In 2025, ACR reviewers continue to make outstanding contributions to the peer review process. They demonstrated professional effort and enthusiasm in their reviews and provided comments that genuinely help the authors to enhance their work.
Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding reviewers, with a brief interview of their thoughts and insights as a reviewer. Allow us to express our heartfelt gratitude for their tremendous effort and valuable contributions to the scientific process.
Aditya Mahadevan, University of California, USA
Pratyusha Vadagam, Johnson & Johnson, USA
Caroline Uyeno, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, USA
Aditya Mahadevan
Dr. Aditya Mahadevan is a resident physician in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his biochemistry degree at the University of California San Diego, followed by medical school at the University of California Irvine. As he continues his training in pursuit of a career in medical oncology, his research focus has shifted toward gastrointestinal and genitourinary malignancies and management of immune-related adverse events (iRAEs). Learn more about him here.
According to Dr. Mahadevan, peer review plays a key role in advancing scientific discovery. Reviewers have a responsibility to not only verify the accuracy of a manuscript’s comments, but also to aid in improving a manuscript for a journal’s readership.
In Dr. Mahadevan’s opinion, an objective review includes an assessment of a manuscript’s value to the scientific community, rigor, and thorough analysis of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses. When reviewing a manuscript, he tries to evaluate these characteristics as independently as possible to respect the time spent by the authors in performing experiments and drafting a manuscript for peer review.
“As a budding translational investigator, I am driven by a desire to help my patients through not only direct patient care, but through innovation and discovery. Peer review allows me to appreciate and evaluate the innovation of others in our pursuit of improving patient care,” says Dr. Mahadevan.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
Pratyusha Vadagam
Ms. Pratyusha Vadagam works as an Associate Director, Real-World Value & Evidence, Oncology, Solid Tumors, focusing on lung cancer at Johnson & Johnson in Pennsylvania, USA. She holds a Master of Science in Pharmacy Administration from Duquesne University and a Master of Pharmacy in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from BITS Pilani, India. Her research interests include health economics and outcomes research, demonstrating clinical and economic value of novel interventions, affordability, patient-reported outcomes, and real-world evidence including primary and secondary research. She explores methodologies to effectively demonstrate the value of interventions that are essential for decision-makers in public health, including clinicians, regulatory agencies, payers, patients & patient advocacy groups, pharmacists, and policymakers. Pratyusha is also a regular invited reviewer for international journals. She has published her work as manuscripts and presented her work at various international conferences, contributing valuable insights to the field. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Pratyusha believes that peer review is crucial for manuscript publication. It validates research, ensuring findings are reliable, original, and significant. By upholding high standards, it filters out weak studies, promoting only top-notch research to the scientific community. Reviewers' constructive feedback helps authors refine their work, enhancing clarity and rigor. This process builds trust in scientific research among the public and institutions.
Pratyusha reckons that reviewers must be objective, avoiding personal biases. They should assess a manuscript's clarity, structure, and research validity, like methodology and data analysis. Checking for originality, proper literature review, and relevance to the journal's scope is essential. Ethical compliance, including conflict-of-interest reporting, also falls under their purview. Despite technological advancements, human reviewers' critical thinking and domain knowledge are irreplaceable. Their feedback should be targeted and constructive to help authors improve.
As a full-time HEOR professional, Pratyusha acknowledges the challenge of finding time for peer review. However, the sense of satisfaction from knowing that her review contributes to improving research quality is highly rewarding. She employs several strategies. Firstly, she prioritizes her commitments, treating peer review as an important professional responsibility alongside her full-time job, given its significance in advancing science and patient care. She sets specific time blocks in her weekly schedule, often after work or on weekends, dedicated solely to peer review activities. This structured approach helps ensure uninterrupted time for the task. She also uses time and work management tools, keeping a daily to-do list in a journal and crossing off completed tasks according to priority. She manages tasks by creating timelines backward from deadlines and setting reminders for when to start reviewing manuscripts. She divides the peer-review process into manageable parts, such as reading, commenting, and drafting feedback, instead of trying to complete it all at once. Finally, she carefully selects manuscripts based on their originality, relevance, and alignment with her expertise and research interests, making the process more engaging and manageable.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
Caroline Uyeno
Caroline Uyeno graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, while fulfilling Pre-Medicine coursework and the 5 College Certificate in Culture, Health, and Science. At Amherst, she served as an emergency medical technician (EMT); she also volunteered as a Crisis Responder on the Kids Help Phone. Since 2017, she has supported concussion research at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, the Concussion Legacy Foundation of Canada, and the Stanford University Brain Performance Center. Ms. Uyeno published research in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, and presented research at the World Congress on Brain Injury and the Society of Academic Emergency Conference. She also wrote her senior thesis on concussion reporting norms in Division 3 collegiate athletes. She is also an analyst at Vista Equity Partners. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
ACR: What role does peer review play in science?
Ms. Uyeno: Peer review plays a vital role in scientific research to maintain quality control, spark innovation, and foster a robust medium for healthy debate. A peer-reviewed article has the stamp of approval by fellow researchers who have devoted time developing an expertise in a field, certifying that the article is accurate, original, and progresses the field’s understanding of a topic. Peer review generates a mutually beneficial relationship between the reviewer and the author. Both parties advance and refine their knowledge and communication skills from the other, whether related to the underpinnings of an ailment, better controlling research methods, or more clearly presenting results and implications.
ACR: What do you consider as an objective review?
Ms. Uyeno: An objective review is one that focuses on the fact and accuracy of the article, rather than irrelevant variables that may impact the article’s interpretation. I try to enforce objectivity in my reviews by hiding the name and affiliation of the author, as well as re-reading my suggestions for an article to reflect on whether any personal experiences are subjectively influencing my interpretation of the article.
ACR: Peer reviewing is often anonymous and non-profitable. What motivates you to do so?
Ms. Uyeno: I am motivated to continue participating in the peer-review process to “pay it forward”. I understand the time and effort that goes into conducting, writing and submitting a body of research. I want to continue supporting researchers and offering suggestions on how they can strengthen and progress their work. I am also incredibly appreciative of my mentors who graciously devoted their time to supporting my research ambitions. I am very grateful for all that I’ve learned from my mentors, Dr. Angela Lumba-Brown at Stanford University, Dr. Anne Hunt at University of Toronto, and Dr. Catherine Sanderson at Amherst College who furthered my understanding of concussion, pushed me to become a more diligent researcher, and are outstanding role models for women in science.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
