Mikhail Varshavski
Mikhail Varshavski, D.O., commonly known as Mike Varshavski or Doctor Mike, is a Russian-born American internet celebrity family medicine doctor. His Instagram account went "viral" after he was featured in Buzzfeed and in People magazine's 2015 issue of The Sexiest Doctor Alive. He has a YouTube channel that provides medically-themed entertainment.
Early life and education
Varshavski was born on November 12, 1989, in Saransk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union to a Jewish family.He has an older sister, Dasha, and nephews named Daniel, Steven, and Ari. His father was a physician, a graduate of the Third Medical Institute of Moscow, while his mother was a mathematics professor. When he was five, he and his family immigrated to Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, his mother had to work sweeping floors for minimum wage, while his father attended medical school for the second time. In an interview, he relayed that people thought he was not smart because he did not speak English.Varshavski was given the nickname "Doctor Mike" during his high school years by friends who came to him for sports-related injuries, knowing that Varshavski's father is a physician. After seeing his father's relationship with his patients, he wanted to become a doctor. He enrolled in the New York Institute of Technology and was accepted for an accelerated, seven-year combined track for a bachelor's degree in life sciences and a doctoral degree of osteopathic medicine. In 2014 he started residency at Atlantic Health System Overlook Medical Center’s Family Medicine program, completing in 2017. During his first year in the program, his mother died of leukemia. He decided to move back in with his father and got a husky named Roxy. Varshavski has previously dated Miss Universe winner Pia Wurtzbach in 2016.
Career
In early 2012, Varshavski joined Instagram to document his life as a medical student and combat the notion that "you can't have a life in medical school". He has said that he was not popular in high school and struggled to talk to girls, and that he was disorganized and unable to speak well in public. In college, however, he committed himself to learning how to talk to girls and put himself outside of his comfort zone, including reading the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.Varshavski gained media attention in August 2015 when Buzzfeed published an article about him titled "Um, You Really Need To See This Hot Doctor And His Dog" that highlighted his good looks and his relationship with his dog, Roxy. That November, People magazine named him "the Sexiest Doctor Alive" in its Sexiest Man Alive issue, and his Instagram account became popular. He lived on Staten Island at the time.
In late 2015, Varshavski established a foundation, Limitless Tomorrow, to provide scholarships to students, and he has raised money for it by auctioning experiences with himself through his social media accounts. In January 2016, the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel collaborated in a $10 raffle for a date with Varshavski; the campaign raised $91,000 for his foundation.
In 2017, a year after he launched his YouTube channel, Varshavski gave a TED
In 2018, after his residency, he joined Chatham Family Medicine, a family practice with Atlantic Health System, in Chatham, New Jersey.
Philanthropy
In July 2019, Varshavski spread awareness for the humanitarian organization, Save a Child's Heart, by posting a photo with the organization's 5,000th patient while on a trip to Israel. In March 2020, he donated $50,000 worth of N95 masks in the face of shortages for medical personnel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Awards and nominations
Varshavski won the 2020 Webby Award for Education & Discovery in the category Social, as well as for Health & Fitness in the category Social.| Year | Work | Category | Award | Result | Ref. |
| 2018 | Doctor Mike | Health and Wellness | Shorty Awards | ||
| 2019 | Doctor Mike | Breakout YouTuber of the Year | Shorty Awards |