Expanding the Conversation: How Medical Influencers Helped Us Reach New Audiences During CMV Awarene

Expanding the Conversation: How Medical Influencers Helped Us Reach New Audiences During CMV Awareness Month

Author: Megan Pesch, MD

Every June, National CMV Awareness Month allows us to talk about congenital cytomegalovirus cCMV)—what it is, why it matters, and what families and healthcare professionals need to know.

But awareness only works when information reaches people.

This year, we wanted to think beyond our usual audiences and find new ways to bring cCMV education to families and healthcare professionals who may never have heard of congenital CMV. That meant meeting people where they already go for health information—including social media.

During National CMV Awareness Month, we had the privilege of partnering with an incredible group of physicians, nurses, educators, and medical content creators who generously opened their platforms to the cCMV community. Together, they helped us introduce congenital CMV to millions of people across social media.

For an infection that remains unfamiliar to so many families before pregnancy, that reach matters.

Bringing cCMV Into New Conversations

Congenital CMV sits at the intersection of many areas of healthcare: obstetrics, maternal-fetal medicine, newborn care, pediatrics, audiology, early intervention, and developmental care. Yet too often, families first learn the words “congenital CMV” only after it has affected their child.

Changing that requires more than sharing information within the cCMV community. It requires bringing cCMV into conversations that are already happening among expectant parents, healthcare professionals, and families.

That is exactly what our partners helped us do.

Dr. Tommy Martin

Dr. Tommy Martin, MD, is a physician and medical educator known for making evidence-based health information engaging and accessible to millions of followers.

During CMV Awareness Month, Dr. Martin created two educational reels about congenital CMV and joined our Interim Executive Director, Dr. Megan Pesch, for a conversation about cCMV. Through his approachable style and enormous reach, he helped introduce cCMV to an audience that may otherwise never have encountered it.

We are deeply grateful to Dr. Martin for lending his voice, curiosity, and platform to this work.

Dr. Meghan Martin — Dr. Beachgem

Dr. Meghan Martin, MD—better known online as Dr. Beachgem—is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and a trusted medical educator with millions of followers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Following a conversation with Dr. Pesch about congenital CMV, Dr. Martin helped amplify cCMV education by sharing and recirculating educational content across her platforms.

Her participation demonstrates something powerful about awareness: sometimes sharing trustworthy information with the right audience can introduce an important health topic to thousands of families in a matter of minutes.

We are incredibly thankful for her partnership.

Amanda’s NICU Education

NICU professionals are often on the front lines of recognizing infants who may have signs of congenital CMV. That made our partnership with Amanda, the creator behind Amanda’s NICU Education, particularly meaningful.

A Clinical Nurse Specialist and NICU educator, Amanda uses her platforms to provide practical education while building a supportive community for neonatal nurses.

After an educational conversation with Dr. Pesch, Amanda created and shared a reel about congenital CMV, helping bring cCMV awareness directly to nurses caring for some of our most vulnerable newborns.

We are so grateful to Amanda for helping us reach the NICU community.

Dr. Amanda Horton

Dr. Amanda Horton, MD, FACOG, is a board-certified OB-GYN and Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist and an affiliate faculty member at Dell Medical School.

Because opportunities for CMV education and prevention begin long before a baby is born, reaching pregnant people and the professionals who care for them is an essential part of our mission.

During CMV Awareness Month, Dr. Horton created original educational content and collaborated with our social media channels to bring information about congenital CMV to new families and communities.

We are tremendously grateful for her willingness to use both her clinical expertise and her platform to expand this conversation.

Dr. Fatima Daoud Yilmaz

Dr. Fatima Daoud Yilmaz, MD, FACOG, is a board-certified OB-GYN, Assistant Clinical Professor at Stony Brook Medicine, and passionate advocate for accessible, evidence-based health education.

Dr. Daoud Yilmaz created original content about congenital CMV and brought thoughtful questions and perspectives to the conversation. Voices like hers are especially important because OB-GYN clinicians have a unique opportunity to introduce CMV education before and during pregnancy—before families ever find themselves confronting a diagnosis.

We sincerely thank Dr. Daoud Yilmaz for helping make cCMV part of that broader conversation.

Awareness Is More Than a Number

Social media metrics can tell us how many people watched a reel, liked a post, or shared a video. But the true impact of awareness is harder to measure.

It may be the expectant parent who hears about CMV for the first time and asks a question at their next prenatal appointment.

It may be the NICU nurse who thinks about cCMV when caring for an infant with concerning clinical findings.

It may be the physician who remembers CMV when evaluating a newborn who does not pass their hearing screen.

Or it may be a family already affected by cCMV who sees their experience acknowledged by a trusted healthcare professional and realizes that a larger community is beginning to understand.

Those moments are why awareness matters.

Building a Bigger cCMV Community

One of the most exciting lessons from this year's National CMV Awareness Month was how many healthcare professionals were willing to learn, ask questions, and use their platforms to help.

Every new voice expands the circle of people who know about congenital CMV. Every conversation creates another opportunity for education. And every person who shares accurate, compassionate information helps us move toward a future in which fewer families hear about cCMV for the first time only after receiving a diagnosis.

To Dr. Tommy Martin, Dr. Meghan Martin, Amanda of Amanda’s NICU Education, Dr. Amanda Horton, and Dr. Fatima Daoud Yilmaz: thank you.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for learning alongside us. Thank you for sharing your platforms. And most importantly, thank you for helping us bring congenital CMV out of the shadows and into conversations happening among families and healthcare professionals across the country.

CMV Awareness Month may happen once a year, but the work of building awareness happens every day.

Together, we are making sure more people know about congenital CMV—and that families affected by cCMV know they are not alone.