Roon, a physician-only social network, is collaborating with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to bring its more than 128,000 members to the network.
Roon is building the human network behind modern medicine—a physician-only community for conversations and connections across specialties. It officially launched in late April as an artificial intelligence-native social platform—though it has been live since November—for physicians to connect, debate and share clinical knowledge.
The platform was founded by Rohan Ramakrishna, M.D., a neurosurgeon and two Pinterest executives, Vikram Bhaskaran and Arun Ranganathan.
Ramakrishna told Fierce Healthcare “physicians crave” interacting with other professionals outside of their own department, divisions and institutions.
“Roon provides that very important, and I would say inspiring, people connection, where you can interact with doctors from across the country, across geographies, across specialties… I think that's been one thing that the AAFP has really loved,” Ramakrishna said. “And what's really cool to see is that we have, with AAFP, primary care doctors from essentially all 50 states joining Roon.”
Ramakrishna said the platform has also seen “incredible momentum” with journal collaborations, including the New England Journal of Medicine and American Heart Association.
While Roon does not share user numbers, Bhaskaran told Fierce Healthcare there are “close to 400 founding physicians” involved.
“What's really unique about us [is] we're building this with leaders in medicine who are shaping the platform for their specialties and things they care about,” Bhaskaran said.
Bhaskaran added Roon’s audience is “very focused.”
“They come to actually learn and connect,” he said. “And so it's the one place where you can not only find this focused audience, but also have them in a mindset where they want to learn and connect.”
AAFP CEO and EVP R. Shawn Martin told Fierce Healthcare in an emailed statement family medicine is “rooted in connection, collaboration and shared experiences,” adding the organization is excited to be joining Roon.
“By creating opportunities to exchange clinical insights, learn from one another and build meaningful professional relationships, Roon can help strengthen the connections that will ultimately improve primary care for patients and communities,” Martin said.
More broadly, Ramakrishna said “physician connection with remain invaluable” as AI progresses through the industry.
“There's something about experience, there's something about judgment that humans still crave and will still crave,” Ramakrishna said. “And while AI can be helpful, I think those aspects of medicine will remain indispensable. And so, having a trusted place where doctors can connect across all these different conversations I think is what makes Roon valuable and hopefully essential over time.”