3.9k Share this
A New York City school pediatrician with a cushy 9-5 job has been accused of lying about treating COVID-stricken children on the hospital frontline.
Dr. Risa Hoshino was hailed on many top physician influencer lists, and was dubbed ‘a veteran of using social media to debunk scientific falsehoods’ by the Scientist magazine.
But she has now been accused of lying about working 12-hour hospital shifts and taking care of children suffering from long-COVID in an investigation by Substack blogger Sarah Beth Burwick.
Hoshino tweeted about long shifts in full PPE while treating children suffering from long COVID and handing out injections.
But Burwick has called her out, saying the job Hoshino does involves no such work. She also flagged social media photos of the medic enjoying herself which didn’t tally with Hoshino’s claims of back-breaking shifts.
Hoshino, whose LinkedIn claims she works for Mount Sinai, was found out to be a city-employed school pediatrician who mostly worked a remote job for around $170,000 a year during the pandemic.
Dr. Risa Hoshino has been accused of lying about working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The social media physician, who claimed to be working inside a hospital treating children COVID-19 cases, was found out to be a school pediatrician
She did, however, complete her residency at the hospital network in 2017, but has since worked as a school pediatrician with 9-5 hours.
Her strong 113,000 followers – which she built up in a year-and-a-half – has since crashed to 32,200 since the accusations first surfaced.
All the doctor’s accounts are now locked or deleted.
Despite her substantial salary, she would beg for money on a Ko-Fi account.
Like many other physicians who found fame during the pandemic by readily answering their followers questions, flaunting prestigious degrees, and dubbing themselves ‘vaccine experts,’ Hoshino matched the ranks of he other #tweetiatricians, who are young, attractive, and have a knack for a catchy taglines and hashtags.
She started to building her social media on Instagram at the start of the pandemic before switching to Twitter, after the tweets began garnering attention, Burwick reported.
On Twitter, Hoshino could be found mainly detailing her exhausting existence on the frontlines.
She shared heartbreaking stories on children suffering from long-COVID side effects, such as a straight-A student having trouble concentrating or an immunocompromised kid who was reportedly doing ‘poorly.’
She even went as far as alleging that 25 percent of her pediatric patients would end up with long-COVID.
She often detailed her reported battle with anti-vaxxers and having to wear masks for her long shifts
‘Trying telling a child that you have no idea when they’ll be normal again and to see them tear up. They could potentially suffer the rest of their lives,’ she wrote in a March 2022 tweet.
Her tweets garnered many parents to promise they’d vaccinate their children and to vigilantly wear masks, Burwick said.
She also shared her frustrations, alongside many other healthcare workers, of being overworked and mistreated and dealing with anti-vaxxers.
A tweet from March 8 allegedly said: ‘I believed this in residency and believe it even more now: the hospital admin does not give a f%€% about us. We are expendable.’ There is no evidence that Hoshino was working inside a hospital at that time.
She also wrote on March 24: ‘Not sure how someone can tell me to my face that “covid is over” as I stand there in my scrubs, N95, [and] face-shield, exhausted from treating all the covid + patients who are either severely ill or have long covid. Unless you’re us, you’ll truly never get it.
A day later she wrote: ‘Sometimes I walk home in my scrubs [and] N95 [and] stare at the bars full of unmasked people yelling, laughing, with spit flying, no vaxx status checked, [and] no testing required. The utter contrast of my life with theirs seems so surreal. When will my time be to “live my life?”‘
The physician used her Twitter to promote her claimed work inside hospitals, while her Instagram featured dinner dates with friends and bikini shots (pictured). The city-employed pediatrician also reportedly worked a cushy $170,000 Monday-Friday job, which she mostly worked remotely
However, unlike her Twitter content, her Instagram was reportedly filled with dinner dates with her friends, glamorous home offices, and bikini shots.
Her page also reportedly revealed that she worked from home throughout 2020, like most New Yorkers. Her Instagram has since been deleted.
If her Instagram didn’t set off red flags for her followers, her lack of hospital affiliations and office location should have. Popular sites like Vitals.com and WedMD listed Mount Sinai has her office location, but the hospital’s website doesn’t list her on their physicians page.
Another website, ehealthgrades, listed a Kew Gardens address as her office, but the phone number attached to the single-family home that sits on the property reportedly belongs to a relative, Burwick said.
And her 10-digit National Provider Identifier number hasn’t been updated since medical school and the database still identifies her as a student.
The doctor also reportedly claimed to have 15 years of experience, despite only graduating medical at NYU in 2014. Since completing residency three years later, records report she’s been a City Medical Specialist with NYC Department of Health since.
An anonymous coworker of Hoshino’s told Burwick that school pediatricians don’t typically wear N95 masks for 12 hours or wear scrubs, but rather focus on public health education and work as liaison to connect with other doctors to make sure students needs are met.
Hoshino also reportedly based her ‘vaccine expert’ status on attending the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), but there’s no record of an medical research or publications pertaining to her study on the subject, according to Burwick.
She often used her platform to talk about the sick children she reportedly treated
However, she did appear on Pfizer Careers Twitter page with a photo of her hugging her grandmother, but it is unclear what her affiliation is with the medical company.
In addition, in December 2021, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia brought on Hoshino to a virtual event with pediatric vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit to discuss her experience with a rare inflammatory side effect of COVID-19, despite not having a hospital affiliation or proof she had been treating patients inside medical facilities.
MedPage has also published many pieces written by Hoshino, as well as by Edward Nirenberg, another COVID-19 influencer, according to Burwick. The pair even co-publish an opinion piece together in BMJ with three physicians, all who have hospital experience.
Despite the ambiguity of her affiliation, she did post an Instagram story to say she wasn’t a ‘pharma shill.’
‘I literally make zero money from my science advocacy. I just care and that’s why I’m here,’ she wrote. She also reminded her followers she was ‘losing’ money doing her ‘volunteer’ work instead of getting a ‘second job.’
However, the doctor did make some profits from her social media as anyone who bought from off Amazon through associated links would give her a commission. She also promoted GoodRx, but it is unclear if she made a profit off it. Despite FTC regulations and New York City government-based jobs rules, she didn’t disclose any financial gains or conflicts of interest.
DailyMail.com has attempted to contact Hoshino for comment.
Source: dailymail
