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“Stigma, shame and a lack of respect for data” – Dr. Lipi Roy on what COVID19 and addiction have in common.
My #WomentoFollow profile of Lipi Roy, MD, MPH (17th edition)
The job? “I try to make sure I’m as evidence-based as I can be,” says Dr. Lipi Roy, medical contributor for NBC News and MSNBC.
“I tend to have a unique lens being an expert on addiction, being a woman, Asian-Canadian.”
“Appearing on NBC has given me national exposure that I never had before…I take it as an important opportunity to educate and empower the public to make healthy decisions.” In early March, network producers reached out to Roy before NYC’s lockdown on March 13.
As a TV medical contributor, Roy has been praised online for her candor and the clearness of her message.
When the President hasn’t told the truth, she’s called him out on it. “When you’re having the President guaranteeing to his audience…something false and blatantly incorrect wrong, it asserts false hope,” Roy said on MSNBC. “Surely, he’s never been in a position to pronounce someone dead.”
“Live broadcast television requires adaptability as news stories constantly change in settings with multiple producers.”
She appears on TV almost every day. “I’m always reading, researching, taking notes, synthesizing new information and conveying it in a way that’s sensible, digestible and relevant for the public. Doing so on a national scale is a privilege and responsibility I take very seriously.”
Roy was previously the medical director of a Brooklyn addiction treatment center. Both positions are challenging, she says. “I provided direct patient care to some of the city’s most vulnerable, sickest…
