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The Cancer Stories You Never Hear
Girl suffering from leukemia in her room at a hospital. (Antoine Gyori/Sygma via Getty Images)
I’m often asked why I would spend my career focused on the unpredictable, unrelenting misery of cancer. Here’s why.
By Vinay Prasad
11.23.22 — Culture and Ideas
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Recently, some residents asked me why I had chosen my medical specialty.

“Why oncology?”

Why indeed…

The truth about life is that so often it is a chance encounter, an uncertain leap that takes us into the careers we “choose.” My own story of how I came to become a hematologist-oncologist is full of the randomness of my own life.

That’s not what they were a…

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Vinay Prasad
Vinay Prasad MD, MPH, is a hematologist-oncologist and 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 500 academic articles, plus the books Ending Medical Reversal and Malignant. He hosts the oncology podcast Plenary Session, the general medicine podcast The VPZD Show, is active on Substack, and runs the YouTube channel VinayPrasadMDMPH. He runs The Drug Development Letter, a must-read for industry insights.
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