Vinay Prasad: HE'S BACK

Before Vinay Prasad, the UCSF oncologist, served as head of CBER at FDA, he was famously outspoken—in blogs, vlogs, podcasts, and peer-reviewed articles.

During his time at FDA, those informal channels went quiet. 

Now that he is out of FDA, he appears to be back at full volume. His YouTube channel, dormant for roughly a year, has posted nine new vlogs in about a month, most running 20 to 30 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/@vprasadmdmph/videos

There's a similar rebound for his blog/substack.  It was silent after May 2026, and beginning June 2, nine articles.

https://www.drvinayprasad.com/

How did life in Washington change him?   I took his eleven  new articles and his last eleven from Spring 2025 before his hiatus, and asked for an AI comparison.  Embarrassingly, Claude counts "13" new articles; that's not central so I've left as-is.

SUMMARY

The two analyses below ask the same question: what changed when Vinay Prasad returned to public writing after his turbulent year at FDA’s CBER? The first, from Claude, is more quantitative and biographical, tracking article counts, length, citations, profanity, topic mix, and the conspicuous silence around his FDA controversies. The second, from ChatGPT, is more interpretive, arguing that Prasad’s center of gravity shifted from culture-war combat toward clinical epistemology: weak evidence, observational bias, overdiagnosis, medical AI, journals, and institutional incentives. Together, they both conclude that Prasad is out of power, but not out of influence.

Register Now for June 25 HHS Webinar on AI, Policy, and Reimbursement

HHS Webinar June 25: What Did HHS Hear About AI in Clinical Care?

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AI Corner: Chat GPT 5.5
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In December 2025, HHS issued a broad Request for Information asking how the Department should accelerate the adoption and use of artificial intelligence in clinical care. The RFI was only 3 pages, but it was pointed. HHS asked how it should use three big levers — regulation, reimbursement, and research and development — to move AI into clinical care faster, while still addressing safety, privacy, interoperability, and trust.

The RFI was released December 19, 2025, and appeared in the Federal Register shortly afterward. Comments were due February 23, 2026. 

Now HHS/ONC has scheduled a public webinar to discuss what it heard.

Webinar: Adoption of AI in Clinical Care: Updates from the HHS RFI
Date/time: Thursday, June 25, 2026, 3:00–4:00 pm ET, 12:00-1:00 PT
Registration entry point:
https://healthit.gov/event/adoption-of-ai-in-clinical-care-updates-from-the-hhs-rfi/

Why This RFI Matters

Very Brief Blog: Using AI to FInd Someone's Name

 We live at a time where some people use AI like second nature and some nearly never.

Here's a real life example.  For a moment today I was blocking on the name of Jennifer Leib, a well-known health policy consultant in DC.  Here's my prompt and here's the result.

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PROMPT

There is a woman in washington dc whose training is as a genetic counselor and she runs a small but high quality health policy consulting group. it has a sort of generic name (like "policy innovations"). ???

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RESULT [chat gpt]

I think you’re looking for Jennifer Leib, ScM, CGC, founder of Innovation Policy Solutions — very close to your “policy innovations” memory.

Why this fits:

Innovation Policy Solutions is a government affairs / health policy consulting firm focused on genomics, precision medicine, diagnostics, therapeutics, digital health, regulatory and reimbursement issues. Jennifer Leib is listed as founder, and her bio says she began as a board-certified genetic counselor, did the NHGRI/ASHG Genetics and Public Policy Fellowship, worked with Francis Collins at NHGRI, served on Sen. Ted Kennedy’s HELP Committee staff, and later directed the Washington, DC office of Affymetrix. (Innovation Policy Solutions)

Her bio also says she has a master’s degree in genetic counseling from Johns Hopkins and previously co-founded HealthFutures, later acquired by CRD Associates. (Innovation Policy Solutions)

A separate MDA article describes her as “a genetic counselor and founder of Innovation Policy Solutions, a government affairs consulting firm specializing in genomics and precision medicine.” (Quest | Muscular Dystrophy Association)

So the name you were reaching for is probably:

Jennifer Leib — Innovation Policy Solutions
Website: search for iPolicySolutions Jennifer Leib.