santiago, phd 🐈⬛
@santiagokique.bsky.social
Vnzln 🇻🇪 MD/PhD candidate @ Stanford 🌲
I study telomere biology in health and disease; I write about science and politics
blogs @ primafacie.substack.com
I study telomere biology in health and disease; I write about science and politics
blogs @ primafacie.substack.com
Pinned
AI performs at the level of an intern?
RE: "Performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician." Science 2026
open.substack.com
New blog post about that Science paper from a couple of weeks ago that tested LLMs against ED physicians in a retrospective “trial” of differential diagnosis
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
I had a patient with ADEM on Peds. A healthy teen living a normal life, suddenly unable to walk, speak, eat, could only recognize his mother. A former honor student now deeply cognitively impaired. Hospitalized for months and lost effectively all their muscle mass. (1/2)
September 16, 2026 at 2:57 PM
I had a patient with ADEM on Peds. A healthy teen living a normal life, suddenly unable to walk, speak, eat, could only recognize his mother. A former honor student now deeply cognitively impaired. Hospitalized for months and lost effectively all their muscle mass. (1/2)
NSF will no longer be giving grants to individuals based on their ideas, but pivot towards “implementing Trump’s golden age of science”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF memo implementing Trump’s ‘golden age’ of science unsettles researchers
New document emphasizes support for White House priorities over curiosity-driven ideas
www.science.org
September 16, 2026 at 12:23 AM
NSF will no longer be giving grants to individuals based on their ideas, but pivot towards “implementing Trump’s golden age of science”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Who’s 32 year-old 10 year-old is this
September 13, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Who’s 32 year-old 10 year-old is this
Paul Verhoeven is a prophet
September 6, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Paul Verhoeven is a prophet
We’re long past evidence mattering in this discussion but I remember when “natural evolution can’t do furin cleavage sites” was the fulcrum of lab leak discourse. Well here’s another naturally evolved furin cleavage site in beta coronavirus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A divergent betacoronavirus with a functional furin cleavage site in South American bats - Nature Communications
There is still limited data reported on virus diversity in South American bats. In this study, the authors report a divergent betacoronavirus with a functional furin cleavage site in South American ba...
www.nature.com
September 6, 2026 at 3:53 PM
We’re long past evidence mattering in this discussion but I remember when “natural evolution can’t do furin cleavage sites” was the fulcrum of lab leak discourse. Well here’s another naturally evolved furin cleavage site in beta coronavirus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
After years of harping on about the “biomedical security state”, Jay Bhattacharya has signed away hundreds of millions of biomedical research dollars to the U.S.’ doomed imperial exploits
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Revealed: inside the US military's plan to tap huge sums from the NIH
An agreement paves the way for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of projects to be transferred from the NIH’s institute for infectious diseases to the Department of Defense.
www.nature.com
September 5, 2026 at 2:53 AM
After years of harping on about the “biomedical security state”, Jay Bhattacharya has signed away hundreds of millions of biomedical research dollars to the U.S.’ doomed imperial exploits
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I’m not gonna discourse the term “woke 1” cuz it’s pointless but I wrote pretty much everything I had to say about how it was crazy here:
primafacie.substack.com/p/spare-the-...
primafacie.substack.com/p/spare-the-...
spare the rod 1
reviewing institutional discipline from George Floyd in 2020 to Palestine in 2023
primafacie.substack.com
August 11, 2026 at 6:52 AM
I’m not gonna discourse the term “woke 1” cuz it’s pointless but I wrote pretty much everything I had to say about how it was crazy here:
primafacie.substack.com/p/spare-the-...
primafacie.substack.com/p/spare-the-...
Reposted by santiago, phd 🐈⬛
He also shared an interesting story I didn’t know about: his work as a research fellow devising the first treatment for GPA (then called Wegener’s polyangiitis). A very simple idea grounded in solid understanding of basic biology. At the time he was an NIH fellow, …
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Cyclophosphamide Therapy of Severe Systemic Necrotizing Vasculitis | NEJM
We studied 17 patients with severe systemic necrotizing vasculitis over an 11-year-period.
Sixteen patients were treated daily with cyclophosphamide (2 mg per kilogram per day),
and one was treated...
www.nejm.org
May 21, 2026 at 2:48 AM
He also shared an interesting story I didn’t know about: his work as a research fellow devising the first treatment for GPA (then called Wegener’s polyangiitis). A very simple idea grounded in solid understanding of basic biology. At the time he was an NIH fellow, …
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Re-upping this bc this man whose dedicated his entire life to public service is being dragged through the mud by the dumbest and worst faith people on earth to provide a side-show for their rapidly evaporating political base of rabid conspiracists
Dr. Fauci came to Stanford for Medicine grand rounds and shared a few reflections I thought were worth passing on: The first was about Operation Warp Speed and the current state of the NIH. As you’ll recall the first mRNA vax was developed at record speed. Fauci atttributes that success to 4 factors
July 30, 2026 at 11:23 PM
Re-upping this bc this man whose dedicated his entire life to public service is being dragged through the mud by the dumbest and worst faith people on earth to provide a side-show for their rapidly evaporating political base of rabid conspiracists
Imagine not being able to accrue your clinical trial bc a mob of degen gamblers w/ no knowledge of medicine, biology, pharma, or trials is split 60/40 against hitting your endpoints www.statnews.com/2026/07/16/k... via @statnews.com
Kalshi comes for biopharma, with prediction markets for clinical trials and FDA approvals
Prediction markets have permeated the worlds of sports, politics, and reality television shows. Now, the biopharma industry could be next.
