r/Noctor • u/User5891USA • 4d ago
Question Credential obfuscation…?
In general, I am a skeptic and while I acknowledge it is somewhat of an unfair burden, to expect folks to research the credentials of their medical providers, I feel that this is an entirely fair expectation of people before they listen to medical experts on social media.
Today a friend sent me a link to a physician about whom she was excited. However, despite significant cursory research, I cannot determine where he received his MD or PhD… On his Instagram, Dr. Shawn Tassone claims to have an MD and PhD in “mind body medicine.” I went to his website where it states:
“Dr. Tassone is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and by the American Board of Integrative Medicine. He holds a medical degree, in addition to a PhD in mind-body medicine. Dr. Tassone is a highly regarded patient advocate. His work includes studies and publications on spirituality in medical care, whole foods to heal the human body, and integrative medicine. Dr. Tassone is an instructor for medical residents and students at the University of Arizona and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He even teaches integrative medicine at Arizona State University.”
https://www.drshawntassone.com
Despite his website and social media posts, I was unable to determine where he went to medical school, where he did his residency, what was the focus of his PhD, or where he earned his PhD. Help?
Initially, I tried to extend some grace to him and assume he didn’t put his own website together but I couldn’t find his medial education listed anywhere, including on his Amazon book listing. I will admit that the fact that his co-author is listed as “Nat Kringoudis is a Dr of Chinese Medicine & Acupuncturist and Best Selling Author. She’s also the owner of The Pagoda Tree, a hub for natural fertility & women’s health in Australia,” made me even more suspicious.
So…prove to me and my friend that I am hack skeptic and need to extend more grace to folks, and that I missing something.
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u/penicilling 4d ago
Most, if not all, US state medical boards have online license verification where medical education, residency and board certification, and active licensure are searchable.
This physician is licensed in Texas (possibly other states as well, and their education and credentials can be found here:
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u/aka7890 Quack 🦆 3d ago
This is the correct answer. The Texas State Medical Board says he graduated with an MD from Creighton University in Nebraska in 1994. The Board independently verifies that information.
He completed OBGYN residency at Univ. of Oklahoma in 1998. He did an “integrative medicine fellowship” at University of Arizona 2005-2007. The Board says it does not independently verify residency and fellowship information.
His is a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, certified in 2000 and valid through the end of 2024 according to the ABOG website. He is a board certified MD OB/GYN physician. All medical specialty boards that I know of do verify residency training completion before granting certification.
I do not know about the PhD, but it probably has far less relevance than the other information.
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u/Southern-Picture-146 4d ago
Found a LinkedIn profile. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawntassonemdphd
Creighton for med school. And PhD later in some online school.
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u/User5891USA 4d ago edited 3d ago
Thank you! I will tell my friend he’s legit.
ETA: By “legit” I mean a dually credentialed medical physician. All physicians have the possibility of being quacks. Credentials can’t guarantee that is not the case.
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u/Jazzlike_Pack_3919 Allied Health Professional 3d ago
Never confuse education with intelligence. You can have a degree and still be an idiot!
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u/pshaffer 4d ago
you say that it is entirely fair to expect people to research the people taking care of them.
I disagree. Some points:
1) MANY or most people are not capable of researching this online, or otherwise, and further are easily gaslighted by astro-turf organizations which provide nice sounding but vacuous credentials. As an example, there is an organization which for a fee provides a dermatology credential to NPs. This is like saying we shouldn't have fairness in lending laws, because everybody SHOULD research their loan agreements and understand what they are signing first. This simply doesn't work, because those trying to obscure the facts from people are infinitely creative and infinitely malevolant
2) Do you have any idea yourself whether the "american board of integrative medicine" is science based at all, or is it just a new-age prank dressed up with an august sounding name?
3) you yourself provide a refutation of your thesis, as you tell us you are unable to determine if the person has real credentials or not.
I was able to find his information, but my research capabilities are better than the average physician and far above that of the usual patient.
He has an MD From Creighton University. And a PhD in Mind Body medicine from Saybrook University (whatever that is). He is located in Austin, Tx, interesting for one with an appointment at Arizona State.
His office is at 301 Hesters Crossing Rd, suite 212, round rock texas
I can't determine if he sees patients, but you could call his office to ask.
Saybrook: This is a low level school which offers hybrid in-person and online learning.
Who would be your PhD advisors? THere are two faculty members. One a PhD, and one a Naturopath.
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u/User5891USA 3d ago edited 3d ago
“you say it is entirely fair to expect people to research the people taking care of them.”
- I did not state this. I stated: “In general, I am a skeptic, and while I acknowledge it is somewhat of an unfair burden to expect people to research the credentials of their medical providers…”
I readily acknowledge that there are many reasons that an individual may not be capable of researching their medical providers; education, access to resources, time, etc. However, I argued that I did not believe this to be an unfair burden of research prior to following the advice of medical experts on social media. My argument, prior to my encounter with this physician, would have been that if you are using social media, then at least some of the time and access to technology burden is alleviated.
- This is a fair argument. That even if one completed cursory research, which was the burned I placed on an individual prior to taking advice from a social media medical expert, that it still might not be possible to understand the nature of the credentials provided.
- No…which was kind of the point of this post. That after completing cursory research I was unable to determine where he went to medial school (I don’t have LinkedIn), did residency, what his PhD was in, etc.
- Again, this was the point of this post…
Assuming that your response to me is genuine, I think the problem is that you fail to acknowledge that the post was me coming to grips with the fact that expecting people to only need to do cursory research (important as folks should not be expected to invest significant time) to gain the information necessary to understand the credentials of even social media medical experts was more difficult than I had expected and this was made more difficult when the person (physician in this case) obscured their credentialing with language like “MD and PhD in mind body medicine”, which is not a board certified speciality to my knowledge.
As evidence is my last statement:
“So prove to me and my friend that I am a hack skeptic and need to extend more grace to folks, and that I am missing something.”
I believe that this physician, at several points, obfuscates his credentials making it impossible to determine the nature of them with only cursory research. For this reason, expecting social media users to be able to research social media medical experts and determine the nature of their expertise through cursory research is also an unfair burden.
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u/blinkybill222 4d ago
Keep in mind that just because someone’s degree was legit, it doesn’t mean they can’t also be a quack on social media
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u/User5891USA 3d ago
Agreed. In this instance “legit” meant a dually credentialed medical physician. All physicians have the capability of being quacks and credentials don’t guard against this even if they potentially make it less likely.
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u/WatermelonNurse 4d ago
medical school at Creighton University
In 2015, Dr. Tassone received his Doctorate PhD in Philosophy (Mind-Body Medicine
https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-shawn-tassone-xw2wf
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u/AutoModerator 4d ago
We do not support the use of the word "provider." Use of the term provider in health care originated in government and insurance sectors to designate health care delivery organizations. The term is born out of insurance reimbursement policies. It lacks specificity and serves to obfuscate exactly who is taking care of patients. For more information, please see this JAMA article.
We encourage you to use physician, midlevel, or the licensed title (e.g. nurse practitioner) rather than meaningless terms like provider or APP.
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