The only silver lining I have found coming out of the pandemic era is that a few genuinely science-driven medical professionals distinguished themselves enough to rise to the attention of people who use their reason rather than their emotions to make judgments. 

One of those whom I now follow is Dr. Vinay Prasad, of (oddly enough) The University of California, San Francisco. 

He is an oncologist and researcher who rose to prominence during the pandemic because he expressed heterodox views using rigorous scientific analyses. Like a few others I follow now, he proved to be remarkably prescient. 

It is not his prescience that makes him worth following, but why he turned out to be so persistently right: he stuck to the science and called things as he saw them, and he made sure that his analyses weren't based on wild speculation but rather on solid evidence. This means that his observations are as valuable on non-COVID-related topics as on COVID matters because the principles are exactly the same. 

You could have had a good batting average in predicting outcomes of pandemic policies just by rejecting everything Fauci said, so having a good batting average there doesn't let us distinguish between the average anti-government activist and a good scientist. I love my anti-government friends but generally wouldn't go to them for policy analyses having to do with medicine. 

Prasad fits the bill for what I am looking for: A smart, analytical guy who follows the evidence and gives his best analysis without fear or favor. How rare is that these days?

I started following Dr. Prasad during the initial phases of COVID because he was among the few who demanded evidence to justify policies that interfered with freedom. What is the evidence for masks? What is the actual infection fatality rate? What studies are you doing? Why is this so politicized? 

It was a breath of fresh aid; as everybody was gaslighting us, Prasad said "Show us the data."

As a total geek, I watch Prasad's YouTube videos as often as I can without regard to the topic. I always learn things, and frankly, I need to breathe the fresh air of reason every once in a while since I am constantly inhaling the stench of ideology in my everyday life. 

Prasad's Substack is similarly interesting, at least to me. 

The ever-present theme in Prasad's work is the absolute necessity of doing well-designed randomized controlled trials and the need to root out every confounding variable that might undermine the quality of the work. And one of the most surprising and disturbing facts that should make you distrust everything the CDC and NIAID said during the pandemic was the fact that they resolutely refused to do any serious randomized controlled trials on almost any subject related to COVID policies. 

That is a huge red flag. With access to hundreds of billions of dollars, they did essentially no studies on anything controversial. 

A mask study would have been an obvious one, but not a one was done, and when Cochrane came out with their analyses of prior studies that showed no benefit, they were vilified. The CDC could have done a great study at a low cost, and simply refused. If that doesn't trip your trigger I don't know what will. 

It's the same with vaccine boosters. It would be easy enough to do studies, but they refuse to. They just test a few mice and ship the boosters out the door, despite the fact that nobody trusts them anymore. 

Prasad is a progressive by his own description, and he backs this up with his strong support for Bernie Sanders. He is a foe of the pharmaceutical companies, who he thinks rip us off, and of course he is a San Francisco guy. 

But when it comes to science, he is evidence-based, not ideologically so. Hence his praise for DeSantis, which was effusive.

Prasad, along with a few others whom I will write about in later essays, has become an outspoken and sought-after speaker on medical ethics because he still has some. 

It took amazing courage to stand up and stand out during the pandemic because the pressure to conform was indescribable. The gaslighting, censorship, and professional punishment endured by the few courageous scientists who didn't back down gives me hope that we can rebuild and create a trustworthy medical elite again. 

I'll never take advice from Prasad about whom to vote for, but would happily listen to his medical advice. I wouldn't assume he was right, because you should never assume that about anybody. But I would and do assume that he is giving it to me straight, and unfortunately that is rare enough these days as to be remarkable. 

Check out Prasad's YouTube channel if you are interested in the topics he covers. You won't be disappointed.