Vikas Patel, MD

A board-certified emergency medicine physician, a former U.S. Navy flight surgeon who served as a lieutenant commander.

About

Vikas Patel is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, a former U.S. Navy flight surgeon who served as a lieutenant commander, and cofounder of MD Longevity Lab, a precision longevity medicine practice in the Chicago area. He is affiliated with Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital. After two decades on the front lines of American emergency rooms, including recognition as Trauma Resident of the Year at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, one of the nation's busiest trauma centers, he shifted his focus from treating disease to preventing it.

Dr. Patel's work now centers on longevity science, metabolic health, and strategies to extend healthspan. He cohosts the MD Longevity Lab: Playing the Long Game podcast with his wife, Dr. Nisha Patel, and is the author of the forthcoming book Playing the Long Game: Outliving Evolution and Chronic Disease. His earlier academic work includes publications in Emergency Medicine Reports and the American Journal of Therapeutics.

He shares longevity insights through Substack, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and LinkedIn. He lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and three children.

On The Podcast by KevinMD

14 patients studied, thousands injecting: the peptide evidence gapMay 18, 2026

Latest articles

Drugs and prescribing

Why the FDA regulations on peptide therapy matter

Vikas Patel, MD

March 10, 2026Mar 10, 2026

Everyone wants peptides, do you not? That includes Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last week, he announced on the Joe Rogan Experience that the FDA would reverse its restrictions on roughly 14 peptides that were banned from compounding pharmacies in 2023. “My hope is that they’re going to get moved to a place where people have access from ethical suppliers,” he told Rogan, while acknowledging, in …

Conditions and diseases

Rebuilding patient trust through the evolutionary mismatch framework

Vikas Patel, MD

March 4, 2026Mar 4, 2026

How one reframing changed the way my patients think about me, and their health. Every day, a patient sits across from me, arms crossed, waiting for me to tell them what pill to take. Or worse, waiting for confirmation of…

How one reframing changed the way my patients think about me, and their health.

Every day, a patient sits across from me, arms crossed, waiting for me to tell them what pill to take. Or worse, waiting for confirmation of what they already believe: that the medical system has nothing real to offer, their doctor is just a middleman for pharma companies or an insurance shill, and that the answer to …