How Dr. Rifai Went Viral on Spotify with AI Podcasting
When Dr. Rifai, a practicing psychiatrist & internist in Pennsylvania and former National Institute of Mental Health researcher, wanted to reach more people with his expertise in mental health, he turned to podcasting. But like many professionals, he was overwhelmed by the high costs and technical complexity of traditional podcast production.
That’s when he found Jellypod, the AI podcast studio.
To watch the full interview, view this Youtube video here:
Why Podcasting
Dr. Rifai was an early pioneer of telepsychiatry dating back to 2006 and has always been ahead of the curve on technology. So when he saw the concept of AI podcasting, he jumped in as one of Jellypod’s earliest beta testers and launched The Virtual Psychiatrist.
His goal was to educate the public on timely psychiatric topics. He publishes concise, research‑informed episodes that deliver value both to patients and clinicians.
One standout episode on ADHD, featuring a guest persona built from his office manager’s voice clone and first‑person perspective, went viral on Spotify. Since launching with Jellypod, his YouTube channel grew from roughly 150 subscribers to over 1,000 (over a 6x increase) and he’s getting invited onto other podcasts because hosts “hear how he talks” and want him on.
Before Jellypod, Dr. Rifai considered traditional podcast services. They were expensive, required large retainers, and outsourced control. He needed the opposite: control over his content and a cost structure that didn't break the bank.
“Other services take weeks and thousands of dollars. With Jellypod, I can produce multiple episodes over a weekend.”
Jellypod was the perfect fit, with end‑to‑end creation, script precision, instant publishing, and guest voice cloning, without the agency price tag.
From Research To Episode in Hours
As a clinician and researcher, he brings serious source material. He was kind enough to share with me his workflow:
- Outline a topic and gather 4–5 supporting references. These are often peer‑reviewed articles, blogs he’s written, or reputable public sources.
- Generate the outline in Jellypod, expand it to hit 15–20 minutes, and then produce the draft script.
- Personalize the conversation by adding add clinical nuance and use partial line regenerations to get terminology and tone just right.
- Drop in some intro/outro music and then publish to Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
He can “whip up a high‑quality episode in a couple of hours” when a hot topic breaks, something that agency‑run shows just can’t match. He even helped us perfect our Apple Podcasts integration in the early days when Jellypod was filled with bugs, pushing us to nail cover art and speed up the creation process.
Cloning Guests To Capture Real Voices
A hallmark of The Virtual Psychiatrist is how real it feels.
Dr. Rifai regularly invites guests by cloning their voices from brief recordings and found that even short samples can capture personality surprisingly well. For his ADHD episode, his office manager, Teresa, contributed a heartfelt perspective about navigating meds for her family; the text she wrote was fed to Jellypod to shape the persona and context. The result felt authentic, balanced, and deeply useful, leading to the episode's viral traction.
He’s also learned practical cloning tricks. If a voice clone sounds flat, he would try re‑creating it later or with a different mic/ And with a pronunciation guide plus partial line regenerations, he can iterate on tricky terms without starting from scratch.
What Success Looked Like
For Dr. Rifai, he's doing things other podcasters dream of achieving. He's had a viral ADHD episode on Spotify, with heavy downloads from listeners hungry for clinician‑level insight, and a 6x jump in YouTube subscribers.
And the benefits have extended beyond just AI podcasts. He's received more invitations to appear on other podcasts, compounding his credibility in the space.
Jellypod shifted the work from technical overhead to content quality. Instead of juggling booking, recording, editing, mastering, and distribution, he can focus on what matters: synthesizing literature, sharing frontline experience, and educating the public and his peers.
Mental health is full of urgent, evolving topics.
From policy changes to clinical controversies to treatment access, clinicians closest to the work rarely have time to produce content. Jellypod gives them a rapid, accurate, and on‑brand experience they control from start to finish. For Dr. Aly Rifai, that means turning his expertise into real, meaningful impact.
