Plenary Session

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 Ca...

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 n...

We're back in Plenary Session HQ! We have multiple topics for you this week. We cover the use of trastuzumab in later lines of therapy for HER2+ metastatic breast cancer, we take a listener question on Kaplan-Meier curves, and we talk a little about Patreon. Malignant: www.amazon.com/Malignant-Policy-Evidence-People-Cancer/dp/1421437635 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This BONUS episode is an interview with Dr. Arjun Gupta, a second-year hem/onc fellow at Johns Hopkins University, on his new paper out TODAY in JAMA Oncology titled ''Use of Bone-modifying Agents among Medicare Beneficiaries with Multiple Myeloma''. Use of bone-modifying agents: doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.5426 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This is the last week of pre-recorded episodes -- we'll be back next week with a fresh, hard-hitting monologue. In the meantime, we have three questions of the week for you. Two are inspired by the hematology/oncology boards and are presented by Dr. Sven Olson. Between the two, we have one from Ian Straehely that's inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

Our host is still out of town, but don't worry -- we have some questions of the week to tide you over. The first is inspired by the hematology/oncology boards, presented by Dr. Sven Olson; the second is inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK, presented by Ian Straehley; and the third is from Audrey Tran, inspired by her experiences as a med student. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

This week our host is still in Australia, but we have some questions of the week saved for you! The first is inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK, presented by Ian Straehley; the second is inspired by the hematology/oncology boards, presented by Dr. Sven Olson; and the third is from Audrey Tran, inspired by her experiences as a med student. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

First up this week is Question of the Week inspired by the Hematology/Oncology boards, with Dr. Sven Olson. No monologue on current trials this week because our host is still in Australia, so we conclude the episode with an interview with Dr. Jonathan Kimmelman of McGill University on his extensive work in research ethics, studying the most important issue in cancer medicine today: the risk-benefi...

This week we have a question of the week from Ian Straehley, inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK, as well as an interview with Dr. Robert Hirschtick of Northwestern University on what it means to be a doctor, how you should think as a physician, and his many popular pieces published in journals like JAMA. "Copy-and-Paste": doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.20.2335 "Extremities": doi.org/10.1001/jama.300.10.112...

We begin this week's episode by addressing a listener's feedback to our discussion of smoldering multiple myeloma. We then expand on our critique of 'going after the soft targets' (criticizing studies that fall apart with little resistance) by elucidating how to identify and go after hard targets and why it's so important that you do. Finally, we launch into an interview with Dr. H Gilbert Welch t...

We begin this week's episode with a thoughtful discussion of the internet's "courageous skeptics". Then, after lamenting the way in which the recent study "Randomized Trial of Lenalidomide Versus Observation in Smoldering Multiple Myeloma" was conducted, we end with an interview with Dr. Andy Saultz on his ongoing campaign for Oregon state representative. We break up the interview with a couple He...

This week we give a short monologue on the late Dr. Bernard Fisher's legacy in the field of oncology, and then dive into a far-ranging interview with Dr. Mark Lewis of Intermountain Healthcare on his career, his family, and diagnosing himself with MEN1 syndrome. Dr. Fisher's obituary in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/19/science/dr-bernard-fisher-dead.html Back us on Patreon! w...

This week we begin with a critique of the recent perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine, titled "Talking about Toxicity — 'What We’ve Got Here Is a Failure to Communicate'". After that we interview Dr. Eitan Amir on his paper on undisclosed conflicts of interest among authors of ASCO guidelines. Interspersed between segments of the interview, we invite guest Dr. Sven Olson on t...

We start this week's episode with a quick breakdown of why the recent BEACON trial is "the worst trial" host VP has ever read. After that, we have two questions of the week: one from medical student Audrey Tran, and one inspired by the Hem/Onc boards from Dr. Sven Olson. We end with an interview with Dr. Jonathan Yeh of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on his recent paper: "Has There Be...

This week we break down the limitations of the recent FLAURA trial and then we're back in the Plenary Session Mobile Command Unit! We have a special guest host, Dr. Christopher Booth of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He and Dr. Bishal Gyawali, also of Queen's University, conduct a reverse interview with our usual host, Dr. Vinay Prasad of Oregon Health & Science University, on hi...

This BONUS episode is an interview with Dr. Michael Raphael of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario on his new paper out today in JAMA Oncology: "The value of progression-free survival as a treatment endpoint among patients with advanced cancer: a systematic review and qualitative assessment of the literature". Value of PFS: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-ab...

This week we sit down with Dr. Jeremy Cetnar, director of the Oregon Health & Science University Hematology & Oncology Fellowship Program. In this far-ranging interview, we discuss what he is looking for when reviewing applications to the fellowship program. We also have two questions of the week: one from Dr. Derrick Tao, inspired by the MKSAP; and one from Dr. Sven Olson on hematology and oncolo...

On this week's BONUS episode, we sit down with Dr. Huseyin Naci, Assistant Professor of Health Policy at the London School of Economics, to discuss his new paper that came out Wednesday (producer's edit: not "yesterday" as said in the podcast - apologies for the delay!) in the British Medical Journal. The paper's titled "Design characteristics, risk of bias, and reporting of randomised controlled...

We begin this week's episode by revisiting last week's topic on the ethics of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to address some of the controversy stirred up by our episode. We transition from there to an interview with Dr. Dan Morgan of the University of Maryland School of Medicine on hospital transmission and medical overuse. We have two questions of the week, as well -- one from Ian Straehley...

After a hiatus from our segment on reviewing recent trials, we return to discuss the need for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In the wake of the 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer, we focus on whether a phase III trial of selpercatinib (LOXO-292) in RET rearranged lung cancer is feasible, practical, and ethical. We also have two questions of the week in this episode -- one from Dr. Derrick...

We have three questions for you this week: one from Ian Straehley, inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK; one from Dr. Derrick Tao, inspired by the MKSAP; and one from Dr. Sven Olson on hematology and oncology. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We start this week with two Questions of the Week: the first is from Ian Straehley on the USMLE Step 2 CK, and the second is from Dr. Sven Olson on hematology/oncology. We end with an interview with Dr. Lynn Jansen of OHSU on the therapeutic misconception, optimism bias, and a deep discussion of the ethics of consenting patients for enrollment in early-phase clinical research trials. Back us on Pa...

We have three questions for you this week: one from Dr. Derrick Tao, inspired by the MKSAP; one from Ian Straehley, inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK; and one from Audrey Tran, inspired by her journey through medical school. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We start this week's episode with a Question of the Week from medical student Audrey Tran on translational research and medical student training. Afterwards, we have an in-depth interview with Dr. Adam Cifu of the University of Chicago on his recent publication: "Physical Examination Pet Peeves". Pet Peeves: doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-18-01063.1 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession

We're back with more questions of the week! Our first question, from Ian Straehley, is inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK; our second question, from Audrey Tran, is on deciding on a medical specialty. We end the episode with an interview with Dr. Frank Harrell of Vanderbilt University on the Bayesian approach to statistical thinking. Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession