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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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".

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.

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).

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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).