“Let’s Rethink How We Drink” takes a fun, informative approach to learning about health effects of alcohol.

Group Health has teamed up with Mike Evans, MD—known worldwide for his work in innovative health messaging to the public—to produce a new video called “Let’s Rethink How We Drink.” The video presents a different view on alcohol and asks people to reflect on their own drinking habits.

“We’ve come to realize that only a small fraction of people are what we'd traditionally call ‘alcoholic’—a term we're getting away from because it creates black-or-white thinking about the health effects of alcohol,” said Dr. Evans, associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto. “Instead, most problems due to drinking happen to people who drink in ways that seem normal.”

Dr. Evans has developed more than 30 videos in nine different languages with his signature White Board Medical School series, accumulating more than 11 million views on his YouTube channel. The new video is a collaboration between Dr. Evans and a research team led by Dr. Katharine Bradley, a Group Health general internist and senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. “We hope Dr. Evans’ fun, informative approach will inspire people to think about how drinking can affect their health and consider positive changes if needed,” she said.

Dr. Evans is also a staff physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, and a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. He has an endowed chair in Patient Engagement and Childhood Nutrition at the University of Toronto. He will be the guest speaker at Group Health’s Annual Birnbaum Lecture on Wednesday, June 3, addressing the topic: “Disruption, Peer-to-Peer Health Care, Creativity, and YouTube: New Landscapes for Shaping Health Choices.”

Dr. Bradley is a leading researcher in alcohol and health. Her work includes studies funded by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality aimed at improving primary care for patients with unhealthy drinking.

All of Dr. Evans’ videos are available at www.youtube.com/docmikeevans.