Plenary Session - inactive due to federal service

This week we have two fantastic interviews for you: The first is with Dr. Ben Mazer on the interplay between social media and news; the second is with Dr. Tem Bendapudi on whether Caplacizumab should be the standard of care for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we sit down virtually with Dr. Atle Fretheim, Research Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, to talk about how Norway has responded to the COVID-19 crisis - specifically, how they've handled it when it comes to public schools. We also have an interview with Dr. Anthony "Tony" Letai of the Dana Farber Cancer Center on cancer biology. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We start this week's episode off with a monologue covering a few current events, notably the recent editorial on the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA published by the New England Journal of Medicine titled "Dying in a Leadership Vacuum". From there we interview Dr. Margaret McCartney on her recent opinion piece in the BMJ titled "We need better evidence on non-drug interventions for covid-19"; we talk about masks, schools, the need for randomized trials, and more. Finally, we interview Dr. Jason Sheltzer on his recent papers on cancer biology and the implications of his findings on clinical medicine. NEJM editorial: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMe2029812 Non-Drug Interventions: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/08/28/margaret-mccartney-we-need-better-evidence-on-non-drug-interventions-for-covid-19/ Dr. Sheltzer's research: https://www.sheltzerlab.org/research You can reach Dr. Sheltzer at sheltzer at cshl dot edu. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We start this week's episode by interviewing Dr. Alasdair Munro, a pediatrics infectious disease expert, on the risk of spread of COVID-19 in children and through schools. We end with an interview with Dr. Stefan Baral, a field epidemiologist studying COVID-19, on the nature of public health during a global pandemic. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we have a two-hour-long, far-ranging interview with Dr. John Ioannidis of Stanford University on, broadly, meta-research and COVID-19 - including his recent controversies. We end the episode with an interview with Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Percival of the University of Washington on her new paper out now in Haematologica: "Survival of patients with newly diagnosed high-grade myeloid neoplasms who do not meet standard trial eligibility". High-Grade Myeloid Neoplasms: doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2020.254938 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week's episode is all about COVID-19. We discuss general COVID-19 health policy and how spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been managed and should be managed; we discuss whether or not schools should be re-opened; and we discuss Dr. Scott Atlas's views. Our special guests are political scientist Dr. Vladimir Kogan, epidemiologist Dr. Daniel Morgan, and health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We start this week's episode by critically examining the new paper titled "Racial/Ethnic Variation in Nasal Gene Expression of Transmembrane Serine Protease 2 (TMPRSS2)" and asking, is it racist? After that, we discuss advances in prostate cancer imaging with two imaging specialists from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Drs. Anton Becker and Sungmin Woo. Finally, we have a far-reaching interview with Dr. Thomas Newman of University of California San Francisco on clinical epidemiology and his new book Evidence-Based Diagnosis: An Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology. TMPRSS2 and COVID-19: doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.17386 PSMA PET-CT: doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30314-7 Evidence-Based Diagnosis: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/evidencebased-diagnosis/2807345CA679EC723697ED9C6D98A1AA Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week's monologue touches on the credibility of expert speakers, evaluating the COVID-19 lockdown as health policy, and the anti-affirmative action white paper written by Dr. Norman Wang and its controversy. In the second half of the episode we interview Professor Darrel Francis of Imperial College London on COVID-19 cardiology and Vascepa. Anti-Affirmative Action: doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.015959 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We have a number of topics for you this week! Among them, we cover the issue of colon cancer screening, especially in the light of Chadwick Boseman's recent passing. We interview Jonathan Darrow, an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and faculty at Brigham and Women's Hospital, on patent litigation and the recent patent appeal for Vascepa. Finally, we interview Dr. Toby Richards, Professor of Surgery, on running clinical trials and, specifically, the results of his recent trial PREVENTT, out now in The Lancet. PREVENTT: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31539-7/fulltext Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We start this week's episode by revisiting our discussion from last week on the PNAS study on racial concordance and birthing mortality. We continue our theme of critical appraisal by then tearing apart the recent paper published in BMJ titled "Two metres or one: what is the evidence for physical distancing in covid-19?" and its inability to support its colorful figures. We end the monologue with a few thoughts on academics who somehow author one paper a week. Finally, we turn to the last two segments of the show: the first is a discussion with Dr. Bishal Gyawali on his new paper out now in The Lancet Haematology titled "A survey in Nepalese patients with acute leukaemia: a starting point for defining financial toxicity of cancer care in low-income and middle-income countries" and the second is Journal Club with a Fellow, where we interview Dr. Justine Ryu on a paper published in The Lancet titled "Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial". Racial Concordance: doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913405117 COVID-19 Risk: doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3223 Financial Toxicity: doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30258-1 HALT-IT: doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30848-5 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we take a deep dive into two recently published studies, their surrounding controversy, and the broader implications. The first study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and is titled "Physician–patient racial concordance and disparities in birthing mortality for newborns". The second was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and is titled "Oral Relugolix for Androgen-Deprivation Therapy in Advanced Prostate Cancer", commonly known as the HERO trial. We discuss the HERO trial with Dr. Michael Burns of Northwestern as part of our new segment, Journal Club with a Fellow. Racial Concordance: doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913405117 HERO: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2004325 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We have a lot in store for you this week! We start off by evaluating two recently published studies: "Evaluation of Omics-Based Strategies for the Management of Advanced Lung Cancer" (published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: Oncology Practice) and "The Effect of Advances in Lung-Cancer Treatment on Population Mortality" (published in the New England Journal of Medicine). We talk a bit about tracking down the validity of a reference. We sit down with Dr. Branden Tarlow to discuss his thoughts on PPIs and COVID-19 acquisition. Finally, we conclude the episode by interviewing Dr. Elizabeth Eisenhauer of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on her career in cancer medicine. Omics-Based Strategies: doi.org/10.1200/OP.20.00117 Population Mortality: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1916623 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

We start this week's episode by discussing access to investigational COVID-19 vaccines and recapping the problems with the ADAURA study. We transition from there to a Question of the Week with medical student Audrey Tran of Oregon Health & Science University. Finally, we introduce a new segment - Journal Club with a Fellow. In this inaugural segment we invite Dr. Karine Tawagi of the Oschner Clinic in Louisiana to the podcast to talk about IMbrave150. IMbrave150: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1915745 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This is the recording of a LIVE episode of Plenary Session in which Dr. Sue S Yom interviewed our host, Dr. Vinay Prasad, on how he built his career and how he conceptualizes his work. There's also a surprise guest near the end! Thank you to Dr. Kaleigh Doke, Dr. Brian Kavanagh, and the Virtual Visiting Professor Network for hosting this special episode. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we respond to several questions sent in by listeners and then we interview Dr. Bishal Gyawali of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on MedTwitter, other recent events, and his recently published paper titled "Assessing the risk-benefit profile of ramucirumab in patients with advanced solid tumors: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". Ramucirumab: doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100458 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we discuss two major papers: The first was just recently released in Nature and it's titled "The National Lung Matrix Trial of personalized therapy in lung cancer". The second is a few years old, but exemplifies the importance of trial design. We discuss the second paper, titled "A Randomized Trial of Intensive versus Standard Blood-Pressure Control" and published in the New England Journal of Medicine with Dr. Mark Friedberg, a health policies and performance measurement researcher. National Lung Matrix Trial: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2481-8 SPRINT: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1511939 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week's BONUS episode is a discussion of the National Clinician Scholars Program with Dr. Hilary Seligman, the head of the program at University of California, San Francisco. The deadline for the application for the 2021-2023 cohort is July 15, 2020 (very soon!), though there may be some leniency due to the pandemic. National Clinician Scholars Program: https://nationalcsp.org/ UCSF National Clinician Scholars Program: https://nationalscholars.ucsf.edu/ Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we discuss recent research (and the accompanying Twitter thread) on the risk of COVID-19 among users of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). We also hold a philosophical discussion on the research surrounding time to treatment initiation (TTI) in cancer medicine. We end the episode with an interview with Dr. Lynora Saxinger of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, a specialist in Infectious Diseases. PPIs and risk of COVID-19: https://twitter.com/BrennanSpiegel/status/1280527527325265920 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This BONUS episode is the recording of a lecture given on June 18, 2020 as part of Stanford's METRICS International Forum. METRICS stands for Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford University. This lecture is geared towards a broad audience and aims to provide a general sense of current cancer research. The lecture is titled "Cancer Meta-Research 101". Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we respond to some listener feedback from Dr. Christopher Booth and use it to talk about how to be the best hematologist-oncologist. We also discuss the SADAL study on Selinexor for patients with relapsed refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, as published in The Lancet Haematology. Finally, we interview Drs. Eva Katsoulakis and Michael Kelley on their recent paper out in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: Precision Oncology, titled "Comparison of Annotation Services for Next-Generation Sequencing in a Large-Scale Precision Oncology Program". Selinexor: doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30120-4 Annotation Services: doi.org/10.1200/PO.19.00118 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

