Posts by Anish Koka
Ep. 153 Vinay Prasad: Making Conversations in Medicine Great Again
Our guest is Vinayak K. Prasad, hematologist-oncologist. He was an associate professor of medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine and in the summer of 2020 moved to the University of California San Francisco.
He is a prolific researcher with a particular interest in the quality of medical evidence and trial design. He is also author of 2 best-selling books: Ending Medical Reversal (2015) co-authored with Dr. Adam Cifu and Malignant: How Bad Evidence and Bad Policy Harm People With Cancer, released earlier this year.
We have a broad ranging conversation about the tenor of medical discourse today and about his main ideas regarding the quality of medical evidence.
GUEST:
Vinay Prasad: Twitter, Website, and Podcast
LINKS:
Note: The Accad and Koka Report participates in the Amazon Affiliate program and may earn a small commission from purchases completed from links on the website,
- Prasad, V et al. “A Decade of Reversal: An Analysis of 146 Contradicted Medical Practices.” Open Access in Mayo Clinic Proceedings with accompanying video of Dr. Prasad
- Vinay Prasad and Adam Cifu. Ending Medical Reversal. Amazon link.
- Vinay Prasad. Malignant. Amazon link.
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Ep. 149 James Lindsay: Critical Race Theory, Post-Modernism, and Medicine
An American-born author, mathematician, and political commentator, Dr. James Lindsay has written books spanning a range of subjects including religion, the philosophy of science and postmodern theory. He is the co-founder of the website New Discourses and is currently promoting his new book “Cynical Theories”. Enjoy a wide ranging discussion on the Post-Modern movement and how it impacts Medicine
GUEST:
James Lindsay: Twitter and New Discourses Web page
SHOW NOTES:
Amazon book link: Cynical Theories
John Stuart Mill Essay: On Liberty
Anish’s article in Quilette on the Real Gender gap in Cardiology: https://quillette.com/2019/06/12/the-real-gender-gap-in-heart-disease/
New Discourses website: https://newdiscourses.com/
Podcast on race and estimated GFR: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/race-and-estimated-gfr/id1461664501?i=1000488650915
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Watch the episode on our YouTube channel
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Ep. 138 How Health Care Intermediaries Profit
GUESTS:
Marion Mass is a pediatrician in the Philadelphia area where she has practiced in hospital, Emergency Room, delivery room, outpatient, and urgent care settings. She graduated from Duke University Medical School and trained in Pediatrics at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She has been writing about life inside medicine, published in the WSJ, Washington Times, and the Philly Inquirer. She is also co-founder of Practicing Physicians for America, a physician lead organization that advances the interests of practicing physicians. She has written extensively on the role of third party intermediaries in medicine.
Dr. Rupali Chadha is a Board Certified Psychiatric Physician who diagnoses and treats mental illness. She is also Board Certified Psychiatric Physician in the specialty area of forensics. She serves the LA Superior Courts in identifying inmates who are incompetent to stand trial and has also served as a forensic expert in criminal trials. She recently traveled to Washington DC to visit the White House and witness signing of a recent Presidential Executive Order on intermediaries in healthcare.
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Watch the episode on our YouTube channel
LINKS:E
White House Executive Order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-lowering-prices-patients-eliminating-kickbacks-middlemen/
Overview of third parties that suck up most of the health-care dollars: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/84795
The rebates that may fuel higher drug prices: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/10/a-bipartisan-opportunity-to-cut-drug-prices/
John Arnold in statnews discusses the role of Pharmacy benefit managers (PBM): https://www.statnews.com/2018/08/27/pharmacy-benefit-managers-good-or-bad/
A detailed look at Group Purchasing Organizations and PBMs: https://practicingphysician.org/scrubs-vs-suits-the-battle-inside-the-nations-hospitals-part-2/
Needle stick story referenced in the podcast: https://nebula.wsimg.com/9e87fe4c7de204baccc77a2bc373daf1?AccessKeyId=62BC662C928C06F7384C&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
SUPPORT THE SHOW:
Make a small donation on our Patreon page on and join our discussion group or receive a free book.
Ep. 137 Joshua Gottlieb on Government Policy and Physician Income
Joshua Gottlieb is an economist who co-authored a recent paper examining the effect of government policy and physician income. The paper was recently presented at a conference co-sponsored by the NBER and NIA and its pre-publication has generated significant controversy among doctors.
