Mikhail Oskarovich Varshavski (, ; born November12, 1989), known popularly as Doctor Mike, is a Russian-born American family medicine physician,

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

, internet personality, philanthropist, and professional boxer. His

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account went

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

after he was featured in

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

and ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' magazine named him The Sexiest Doctor Alive in 2015. He has a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel on which he posts medically themed entertainment videos and debunks false medical claims.

Early life

Mikhail Oskarovich Varshavski was born on November12, 1989, in

Saransk Saransk (, ); ; is the capital city of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located in the Volga River, Volga drainage basin, basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow. Sar ...

, Soviet Union. His father, Oskar, who was Jewish, was born in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and worked as a physician after graduating from the Third Medical Institute of Moscow, while his mother, an ethnic

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, was a mathematics professor. He has an older sister, Dasha, who was born in 1980. When he was five, he and his family immigrated to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. Varshavski was given the nickname "Doctor Mike" during his high school years by friends who came to him for sports-related injuries. After seeing his father's relationship with his patients, he wanted to become a doctor. He enrolled in the

New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a Private university, private research university, research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York (state), New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long I ...

and was accepted for an accelerated, seven-year combined track for a bachelor's degree in

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

and a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

(

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become li ...

) upon completion of the undergraduate program. During his first year in the NYIT medical portion of the accelerated program, his mother died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

, and he decided to move back in with his father. In 2014, he started a residency at

Atlantic Health System Atlantic Health System is one of the largest non-profit health care networks in New Jersey. It employs 18,000 people and more than 4,800 affiliated physicians. The system offers more than 400 sites of care, including six hospitals: Chilton Memor ...

Overlook Medical Center Overlook Hospital is a non-profit teaching hospital located in Summit, New Jersey, United States, 20 miles west of New York City. On a hill in the center of the city, the hospital is one of Summit's three largest employers and offers medical serv ...

's Family Medicine program, which he completed in 2017.

Career

In early 2012, Varshavski joined

to document his life as a medical student and combat the notion that "you can't have a life in medical school". He uses his social media to provide health information to

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...

. Varshavski gained media attention in August 2015 when

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, a

Husky Husky is a general term for a type of dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies ...

named Roxy. That November, ''People'' magazine named him "the Sexiest Doctor Alive" in its

Sexiest Man Alive ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the la ...

issue, popularizing his Instagram account. In 2017, a year after he launched his YouTube channel, Varshavski gave a

TEDx Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

on "The epidemic of the 'I Know It All' expert" at a TEDx

MonteCarlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to a larger district, the Mont ...

event. The video of that speech has been viewed more than 3 million times. In 2018, after his residency, he joined Chatham Family Medicine, a family practice with Atlantic Health System, in

Chatham, New Jersey "The Chathams" (, ) is a term used in reference to shared services for two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States – Chatham Borough, New Jersey, Chatham and Chatham Township, New Jersey, Chatham Township. The two a ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Varshavski reconfigured his YouTube videos to answer people's questions about the virus. He debunked many of

Judy Mikovits Judy Anne Mikovits (born April 1, 1958) is an American former scientist, research scientist who has made discredited medical claims, such as that murine endogenous retroviruses are found in blood samples of most patients with myalgic encephalom ...

' claims about COVID-19 from the conspiracy film, ''

Plandemic ''Plandemic'' is a trilogy of conspiracy theory films produced by Mikki Willis, promoting misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. They feature Judy Mikovits, a discredited American researcher and prominent anti-vaccine activist. The ...

.'' In March 2020, he interviewed

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical ...

, director of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

(NIAID), about the pandemic. Varshavski came under criticism in November 2020 for being seen partying maskless during the COVID-19 pandemic. He addressed the controversy in a response video posted on a secondary channel on November 27, 2020.

Boxing career

Varshavski made his amateur boxing debut in May 2022 against influencer

iDubbbz Ian Kane Jomha ( Washburn; born ), known online as iDubbbz, is an American YouTube personality. The creator of the YouTube channels iDubbbzTV, iDubbbzTV2, and iDubbbzgames, he is best known for his comedy video series, including ''Content Cop ...

as the headline fight in the

Creator Clash The Creator Clash events are a recurring for-profit boxing, crossover boxing event co-founded by Content creation, content creators Ian “IDubbbz” Jomha and Anisa Jomha, in partnership with event management company "Real Good Touring". Creato ...

boxing event. He won his match against iDubbbz in a unanimous decision. On 29 October 2022, in Glendale,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, Varshavski made his professional debut in a four-round cruiserweight bout against former

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

fighter

Chris Avila Chris Avila (born January 14, 1993), is a Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and professional boxer. He competed in the UFC, Bellator MMA, Bellator and World Series of Fighting, WSOF during his MMA career and has competed in Misfits Boxing ...

on the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach * Jake, a member of the band Enhy ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

YouTube channel health related podcast

In September 2022, Varshavski launched a health related podcast on his YouTube channel named "The Checkup Podcast with Doctor Mike", which was renamed to "The Checkup with Doctor Mike". The podcast covers subjects related to sexual health, mental health, physical health, and social health. Varshavski has interviewed friends, medical professionals, athletes, comedians and actors. Guests have included

Steve-O Stephen Gilchrist Glover (born June 13, 1974), known professionally as Steve-O, is an American stunt performer, comedian, media personality, and podcast host. His career is mostly centered on his shocking and pain-inducing stunts in the realit ...

KSI Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), better known by his online alias KSI, is an English influencer, professional boxer and musician. He is a co-founding member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the CEO of Misfits Boxing a ...

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series '' Veep''. For the ...

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He is known for his use of observational comedy, observational, often blue comedy, vulgar, and sometimes black comedy, dark comedy. He released six comedy ...

Hannah Brown Hannah Kelsey Brown (born September 24, 1994) is an American television personality, model, author and beauty pageant titleholder. Brown first gained recognition after placing in the top seven in season 23 of '' The Bachelor'' (2019). She subs ...

Marques Brownlee Marques Keith Brownlee (; ; born December 3, 1993), also known professionally as MKBHD, is an American YouTuber, influencer, and professional ultimate frisbee player, best known for his videos reviewing technology devices. , he has more tha ...

Steve Madden Steven Madden (born March 23, 1958) is an American fashion designer and businessman. He is the founder and former chief executive officer of Steve Madden, Ltd., a publicly traded company. He was forced to resign as an executive following his ...

, Steven He,

Barbara Corcoran Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor, syndicated columnist, and television personality. She founded The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, which she sold to NRT for $66 million ...

Kal Penn Kalpen Suresh Modi ( born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor he is known for his portrayals of Kumar Patel in t ...

, and

Brandon Marshall Brandon Tyrone Marshall (born March 23, 1984) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCF Knights, and was selected by ...

Philanthropy

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 __NOTOC__ Coffee Meets Bagel is a San Francisco–based dating and social networking service. History Coffee Meets Bagel was created by three sisters: Arum, Dawoon, and Soo Kang. Arum first had the idea for the app in 2011, and the sisters launc ...

collaborated in a $10 raffle for a date with Varshavski; the campaign raised $91,000 for his foundation. In July 2019, Varshavski spread awareness for the humanitarian organization

Save a Child's Heart Save a Child's Heart (SACH) is an Israeli humanitarian organisation providing cardiac healthcare to children worldwide. it was founded in 1995 and is based at the Edith Wolfson Medical Center near Tel Aviv, Israel. Impact Save A Child's Heart ...

by posting a photo with the organization's 5,000th patient while on a trip to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. In March 2020, he donated $50,000 worth of

N95 masks An N95 respirator is a disposable filtering facepiece respirator or reusable elastomeric respirator filter that meets the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) N95 standard of air filtration, filtering at least 95% ...

in the face of

shortages In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply ( surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches a ...

for medical personnel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In late March 2022, Varshavski set up a donation to

GlobalGiving GlobalGiving is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the United States that provides a global crowdfunding platform for grassroots charitable projects. Since 2002, more than 1.6 million donors on GlobalGiving have donated more than $750 ...

for Ukrainian people during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In June 2022, he donated $100,111 to

Feeding America Feeding America is a United States–based Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other c ...

through a fundraiser organized by YouTuber

Ryan Trahan Ryan Michael Trahan ( ; born October 7, 1998) is an American YouTuber, vlogger, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his "penny series", which he has done several times since 2017. Trahan owns multiple businesses, including his water bottle b ...

. In July 2025, he donated $70,000 to

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research hospital headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on chi ...

through a fundraiser organized by the same YouTuber.

Personal life

In 2016, he and Filipino actress and 2015 Miss Universe

Pia Wurtzbach Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach-Jauncey (; ; ; born September 24, 1989), formerly professionally known as Pia Romero, is a Filipino model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2015. Previously, Wurtz ...

met at a charity event in New York and started dating. He dated American television news reporter Jennifer Lahmers in 2017.

Boxing record

Professional

Exhibition

TV appearances

Awards and nominations

References

Sources by Varshavski

External links

* {{Streamy Awards Winners CSS 1989 births 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American physicians 21st-century Russian physicians American male boxers American osteopathic physicians American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Celebrity doctors Educational and science YouTubers Health and fitness YouTubers Jewish boxers Living people New York Institute of Technology alumni People from Saransk Philanthropists from New York (state) Physicians from New Jersey Russian male boxers Russian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Russian emigrants to the United States Russian YouTubers Soviet Jews YouTube boxers YouTubers from Brooklyn American TikTokers