Post-FDA Return to Academia, Podcast Reboot, and Resumed Writing

Summary

Since leaving the FDA at the end of April 2026, Dr. Vinay Prasad has returned to clinical medicine and academia, resuming rounds at UCSF/San Francisco General and his long-running roles as public commentator. On July 21, 2026, he rebooted the audio version of his Plenary Session podcast (“Reboot — I am back”), with Season 5 episodes continuing through at least September 7, 2026 (“Measles in PA, Nature’s editorial, and more”).

He also resumed writing for Sensible Medicine (the publication he co-writes) and his own Substack, now hosted at drvinayprasad.com, and has kept an active YouTube presence. In an August 2026 interview with Reason, Prasad discussed his FDA tenure, the Moderna flu refusal-to-file letter, deregulation, and what comes next at UCSF — including a self-described turn “a bit more libertarian” after his experience inside the agency.

Timeline

• April 30, 2026 — Prasad departs the FDA for the second and final time.
• July 21, 2026 — Plenary Session audio podcast reboots (“Reboot — I am back”).
• Aug 2026 — Post-FDA interviews resume, including the Reason interview (Aug 26) covering his tenure and next steps.
• July–Sep 2026 — Season 5 episodes through “Measles in PA, Nature’s editorial, and more” (Sep 7); Substack video posts such as “Multicancer early detection tests” (Sep 23).