Short Biography

Vinay Prasad MD MPH is a hematologist-oncologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco. He runs the VKPrasad lab at UCSF, which studies cancer drugs, health policy, clinical trials and better decision making. He is author of over 350 academic articles, and the books Ending Medical Reversal (2015), and Malignant (2020). He hosts the oncology podcast Plenary Session, is active on Substack and runs a YouTube Channel VinayPrasadMDMPH. He tweets @VPrasadMDMPH.

Long Biography

Vinay Prasad MD MPH is a practicing hematologist-oncologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco. His laboratory at UCSF studies cancer drugs, health policy, clinical trials and better decision making. Clinically, Dr. Prasad cares for patients with a wide range of benign hematologic and malignant conditions.  He hosts the podcast Plenary Session, is active on Substack, and runs a YouTube Channel VinayPrasadMDMPH

Dr. Prasad studies the quality of medical evidence, cancer drug development, clinical trial design, and health care policy. His work utilizes a wide range of epidemiological methods, and falls into the category of meta-research.

Dr. Prasad and Dr. Adam Cifu (University of Chicago) are authors of Ending Medical Reversal:  Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015). Dr. Prasad is the author of the book Malignant (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020) Dr. Prasad's work has been featured in the Portland Tribune, Atlantic magazine, STAT, the Oregonian, and NPR.

Dr. Prasad is a graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (‘09), where he was awarded the Chairman's Award in Internal Medicine, given to the top student in Internal Medicine.  He is also a graduate of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (‘14) and Michigan State University (‘05), where he was commencement speaker for the College of Arts & Letters on behalf of the Philosophy department.

Dr Prasad trained in general internal medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago (‘12), where he received the Gerald Grumet award for best resident teacher, and completed his fellowship in Hematology and Oncology in the joint program between National Cancer Institute and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the US National Institutes of Health (‘15), where he was Chief Fellow. While at the NCI, Dr. Prasad completed a fellowship in cancer prevention.

Prior to working at UCSF, Dr Prasad was Associate Professor at the Oregon Health and Science University, where he won the 2017 Craig Okada Teaching Award for Best Teacher of the Fellowship Program; the 2018 Faculty Mentorship Award from Internal Medicine Residency Program; the 2019 J. David Bristow Award, given by the graduating medical students to the faculty member, “who exemplifies the ideals of the true physician as he or she conducts clinical practice with patients and colleagues.” And the 2020 Excellence in Research/Scholarship Mentoring Award as voted by the Internal Medicine Residents.

Dr. Prasad is the author of over 350 academic articles & letters. When not working, Dr. Prasad enjoys cycling, reading and binge watching television.

Disclosures. (Research funding) Arnold Ventures (Royalties) Johns Hopkins Press, MedPage, YouTube, Substack (Consulting) Optum Health. (Other) Plenary Session podcast has Patreon backers.