This week we briefly cover updates on the RECOVERY trial before segueing into an interview with Dr. Andrae Vandross on Twitter (specifically #medtwitter), academic discussions, and changing your career to find your calling. RECOVERY: www.recoverytrial.net/ Malignant audiobook: www.audible.com/pd/B08864KFHW/?so…ACX0_195112_rh_us Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week's episode is jam-packed with topics! We talk about the RECOVERY trial, the U.S. clinical trial infrastructure, event-free survival (EFS) and cost of care in acute myeloid leukemia, how long it takes to write papers in academic medicine, threats to public health officials, and the application to medicine of Dr. Raj Chetty's work in economics. Finally, we interview this week's special guest, Dr. Ian Tannock, on docetaxel, prostrate cancer, clinical trial appraisal, and his career in medicine. RECOVERY: https://www.recoverytrial.net/ EFS in AML: doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2019001150 Malignant audiobook: https://www.audible.com/pd/B08864KFHW/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-195112&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_195112_rh_us Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we tackle the topic of tucatinib in HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastases. We also interview Dr. Cailin O'Connor of the University of California Irvine on her research on misinformation and disinformation. We discuss her recent article in the Boston Review, titled "Hydroxychloroquine and the Political Polarization of Science", as well as her extensive body of work. HER2CLIMB: doi.org/10.1200/JCO.20.00775 Hydroxychloroquine: http://bostonreview.net/science-nature-politics/cailin-oconnor-james-owen-weatherall-hydroxychloroquine-and-political The Dynamics of Retraction in Epistemic Networks: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/17088/ How Misinformation Spreads: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-misinformation-spreads-and-why-we-trust-it/ Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We start this week's episode by covering some recent research: After thoroughly critiquing the recent randomized trial of hydroxychloroquine for postexposure prophylaxis for COVID-19, we then discuss the five abstracts selected for plenary sessions at the recent virtual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. We transition from there to a Question from a Medical Student with Audrey Tran of Oregon Health & Science University on the recent decision to make the USMLE Step 1 exam pass/fail. Finally, we end with an interview with Dr. Jane Zhu, also of OHSU, on her current research and her new paper published in JAMA titled, "Private Equity Acquisitions of Physician Medical Groups Across Specialties, 2013-2016". Dr. Zhu first guest-starred on Plenary Session in episode 1.31. Hydroxychloroquine: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2016638 JAVELIN: https://meetinglibrary.asco.org/record/186872/abstract ECOG-ACRIN: https://meetinglibrary.asco.org/record/186884/abstract ENDURANCE: https://meetinglibrary.asco.org/record/186906/abstract KEYNOTE-177: https://meetinglibrary.asco.org/record/186928/abstract ADAURA: https://meetinglibrary.asco.org/record/191929/abstract Private Equity Acquisitions: doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.21844 Listen to the audiobook of Malignant with a free 30-day trial from Audible! https://www.audible.com/pd/B08864KFHW/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-195112&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_195112_rh_us Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we talk all things COVID-19! We start with an in-depth Classical Hematology Chat with Dr. Sven Olson and Dr. Joseph Shatzel of Oregon Health & Science University on thrombosis and anticoagulation in COVID-19, touching on a number of recent studies. We then turn to a conversation with Dr. Walid Gellad of the University of Pittsburgh on new pharmaceutical treatments for COVID-19. Tang et al. paper: doi.org/10.1111/jth.14768 Prospective autopsy study: doi.org/10.7326/M20-2566 COVID-19 compared to H1N1: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2015432 Hypercoagulability of COVID-19: doi.org/10.1111/jth.14850 JACC letter: doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.05.001 JACC podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/association-treatment-dose-anticoagulation-in-hospital/id932118437?i=1000474262300 Venous Thromboembolism in COVID-19: doi.org/10.1111/jth.14888 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we discuss why being open-minded enough to agree partially with someone - instead of taking an all-or-nothing approach to a discourse - is important. We also sit down with epidemiologist Dr. Daniel Morgan of the University of Maryland School of Medicine to critique the public health policy concerning COVID-19 transmission. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we have an announcement -- the audiobook of "Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer", written and narrated by our host Vinay Prasad, is available now on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible! We also have an in-depth journal club for you on the findings of the PROfound trial as published in a new paper out in the New England Journal of Medicine titled "Olaparib for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer". Finally, we end the episode with an interview with Dr. Adam Cifu of the University of Chicago on literature, medicine, maintaining a feeling of normalcy and self during COVID-19, and more! Listen to Malignant with a free 30-day trial of Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B08864KFHW/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-195112&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_195112_rh_us PROfound: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1911440 Crossover: doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdy116 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This BONUS lecture was a talk given to the Hematology/Oncology fellows at Oregon Health & Science University. It's part three of a three-part series on clinical trials. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week's topic is all things COVID-19 -- we discuss the viral scandal of British epidemiologist Neil Ferguson's actions and how it reflects (or doesn't) on his work, we talk about the nuances of how to end lockdowns, and we bring back Dr. Benjamin Singer, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Northwestern University, to address updates in the ICU management of COVID-19. Invisible Pandemic: doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31035-7 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we begin with a monologue on the recent controversy surrounding Dr. John Ioannidis's published opinions on the COVID-19 pandemic. We end with a group discussion with Oregon Health & Science University's Hematology/Oncology fellows on our host's, Vinay Prasad's, new book "Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer." Expressing different views on COVID-19: https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/27/hear-scientists-different-views-covid-19-dont-attack-them/ Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-Evidence-People-Cancer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we have a BONUS episode for you! As a teaser to the forthcoming audiobook of "Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer" by Dr. Vinay Prasad (our host), Audrey Tran and Ian Straehley have set the introduction of the book to music they composed and arranged themselves. You can buy the print version of Malignant from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-Evidence-People-Cancer-dp-1421437635/dp/1421437635/ Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we start with an in-depth monologue on various new developments surrounding COVID-19, specifically the new study in NEJM on the compassionate use of remdesivir as well as the CDC's advice for the general public to wear cloth masks. We end with an interview with Dr. Ameet Sarpatwari of Harvard Medical School on how to create a more effective pharmaceutical system, the CREATES Act of 2019, developing fair and equitable drugs to treat COVID-19, and how to create a just system that balances the need for innovation with the need for access. Dr. Ameet Sarpatwari is the Assistant Director of PORTAL. Compassionate Use of Remdesivir: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2007016 U.S. Gene Therapy Trials: doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.22214 NIH Fair Pricing Condition: doi.org/10.7326/M19-2576 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we have a far-reaching monologue on COVID-19 and how people are reacting to the public health recommendations concerning COVID-19 (such as cancelling conferences and school, maintaining 6+ feet of distance, wearing cloth masks). We end with an insightful interview with Dr. Venk Murthy on polygenic risk score and, at the end, a bit about how the world of science is failing to combat hype. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we discuss several recent articles on the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and COVID-19, specifically Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee's article on the history and science of humanity's history with viruses, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel's essay on how to fairly allocate dwindling medical resources during this global pandemic, and Dr. John Ioannidis's article on the "evidence fiasco" that has been our response to COVID-19. We end the episode with a Classical Hematology Chat with Drs. Sven Olson and Joseph Shatzel. Dr. Mukherjee's article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/06/how-does-the-coronavirus-behave-inside-a-patient Allocation of Medical Resources: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsb2005114 Dr. Ioannidis's article: https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/ Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we discuss management of COVID-19 in the intensive care unit with Dr. Benjamin Singer, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Northwestern University. We discuss medications, PPE, ventilators, and more! Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This bonus episode is an interview from March 16, 2020 with Dr. John Townes, the Interim Head for the Division of Infectious Disease and the Medical Director for Infection Prevention and Control here at Oregon Health & Science University. We talk about the novel coronavirus and how healthcare professionals are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on Oregon. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we discuss two recent papers -- one we praise, one we condemn -- and then we turn to a question of the week with medical student Audrey Tran on self-improvement and "refining conviction". The first paper is titled "Patient Experience Captured by Quality-of-Life Measurement in Oncology Clinical Trials" and the second is titled "Overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer receiving matched therapies following molecular profiling: a retrospective analysis of the Know Your Tumor registry trial". Quality of Life Measurement: doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.0363 KnowYourTumor: doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30074-7 Vinay's new book, Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-…cer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This BONUS lecture was a talk given to the Hematology/Oncology fellows here at Oregon Health & Science University. It's part two of a three-part series on clinical trials. This talk is on clinical trial design, specifically crossover and control arms. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we revisit BEACON! The authors of the BEACON study have responded to the Letter to the Editor our host Dr. Vinay Prasad submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine, and we share our thoughts on what they said. We then turn to the FDA's recent approval of neratinib in combination with capecitabine for HER2-positive breast cancer, based on the phase III NALA trial. Finally, we interview Dr. David Carr, a Molecular Pathology Fellow at UC San Diego, on his work in general and, specifically, next-generation sequencing. BEACON Letters to the Editor: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1908075#article_letters NALA: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-drugs/fda-approves-neratinib-metastatic-her2-positive-breast-cancer Vinay's new book, Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-…cer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

Our guest this week is Dr. Michael Hengartner of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. We interview him on his work studying the long-term consequences and effectiveness of newer-generation antidepressants - specifically focusing on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We start this episode by diving deep into KEYNOTE-048, the randomized, open-label, phase 3 study of pembrolizumab alone or with chemotherapy v.s. cetuximab with chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). We transition from there to a continued discussion on careerism in academia and how the motivation behind publishing papers should always stem from the drive to disseminate information, not from the drive to advance your own career. We end the episode with an interview with Dr. Bishal Gyawali of Queen's University in Kingston, Canada on his recent paper out in Nature Cancer on global oncology. Specifically, Dr. Gyawali addresses the need for conducting cancer clinical trials in low- and middle-income countries. KEYNOTE-048: doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32591-7 Opportunities for Cancer Clinical Trials in LMIC: doi.org/10.1038/s43018-020-0030-x Vinay's new book, Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-…cer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We have a full slate for you this week! We discuss careerism in medicine, presenting abstracts at conferences, #MedTwitter, and Dr. Califf's opinions on the K-Index. We conclude the episode with our first-ever Classical Hematology Chat, featuring our host Dr. Vinay Prasad, Dr. Sven Olson, and Dr. Joseph Shatzel. The chat is on sickle cell disease. "A Perspective on the K-Index": doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccas.2020.01.003 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we discuss the concept of "thought leaders" and we examine the conclusions about volume CT screening for lung cancer from the NELSON trial. We end with an interview with Dr. Sam Rubinstein, a hematology/oncology fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, on his new paper published in JAMA Network Open titled "Indication of Measures of Uncertainty for Statistical Significance in Abstracts of Published Oncology Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". NELSON: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1911793 Measures of Uncertainty: doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.17530 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This BONUS episode is the recording of a lecture given to medical students titled "How to Keep Up with the New Information in Medicine." It's a primer on the steps healthcare professionals need to take in order to keep abreast of the latest medical findings. Vinay's new book, Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-…cer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We have a variety of topics for you this week! We tackle red light therapy, polatuzumab olatuzumab vedotin in relapsed or refractory diffuse large b-cell lymphoma; we have a hematology/oncology question of the week from Dr. Emerson Chen of OHSU; and we sit down with Dr. Ali Khaki of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to discuss his recent paper critiquing TAILORx. Pola for DLBCL: doi.org/10.1200/JCO.19.00172 Financial COI on Twitter: doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.8467 Ignoring Valuable Data: doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2019.7363 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we're treating you to a recording of the Grand Rounds lecture on overdiagnosis and cancer screening that Dr. H Gilbert Welch gave at Oregon Health & Science University on October 30, 2019. Before the lecture, we take a moment to reiterate with renewed vigor our distaste for the POLO trial (first discussed in episode 1.64). POLO: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1903387 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This BONUS lecture was a talk given to the Hematology/Oncology fellows here at Oregon Health & Science University. It's part one of a three-part series on clinical trials, titled "Thinking Better About Cancer Medicine". Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we answer a few questions: the first is from Patreon backer, Harry Hong, on Kaplan-Meier curves. The second is from a student at Mount Sinai Medical School who reached out with some ethical questions they had after the ASH annual meeting on the obligations and responsibilities of peer reviewers. Finally, we end the episode with an interview with Dr. Bishal Gyawali of Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on his new paper out today in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network titled "Response Rates and Durations of Response for Biomarker-Based Cancer Drugs in Nonrandomized Versus Randomized Trials". Durations of Response: doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2019.7345 Vinay's new book, Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-…cer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we return to our discussion of going after soft targets vs hard targets, but this time with a focus on how it applies to building a burgeoning career in medicine, in our segment Questions from a Medical Student with Audrey Tran. We end this week's episode with a far-reaching interview with Dr. Ellie Murray (most people know her as Epi Ellie on Twitter and as the co-host of the podcast Casual Inference) on all things epidemiology. Check out Dr. Murray's excellent podcast here: https://casualinfer.libsyn.com/ Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week we wonder incredulously how this abstract from ASH titled "Time from diagnosis to treatment does not affect outcome in intensively treated patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia" was selected as one of the top abstracts from the conference. In the second half of the episode we interview Dr. Sherrie Aspinall of the Veterans Administration on how to use real-world data. Her new paper is titled "Use of targeted therapies for advanced renal cell carcinoma in the Veterans Health Administration". Time from diagnosis to treatment in AML: https://ashpublications.org/blood/article-lookup/doi/10.1182/blood-2019-123717 Targeted therapies for advanced RCC: doi.org/10.1002/cam4.2531 Vinay's new book, Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-…cer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession