A family physician who has become a YouTube sensation through his videos that provide health advice in an engaging, easy-to-understand way, will be the keynote speaker at a public talk on Monday, Oct. 27, at McMaster Innovation Park.

Dr. Mike Evans, who is known for his work on patient engagement and particularly the use of technology in healthcare communications, will talk about the changing landscape in how patients and healthcare professionals interact, and the impact technology has made on the way consumers seek out health information.

In the presentation entitled Disruption, Peer to Peer Healthcare, Creativity and YouTube: How to Fail Well in Patient Engagement, Evans will describe how technological advancements have been used to improve the ways in which consumers can obtain health information that is meaningful to them.

He will also discuss why some aspects of patient engagement are not yet changing, such as relationships, self-care and attitudes. His talk will emphasize how these themes play out among older adults in particular.

The alumnus of McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine will also look at how new media can and is used in patient engagement.

Dr. Evans’ numerous videos that cover topics ranging from low back pain to brain health and medication safety have garnered more than 10 million hits on YouTube since he created his first video in 2011.

He is the founder of Health Design Lab at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto, which fuses creative techniques such as film-making and illustration with the work of clinicians and with patients, social entrepreneurs and best evidence to create “edutaining” healthcare information. He is also the house doctor for CBC weekend morning radio.

The talk will begin at 7 p.m., and include time for questions from the audience before it wraps up at 8:30 p.m. It will also be webcast live for those who are unable to attend in person (click here to access). McMaster Innovation Park is at 175 Longwood Road South in Hamilton, and offers free parking onsite.

Dr. Evans was recently granted an endowed chair in patient engagement and childhood nutrition at the University of Toronto.

Past awards he has garnered include the Gold Medal for Social Media at the Web Health Awards, being named to the Zoomer top 45 Canadians over 45 list, being named by CBC as one of five Health Heroes of 2012, and being profiled in 2013 as one of the top 10 innovators in healthcare, by the Canadian Medical Association.

The public talk has been organized by the McMaster Health Forum as part of its knowledge translation enterprise with the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative, and is supported by the MedicAlert Foundation of Canada.