iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The word is definitely out that alcohol should be avoided in pregnancy. 90% of women now know drinking in pregnancy isn't safe, up from 82% last year. But reported rates of drinking while pregnant are, broadly, increasing. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Your morning coffee either raises your LDL cholesterol or does nothing to it, and the single variable that decides is whether you poured it through a paper filter. That's one of the odder findings in the new AHA scientific statement on caffeine and the heart. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

They sampled blood straight from the coronary arteries of people mid-heart-attack. 84% had detectable microplastics. In people with clean coronaries, it was 32%. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

A team @Yale invented a fake patient and had him try to buy GLP-1 drugs on 49 different websites. 45 of them wrote him a prescription. A couple in under five minutes. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Every doctor knows the feeling. Something pops up in the chart and you think, oh shit, I almost missed that. A drug interaction, an allergy, a lab you didn't notice. A new study asks whether AI can generate those moments on purpose. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Full Body Scans are having a moment, thanks to Midjourney's new submerged ultrasound thing. So this week, @profemilyoster and I took a deep dive into the actual data. The false positives, the true positives, incidentalomas, overdiagnosis. All on the Wellness, Actually podcast: buff.ly/fcrXekR

buff.ly

What's the deal with full body scans?

Podcast Episode · Wellness, Actually with Emily Oster & Perry Wilson, MD · June 25 · 1h 3m

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

In April, the CDC blocked one of its own studies from publication. It had cleared internal scientific and editorial review and was slated for the March 19 MMWR. Then the acting director pulled it. This week it came out anyway (just not in a CDC journal). 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Metformin is an old diabetes drug that's become the darling of the longevity crowd. Does it actually buy you healthier years? Two decades ago, a trial randomized people with prediabetes to metformin or lifestyle change. We finally know which group aged better. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

A new study says AI can spot signs of breast cancer on a screening mammogram up to six years before the diagnosis. That sounds like magic. So I went looking for the trick...

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

6,416 Australians spent ten days logging every fart into a mobile app. They produced 360,192 of them. The result was just published in JAMA Network Open...

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

This week you've probably heard there's been a four-fold surge in type 2 diabetes in US kids, and that COVID is to blame. There's one problem with that story. I don't think it's correct...

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

In the 1920s, a New Jersey pathologist coined 'punch-drunk syndrome' to describe the tremors and slurred speech he kept seeing in career boxers. For decades we assumed it took boxing or American football to do that to a brain. Soccer players' brains tell a different story. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

A new study in JAMA Network Open suggests GLP-1s like Ozempic cut the risk of death after breast cancer by 91%. I want to believe it. But this is one of those headlines that falls apart once you read the paper. buff.ly/Cs2VRJ5

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

If you're like me, you find the science of psychedelic medicine completely fascinating. But here's the problem: nearly all human research is in prior users or patients with severe conditions like PTSD. What about psychedelic-naïve 40-somethings like yours truly?

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Went to my 20th med school reunion last weekend. Said "you haven't aged a bit" approximately 50 times. What I actually meant, of course, was "you haven't aged as fast as I'd expect." Turns out you can quantify that. And in cancer patients, the rate of face aging predicts survival. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

It's always bothered me that medical research papers are static. A PDF, showing you what the authors thought were the important findings. I think we're ready for a paradigm shift and I did a little proof of concept...

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

New in JAMA Network Open: in 1,338 older adults followed for up to 19 years, more daytime napping was linked to higher all-cause mortality. The biggest signal was naps in the morning...

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

New in JAMA Network Open: 21 frontier LLMs tested on 29 clinical vignettes that simulate real diagnostic workflows. Not just "what's the diagnosis" but the whole process. Differential, testing, final dx, management. The party line? They're not ready for primetime. But I'm not so sure...

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

"A daily multivitamin slows biological aging." That's the headline from a new Nature Medicine paper. From a randomized trial! But when you actually read the data, the vitamin is doing just about nothing. Thread.

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Wellness influencers mislead with biological plausibility all the time. Recognize the signs! New episode of Wellness, Actually today (saunas, cold plunges, and more): wellnessactually.fm with @ProfEmilyOster.

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

This week, on the Wellness, Actually podcast Emily Oster and I talk #peptides! Including the (infamous) "wolverine stack" as promoted by no less than Joe Rogan. I have... concerns. wellnessactually.fm

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

OK we know exercise saves lives. We know muscle strength predicts survival. But is it the muscle itself that's protective — or just that stronger people move more? A really elegant new study finally disentangles this (in women at least). Thread 👇

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

So excited for "Wellness, Actually" - a new podcast with @profemilyoster.bsky.social. Weekly, we take on a wellness topic and (gasp) actually read the literature to separate fact from BS. Check out episode 1, "What's the deal with declining sperm counts?" today. wellnessactually.fm

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

What if wellness influencers actually knew how to read a medical study? 🤔 New podcast. Me. @ProfEmilyOster. The ACTUAL data on wellness trends so you can stress less. Listen to Wellness, Actually wherever you get your podcasts: open.spotify.com/show/5igTryE... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

open.spotify.com

Official Trailer: Wellness, Actually with Emily Oster & Perry Wilson, MD

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

In med school I bought a $15 noise machine to drown out the sirens and helicopters of Washington Heights. It worked. Or at least I thought it did. A new study suggests it may have been making things worse. 🧵 (1/13)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

