiwaki, Chris (February 5, 2024). "Most Influential, Health Care: Joel Bervell". Seattle Business Magazine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Edwards, Jeanine (February 9, 2022). "In The Know by Yahoo Honors: Joel Bervell". Yahoo!. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h DiBenedetto, Chase (November 4, 2021). "Unpack racial biases in medicine with a myth-busting TikTokker". Mashable. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Podsada, Janice (April 5, 2022). "Joel Bervell: Highlighting racial disparities in medicine". Everett Herald. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Turnbull, Lornet (May 4, 2016). "High Achieving Siblings Give Back In Many Ways". The Seattle Medium. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b Smalls, Kavonte (January 3, 2023). "'How Come We Don't Know About This': Black Medical Student Known for Viral Videos Pushes for Equity In Health Care". Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  8. ^ a b Zaske, Sara (February 15, 2022). "WSU med student fights racial bias in health one TikTok at a time". WSU Insider. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  9. ^ Avickson, Mike (August 5, 2011). "Hugs For Ghana Aids Pupils". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  10. ^ Akweley Okertchiri, Jamila (July 26, 2011). "Hugs For Ghana Donates To Hospitals". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  11. ^ Gonzalez, Susan (May 28, 2015). "George H.W. Bush honored by student leaders with an award for lifetime achievement". Yale News. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Weekman, Kelsey (November 4, 2021). "How a medical student (and TikTok star) is revolutionizing the future of the health care system: 'A lot of medicine is still crude'". Yahoo!. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Meet the 10 recipients of the MACRO x TikTok Black Creatives Grant". TikTok. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  14. ^ Chan, J. Clara (November 16, 2021). "TikTok Teams With MACRO to Award $50,000 Grants to 10 Black Creators (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  15. ^ a b "One medical student's mission to end Black health disparities — and how he's utilizing social media". NPR Illinois. July 18, 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  16. ^ a b Bhattacharya, Shriya (September 28, 2022). "Read the exact 2-page media kit a content creator used to earn 6 figures from brand deals this year". Business Insider. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  17. ^ Holohan, Meghan (February 21, 2023). "Medical student shares surprising myths about race that persist in medicine". Today. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  18. ^ Jew, Pamela; Hasan, Zoya (August 9, 2023). "Under 30 Local". Forbes. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  19. ^ "TikTok's 'Medical Mythbuster' Helps Save Lives By Tackling Racial & Gender Disparities In Healthcare". The Kelly Clarkson Show. March 25, 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Meet the 2024 class of TED Fellows". TED. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
edit

[Category: Living people] [Category: People from Mukilteo, Washington] [Category: Yale University alumni] [Category: Boston University alumni]