CATEGORY / academia

28Feb

2025

Raywat / academia, blog, COVID-19, epidemiology / 0 comment

Resist the Randomized Controlled Trials Fetish

The article below has been published in the Canadian Medical Education Journal (CMEJ). But it’s not written in very technical language, so I thought I’d amplify its reach by reproducing it here, as well. I think it’s pretty important and timely, given the amount of noise in public discourse about the sacrosanct nature of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and how much that noise impacts public perception of public health policies.

If you want to cite his article, though, please use the CMEJ citation:

Deonandan R. Resist the Randomized Controlled Trials fetish: different questions require different pyramids of evidence. Can. Med. Ed. J [Internet]. 2025 Feb. 24 [cited 2025 Feb. 28];16(1):126-7.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.80355

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23Apr

2024

Raywat / academia, blog / 0 comment

Remembering Tom Parsons

Today I found myself thinking about my 2nd year Comparative Anatomy professor, from back when I was a clueless undergrad in the late 1980s at the University of Toronto. After some help from folks on Twitter, I figured out that his name was Dr Tom Parsons. I was saddened but unsurprised to learn that Dr Parsons had passed away at the age of 80 in 2011. (more…)

14Nov

2018

Raywat / academia, blog, martial arts, me, nonsense / 0 comment

Caution: Do Not Swallow

Frederick Banting, co-discoverer of insulin (at my alma mater), would have been 127 today. And so today is also….. wait for it….

Happy World Diabetes Day! In early celebration, I recently had a giant stack of pancakes with real maple syrup and extra insulin on top.

So if you’re doing something special for diabetes today, I hBa1C you! (A little medical humour there. Very little.)

In other news, I just walked the dog through the very cold streets of Hamilton, Ontario. In the park, we saw an old Chinese woman in a parka, doing slow-motion Wushu moves with an actual sword. No one else was there, so nobody will believe me. Not even the dog.

Speaking of which, here’s the little nubbin wearing his plaid turtleneck:

I call this one, “Bitches.”

Balls Silly

I was just informed by a Google alert that I was just cited by a scholar from the Balsillie School of International Affairs. I have no idea what the context of the citation is. All I know is that my first response was, “Balls silly. Heh heh. Balls silly school of international affairs. Heh heh. Balls silly.”

Damn. There go my lunch plans.

Good to know. Thanks.
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15Oct

2018

Raywat / academia, blog, epidemiology, me, nonsense / 0 comment

Bleed Like A Veggie Burger

These Are Exciting Times

Just received this email from my employer:

“Employees must not smoke or vape recreational cannabis on campus during their working days, to ensure workplace health and safety.”

Wow. That’s something I never thought I would see in an official email ever. Wow. Strap in, folks, it’s going to be a weird and wacky time in Canada for the next few years. (more…)

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