We made it through Dry January. An entire month of alcohol content. So let me answer the question I keep getting asked: How much is actually ok to drink? 🧵 (1/14)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Dry January, Week 3. So far, we’ve covered liver health and GLP-1s. Now, let’s get a little… far out. This week is brought to you by the hashtag #CaliforniaSober. The question: Can weed help you put down the bottle? Or does it just make things worse? Let’s look at the data. 1/13

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

We're in week two of Dry January and continuing our month of columns dedicated to alcohol, the substance Homer Simpson referred to as the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. (1/12)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

So... for reasons both personal and professional, I decided to dig into the data behind "Dry January". To be honest, I'm impressed. The liver is a remarkable organ. Brief thread on major findings: 🧵 (1/13)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

You can get ChatGPT to recommend thalidomide to a pregnant woman. It's not even hard. A new study in JAMA Network Open shows just how vulnerable medical AI is to manipulation. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

I was lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, surviving on a waiter's salary. My diet was basically wine, baguettes, and goat cheese. Turns out that might've been good for my brain? A new study says high-fat cheese prevents dementia. Let's talk about it. 🧀🧵 (1/10)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Humans share 98% of our DNA with chimps. But there's one thing that makes us wildly different from our primate cousins. And it might explain why our species took over the planet. 🧵

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Reposted by F. Perry Wilson, MD

Yale Nephrology @yalenephrology.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Has been all outstanding research faculty talks since the #Match last week! Dr. @fperrywilson.bsky.social giving Yale Nephrology RIP, Dr. Whitney Besse teaching us about genetic testing and kidney disease, and Dr. Lloyd Cantley presenting at the HTI Seminar! @yalemed.bsky.social

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

We're in the middle of a quiet revolution in depression treatment. For decades it was all about "chemical imbalance". SSRIs tweaking serotonin levels. And they work. Sort of. (Thread)--> (1/18)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

I’ve called GLP-1 agents like Ozempic and Mounjaro "miracle drugs." But a new study forces me to re-evaluate that moniker. The miracle has a problem: It ends when the prescription runs out. Let's look at the data on the "Rebound Effect." 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

A new randomized trial in American Journal of Psychiatry just dropped, and the headline result is…unexpected: smoking marijuana REDUCED alcohol consumption. Yes, reduced. And before you say “that makes no sense", let’s unpack it. (🧵)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Young people today have more friends than any generation before them. They also report the highest levels of loneliness. How is that possible? Turns out the answer is fascinating and maybe a little depressing. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

The use of doxycycline in childhood may protect against the future development of schizophrenia. Wait... what? This is one of those studies that makes you say "that can't be right." But maybe it is? Let me walk you through this weird one.

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

What killed Napoleon's army in 1812? For 200+ years, history books have pointed to epidemic typhus. Turns out, they may have been completely wrong. A new study just rewrote one of military history's greatest mysteries. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

A new Nature study found that people with cancer who received an mRNA COVID vaccine while on immunotherapy lived nearly twice as long. Median survival jumped from 20.6 to 37.3 months. That’s not a typo. Let’s talk about how, and why, that might be. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

There's a problem with BMI, and I can illustrate it like this: Seth Rogen (comedic legend, dad bod) has about the same BMI as Jalen Hurts (elite NFL QB, built like a tank). Both would be classified as "overweight" or nearly "obese." Clearly, something is wrong here. (🧵)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

I woke up in Las Vegas last week with some mysterious symptoms: pounding headache, nausea, feeling like I hadn't slept at all. Who knows what could cause such a thing? As I searched for coffee, I saw a sign promising salvation: IV fluids. On demand. For $248. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

🧵 New headlines say rising cancer rates in young people might be... fake? Before you panic (or un-panic), let's talk about why this is both more complicated AND more interesting than it sounds. Spoiler: I'm still getting my colonoscopy. 1/

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

🧵 Walk into any pharmacy and you'll see supplement bottles claiming to "support heart health" or "boost immune function." These vague promises are everywhere. But here's the thing: a new study just proved these weasel words are fooling millions of Americans.

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Childhood obesity has quadrupled since the 1960s. Now over 20% of kids meet the definition (>95th percentile of BMI). This is driving type 2 diabetes in children, and increases the risk of other diseases as adults. We need to talk about weight-loss drugs for kids. 🧵

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Really excited to be speaking at @Medium Day this Friday. I'll be talking about how to write about medicine while maintaining both skepticism and joy. Tons of amazing talks / discussions. You can sign up for free here: www.mediumday.com

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

We've all had this conversation before: "Dude, we both agree this is red... but how do I know what I see as red is what you see as red? Maybe you see red as I see blue." Mind blown lol. But we finally have some research that sheds light (and color) on the issue. (Thread)

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F. Perry Wilson, MD @fperrywilson.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Ok, this study has some pretty predictable conclusions. But I have some serious questions. (Thread):

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