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.

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 that explores his tremendous body of work on the preventable harm that comes from too generous a hand with novel diagnostic advances.

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 Hem/Onc boards questions of the week from Dr. Emerson Chen.

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.

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 to offer a correction to a recent Hem/Onc boards question of the week on Lynch Syndrome (original question posed in episode 2.11) and we invite Ian Straehley on for a question of the week inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK.

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 Been a Shift in Use of Subacute Rehabilitation Instead of Hospice Referral Since Immunotherapy Has Become Available?".

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 his career, the formation of Plenary Session, and what truly matters in the career of an academic physician.

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".

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 oncology.

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 trials supporting approvals of cancer drugs by European Medicines Agency, 2014-16: cross sectional analysis.

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, inspired by the USMLE Step 2 CK; and one from Audrey Tran, inspired by the life of a medical student.

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 Tao, inspired by the MKSAP; and one from Dr. Sven Olson on hematology and oncology -- as well as an interview with Dr. Adam Duvall of OHSU on his career in the field of adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

This week we launch a new segment on Plenary Session: Question of the Week! We invite Dr. Sven Olson on to ask a sample hematology/oncology boards question and we invite Audrey Tran on to ask a question from a medical student. Before that, we talk about the legacy of Dr. Charles Moertel and how modern oncologists, in contrast, will be remembered. We end the episode with an interview with Dr. Adam Obley of OHSU -- his fourth appearance on the podcast! -- on cancer screening.

This BONUS episode is a recording of a lecture that Dr. Stacie Dusetzina of Vanderbilt University gave for grand rounds at OHSU on June 19, 2019. The lecture is on the cost of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket spending.

Welcome to season 2! We're starting this season off with a little bit of everything: a critique of the FDA's accelerated approval of selinexor for penta-refractory multiple myeloma; an interview with Dr. John Reneau of Ohio State University on ECHELON-2 (brentuximab vedotin in t-cell lymphomas); an interview with Dr. Michael Hayes of Kaiser Permanente on parachutes in medicine plus the relationship between conflict of interest and editorial stance on tumor-treating fields for glioblastoma multiforme; and an interview with Dr. Stacie Dusetzina - a leading researcher in health care policy and the cost of cancer drugs, and an avid Twitter user - of Vanderbilt University on #MedTwitter.