F. Perry Wilson,
MD MSCE

Physician · Researcher · Science Communicator

Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale University. Director of the Clinical and Translational Research Accelerator. I use data and evidence to separate medical fact from fiction — on Medscape, Medium, and the Wellness, Actually podcast.

F. Perry Wilson, MD

About Dr. Wilson

I'm a nephrologist, clinical researcher, and science communicator at Yale School of Medicine. My research uses real-time analytics and clinical decision support to target diagnostic and therapeutic interventions to patients at risk of clinical deterioration — spanning electronic alerting, rare-event prognostication, machine learning, and randomized clinical trials.

Beyond the lab, I'm passionate about helping people understand medical evidence. I write the weekly Impact Factor column and video series on Medscape, co-host the Wellness, Actually podcast with Emily Oster, and write on Medium. My book, How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't, came out in 2023.

My goal is simple: rigorous analysis, delivered accessibly. Medical news analyzed rigorously, synthesized succinctly.

Education

Harvard College — BA Biochemistry, 2001
Columbia P&S — MD, 2006
University of Pennsylvania — MS Clinical Epidemiology, 2012

Training

UPenn — Internal Medicine Residency
UPenn — Nephrology Fellowship

Board Certification

Internal Medicine
Nephrology

Wellness, Actually

Wellness, Actually podcast cover art

Co-hosted with economist and best-selling author Emily Oster, Wellness, Actually separates fact from fiction, causality from correlation, so you can stay informed without being overwhelmed. Every episode we cover the health news of the week, take listener questions, and do a deep dive into a buzzy wellness topic — from GLP-1s to red light therapy to cold plunges.

Distributed by iHeartMedia. New episodes weekly.


How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't

How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't — book cover

Learning Who to Trust to Get and Stay Healthy

Grand Central Publishing, 2023

Blending personal anecdotes with hard science, this book gives you the tools to navigate our complicated healthcare system, evaluate medical claims, and understand when medicine works — and when it falls short. From clinical trials to alternative therapies, it's a guide to becoming a more informed patient.

Buy on Amazon

Recent Articles

I write regularly on Medium and Medscape, covering everything from GLP-1 receptor agonists to the neurobiology of hypocrisy.

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Selected Appearances

Sep 22, 2025
NewsNation

Discussing the real data linking acetaminophen use with autism spectrum disorder.

May 7, 2025
NewsNation

The pros and cons of removing fluoride from the water supply, with Connell McShane.

Mar 7, 2025
CNN

Discussing the ongoing measles outbreak with Brianna Keilar.

Feb 27, 2025
CNN

The Texas measles outbreak, with Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez.

May 3, 2024
The Naked Scientists

A new study suggesting that female patients fare better when cared for by female doctors.

May 1, 2024
The People's Pharmacy

How the public lost trust in medicine, and what we can do to earn it back.

Feb 28, 2024
CNN

President Biden's checkup at Walter Reed Medical Center, with Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez.

Jan 24, 2023
ABC News Live

Speaking with Linsey Davis about How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't and how people can know what medical information to trust. Watch video →

Jan 2023
Health & Veritas Podcast

Joining Drs. Howie Forman and Harlan Krumholz to discuss the book and how a failing medical system makes people susceptible to misinformation.

Dec 12, 2022
CNN

The surge in respiratory viral infections, the impact of COVID in China, and the shortage of children's pain relievers, with Bianna Golodryga.


Clinical & Translational Research Accelerator

I direct the Clinical and Translational Research Accelerator (CTRA) at Yale School of Medicine. CTRA is dedicated to applying discoveries from the laboratory and preclinical experiments to the design of clinical trials and patient-oriented research. Our work spans biomarker discovery and validation, interventional data science, electronic alerting, clinical decision support, and machine-learning approaches to rare-event prognostication.

Our team of physicians, scientists, and research staff is committed to demonstrating that patients directly benefit from the applied science we develop — with projects ranging from acute kidney injury prediction and treatment to heart failure management and kidney precision medicine.

For a complete scientific bibliography: PubMed · Google Scholar

Visit CTRA at Yale →

Online Course

Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend Is Wrong

Free on Coursera

How do you know if a new drug actually works? What makes a study trustworthy? In this course, I teach you how to critically evaluate medical studies — the same skills I teach Yale medical students. You'll learn about p-values, confounding, bias, randomization, and how to spot misleading claims, no medical background required.

Enroll Free on Coursera →
🎓

Yale University on Coursera

Free enrollment · Self-paced
No prerequisites required