GUEST:
Joshua Gottlieb, PhD: Twitter and Website
LINK:
Paper: Who Values Human Capitalists’ Human Capital? Healthcare Spending and Physician Earnings
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Watch the episode on our YouTube channel
Ep. 136. Manny Sethi. Trauma Surgeon & US Senate Candidate
Manny Sethi is a trauma surgeon running to be the next senator from the state of Tennessee. He is the son of immigrants,and an unabashed conservative who discusses his journey from medicine to politics, as well as his views on healthcare.
GUEST:
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
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Ep. 135. Avik Roy: The FREOPP plan for reopening schools
Reopening schools in the midst of a pandemic is a controversial topic. FREOPP, a non-partisan think tank founded by Avik Roy recently released a plan for reopening schools. We discuss some of the data from around the globe, as well as practical considerations related to opening schools.
GUEST:
LINK:
Reopening America’s Schools and Colleges During COVID-19
Iceland Study (NEJM): https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2006100?query=featured_home
Dutch National Institute Study: https://www.ntvg.nl/artikelen/de-rol-van-kinderen-de-transmissie-van-sars-cov-2/volledig
Supreme Court Decision on school funding
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Watch the episode on our YouTube channel
RELATED EPISODES:
Ep. 73 Conservative Means to Progressive Ends? Avik Roy on Healthcare
Ep. 119 Avik Roy: A Practical Plan to Bring People Back to Work
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Make a small donation on our Patreon page on and join our discussion group or receive a free book.
Ep 134. Edward Leamer: Is Econometrics a con?
Dr. Leamer is a Professor of Economics and Statistics at UCLA who comes on the show to discuss the recent arrival of econometric analyses in medicine. He is a longstanding skeptic of the robustness of conclusions derived from econometrics and has some advice for clinicians puzzling over what to do with these analyses.
GUEST:
Ed Leamer, PhD, Professor of Economics and Statistics
SHOW NOTES:
Let’s take the Con out of Econometrics – Ed Leamer warns of the science of econometrics in 1983: https://www.international.ucla.edu/media/files/Leamer_article.pdf
The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics: How Better Research Design is Taking the Con out of Econometrics – Angrist and Pischke argue in 2010 that new econometric tools : pseudorandomization, instrumental variables, and natural experiments mark a credibility revolution for the field. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.24.2.3
Tantalus on the Road to Asymptopia- Ed Leamer responds to Angrist/Pischke : https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.24.2.31
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
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SUPPORT THE SHOW
Make a small donation on our Patreon page on and join our discussion group or receive a free book.
Ep. 133. Rohin Francis: Britain, COVID, and Race in Medicine
Our guest is Rohin Francis, MD. Dr. Francis is a Cardiologist in London, who also hosts a popular YouTube channel. He recently discussed what COVID may tell us about racism in science and medicine (Video in show notes), and comes on the show for a wide ranging discussion on racism in medicine, COVID in Britain, and how minority groups have fared in Britain.
GUEST:
Rohin Francis MD: Twitter
SHOW NOTES:
Watch Rohin’s video on Racism in Science and Medicine
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Watch the episode on our YouTube channel
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Make a small donation on our Patreon page on and join our discussion group or receive a free book.
Don’t Believe the Police Are Biased? Explain This
Bad apples. That’s the explanation provided by those in power for police brutality. The problem, we are told, is that there are just a few of these bad apples, only a few bad cops. After all, what group doesn’t have bad apples? The idea that this may be a systemic, widespread problem is judged as…
Read Full PostEp. 131 Sunil Rao: An Editor’s Thoughts on the NEJM/LancetGate
Dr. Rao is an interventional cardiologist and researcher who has been at Duke University for over 10 years. He also works in the Veteran’s hospital in Durhum, is a leader in the cardiology social media community with 16k followers on Twitter, and is also editor-in-chief of the journal Circulation Interventions. In this podcast he discusses his perspective on the recent retractions of papers involved in the Surgisphere scandal.
GUEST:
Sunil Rao, MD: twitter
WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Watch the episode on our YouTube channel
SHOW NOTES:
Article from the-scientist on Lancet/NEJM retractions
RELATED EPISODES:
https://accadandkoka.com/episodes/episode26/
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Make a small donation on our Patreon page on and join our discussion group or receive a free book.
