In its weekly 'What We Heard' feature, MedPage Today gathers notable quotes from medical experts. The October 18, 2026 edition spans topics as varied as artificial intelligence, vaccine logistics, plastic surgery, and pediatric obesity.
Mishal Khan, PhD, of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said that AI in healthcare is not neutral. Amesh Adalja, MD, of Johns Hopkins, commented on the new mRNA flu shot, saying that people who want it will need to use that website or call around. Kelly Killeen, MD, of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, criticized an early-2000s makeover show as demoralizing, and Krista Huybrechts, PhD, noted that benzodiazepine findings in early pregnancy are reassuring but not risk-free.
Fiona Cresswell, MBChB, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, said advanced HIV disease is mostly a problem of disengagement, not late diagnosis. Ligang Liu, PharmD, MPH, of Western University of Health Sciences, pointed out that two adolescents with similar BMI can have very different health profiles. Other quotes addressed pulmonary vascular resistance after heart transplantation and cancer risk in sickle cell disease.
The quotes are not related to one another, but together they highlight the range of clinical and public-health challenges currently under discussion.