www.statnews.com
July 16, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Imagine not being able to accrue your clinical trial bc a mob of degen gamblers w/ no knowledge of medicine, biology, pharma, or trials is split 60/40 against hitting your endpoints www.statnews.com/2026/07/16/k... via @statnews.com
tf is this dawg if you need a laser to call an offsides it’s not offside. Paid for by Big Ronaldo
June 28, 2026 at 1:34 AM
tf is this dawg if you need a laser to call an offsides it’s not offside. Paid for by Big Ronaldo
I think a good metaphor for biology amid the “can we just compute biology” discourse is trying to deduce the existence and specific rules of the game of futbol from a table of the different kinds of shoes worn by everyone inside a stadium at any given time
June 27, 2026 at 10:19 PM
I think a good metaphor for biology amid the “can we just compute biology” discourse is trying to deduce the existence and specific rules of the game of futbol from a table of the different kinds of shoes worn by everyone inside a stadium at any given time
From the MIT president, Sally Kornbluth, a good distillation of the current mood in science: technically, it has never been a more exciting time to be in biomedical research; politically and economically, everyone is at the lowest they’ve ever been.
www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...
www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...
MIT president: Why so many optimistic scientists are losing heart
“This erosion of our strength is a loss for the nation,” writes MIT President Sally Kornbluth.
www.statnews.com
May 29, 2026 at 1:01 PM
From the MIT president, Sally Kornbluth, a good distillation of the current mood in science: technically, it has never been a more exciting time to be in biomedical research; politically and economically, everyone is at the lowest they’ve ever been.
www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...
www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...
This is facts I saw 2 pheos in one week on endocrine surgery lol
May 23, 2026 at 1:22 AM
This is facts I saw 2 pheos in one week on endocrine surgery lol
Reposted by santiago, phd 🐈⬛
Dr. Fauci came to Stanford for Medicine grand rounds and shared a few reflections I thought were worth passing on: The first was about Operation Warp Speed and the current state of the NIH. As you’ll recall the first mRNA vax was developed at record speed. Fauci atttributes that success to 4 factors
May 21, 2026 at 2:34 AM
Dr. Fauci came to Stanford for Medicine grand rounds and shared a few reflections I thought were worth passing on: The first was about Operation Warp Speed and the current state of the NIH. As you’ll recall the first mRNA vax was developed at record speed. Fauci atttributes that success to 4 factors
Reposted by santiago, phd 🐈⬛
New blog post about that Science paper from a couple of weeks ago that tested LLMs against ED physicians in a retrospective “trial” of differential diagnosis
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
AI performs at the level of an intern?
RE: "Performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician." Science 2026
open.substack.com
May 15, 2026 at 4:56 AM
New blog post about that Science paper from a couple of weeks ago that tested LLMs against ED physicians in a retrospective “trial” of differential diagnosis
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
New blog post about that Science paper from a couple of weeks ago that tested LLMs against ED physicians in a retrospective “trial” of differential diagnosis
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
AI performs at the level of an intern?
RE: "Performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician." Science 2026
open.substack.com
May 15, 2026 at 4:56 AM
New blog post about that Science paper from a couple of weeks ago that tested LLMs against ED physicians in a retrospective “trial” of differential diagnosis
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
Good Op-Ed this week from first-year medical students re: the recently announced DOJ investigation into Stanford admissions
stanforddaily.com/2026/04/19/d...
stanforddaily.com/2026/04/19/d...
The DOJ is targeting Stanford Medicine's nonexistent problem
Akeke and Zhang defend against the DOJ's investigation into Stanford Medicine and advocate for the importance of diversity consideration in admissions.
stanforddaily.com
April 26, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Good Op-Ed this week from first-year medical students re: the recently announced DOJ investigation into Stanford admissions
stanforddaily.com/2026/04/19/d...
stanforddaily.com/2026/04/19/d...
this 100% AI generated image is spooking folks rightfully concerned about research integrity. Yes, it’s very realistic albeit too clean. My humble proposal: perfect use case for blockchain. Gel reader generates token when image canned with “for pub” setting, tracked through editors/Illustrator
April 25, 2026 at 2:52 AM
this 100% AI generated image is spooking folks rightfully concerned about research integrity. Yes, it’s very realistic albeit too clean. My humble proposal: perfect use case for blockchain. Gel reader generates token when image canned with “for pub” setting, tracked through editors/Illustrator
Reposted by santiago, phd 🐈⬛
I have to read this one in short spurts. It is killing me. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/b...
Trump Slashed Science Funding. Now the U.S. Could Face a Costly Brain Drain.
www.nytimes.com
April 5, 2026 at 8:35 PM
I have to read this one in short spurts. It is killing me. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/b...
Reposted by santiago, phd 🐈⬛
“For weeks, the FDA has been asking a raw-dairy farm in California to recall its Cheddar cheese, which the agency has linked to nine E. coli illnesses in California, Texas and Florida.
On Thursday, the dairy farm, Raw Farm LLC, finally complied, though it said it was doing so “under protest”
On Thursday, the dairy farm, Raw Farm LLC, finally complied, though it said it was doing so “under protest”
‘Under Protest,’ Raw Dairy Farm Recalls Cheddar Linked to 9 E. Coli Cases
www.nytimes.com
April 4, 2026 at 3:36 PM
“For weeks, the FDA has been asking a raw-dairy farm in California to recall its Cheddar cheese, which the agency has linked to nine E. coli illnesses in California, Texas and Florida.
On Thursday, the dairy farm, Raw Farm LLC, finally complied, though it said it was doing so “under protest”
On Thursday, the dairy farm, Raw Farm LLC, finally complied, though it said it was doing so “under protest”
The 2020s? You mean first decade of the Iran war?
March 29, 2026 at 6:18 PM
The 2020s? You mean first decade of the Iran war?