In past years, I’ve used the end of the year mark as a way to highlight my most read blogs of the year and encourage you to check them out if you missed them. But who cares about my most read blogs? Instead, I want to amplify the voices of health experts who have educated us throughout this pandemic and who will continue to for many months to come. If you aren’t already following them on social media or listening to their podcasts, I encourage you to do so. They are often interviewed on the major news programs.

Trusting the science, knowing the facts, and maintaining objectivity are critical for all of us to do our part and get safely to the other side of this pandemic.

Here are the experts I recommend you follow in alphabetical order:

Esther Choo, MD, MPH, Co-Founder, Equity Quotient, is an emergency physician and professor at the Oregon Health & Science University. She has been speaking from the front lines of the pandemic since the beginning. She did a podcast series called Doctors’s Log – A Covid-19 Journal in the early months of the pandemic. Twitter: @choo_ek

Laurie Garrett is a Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist and author of several books including “The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance” and “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health”. In 2007, she did a TED talk “Lessons from the 1918 Flu”.  Twitter: @Laurie_Garrett

Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, is an internationally respected expert on pandemic response and preparedness. He recently left his position as faculty director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and became dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.  His recent interview on In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt, “The Next Three Stages of COVID-19”, is worth checking out. And as I just learned, he also has his own podcast series, “COVID: What Comes Next”. He is a frequent contributor on all the major news outlets. Twitter: @ashishkjha

Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, has been nominated as the next U.S. Surgeon General, a role he also served in during the Obama Administration.  He is the co-chair of the Biden COVID Task Force. His recent interview on in the Bubble with Andy Slavitt, “Inside the Biden COVID Task Force”, is worth checking out. Twitter: @vivek_murthy

Michael Osterholm, MS, MPH, PhD, is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and is a world-renowned epidemiologist who has spent his career investigating outbreaks. He is a member of the Biden COVID Task Force. His podcast, “The Osterholm Update: COVID-19”, is a weekly report on the pandemic. It is science and fact based with genuine caring and concern for the people impacted. He envisioned and helped launch the Frontline Families Fund which provides direct financial support and educational scholarships to the children of healthcare workers who have lost their lives to COVID019.  Twitter: @mtosterholm

Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, is an emergency physician at the Rhode Island Hospital, an associate professor at Brown University, and Director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. During the pandemic she has also been a voice for healthcare workers everywhere launching a grassroots organization Get Us PPE to collect, create and distribute personal protective equipment around the country. Her recent interview on In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt, “Following One Shift in the COVID-19 Unit”,  is worth checking out. Twitter: @meganranney

Andy Slavitt, MBA, is a former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama Administration. His podcast series, In the Bubble, is aimed at deconstructing the COVID-19 pandemic through vital information, expert interviews, and a forward-looking message of hope. A recent podcast, “Toolkit: How to Build a Bubble”, is an excellent resource as you think about how to safely get through the holidays and the coming months. He founded United States of Care, a non-partisan movement to ensure that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care regardless of health status, social need, or income. Twitter: @ASlavitt

Leana Wen, MD, MSc, MA, is an emergency physician and former Health Commissioner for the City of Baltimore. She testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on racial disparities and COVID-19. She is a contributing columnist for the Washington Post focusing on health policy and public heath. Her podcast interview in June on In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt, “Living Through Two Public Health Crises”, covered the intersection of racism and COVID-19 as two public health crises, health disparities and social determinants of health (SDOH), and the concept of “harm reduction”. Twitter: @DrLeanaWen

And in my profession of health IT, I encourage you to listen to and subscribe to This Week in Health IT. The COVID Field Report series was outstanding and provided a concrete way for health IT leaders to learn from one another as they support their health systems during this pandemic.

Be well. Be strong. Be smart.