{"id":258133,"date":"2025-10-02T11:24:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=258133"},"modified":"2025-10-03T10:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T14:04:09","slug":"sph-professor-competes-on-two-episodes-of-jeopardy","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2025\/sph-professor-competes-on-two-episodes-of-jeopardy\/","title":{"rendered":"SPH Professor Competes on Two Episodes of Jeopardy!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-side-by-side has-media has-wider has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"551\" height=\"826\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2025\/10\/NEW-JEOP_S42-9400-air092625-Prasad_vertical.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"SPH Professor Competes on Two Episodes of Jeopardy!\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2025\/10\/NEW-JEOP_S42-9400-air092625-Prasad_vertical.jpg 551w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2025\/10\/NEW-JEOP_S42-9400-air092625-Prasad_vertical-424x636.jpg 424w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Prasad Patil, assistant professor of biostatistics at SPH, on the September 26 episode of <em>Jeopardy!<\/em>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">Featured<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>SPH Professor Competes on Two Episodes of <em>Jeopardy!<\/em><\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Prasad Patil appeared on the September 26 and September 29 episodes of the game show, earning more than $35,000 in winnings.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar js-block-editorial-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">October 2, 2025<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Known as the \u201cFather of Microbiology,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pasteur.fr\/en\/institut-pasteur\/history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Louis Pasteur<\/a> paved the way for modern medicine and public health, with groundbreaking discoveries of the pasteurization process, the rabies vaccine, and the principles behind disease spread.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as the answer to the final clue on a recent episode of <em>Jeopardy!<\/em>, Pasteur\u2014albeit indirectly and posthumously\u2014helped pave the way for one School of Public Health professor to become a <em>Jeopardy!<\/em> champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/prasad-patil\/\">Prasad Patil<\/a>, assistant professor of biostatistics, fulfilled a years-long goal when he was selected to be a contestant on the nightly game show that has aired since 1964 and is currently hosted by Ken Jennings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Appearing in the Friday, September 26 episode, Patil leapt to first place in the final moments of the game after correctly naming Pasteur as the answer to the <em>Final Jeopardy!<\/em> clue \u201cJoseph Lister said there was not an individual to whom medical science owes more than to than this man, feted at the Sorbonne in 1892.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy mom is a big fan of the show, so I grew up watching it,\u201d Patil says. \u201cI\u2019ve always been good at retaining information, so I thought I would try out for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He raked in $35,600 in winnings and the chance to compete in a second game. Unfortunately, his <em>Jeopardy!<\/em> run ended when he fell to second place during the Monday, September 29 episode, after leading significantly for most of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"responsive-video responsive-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Scientists | Final Jeopardy! | JEOPARDY!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EEo8adjzRrM?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Prasad Patil, assistant professor of biostatistics, competes on the Friday, September 26 episode of&nbsp;<em>Jeopardy!&nbsp;<\/em>After earning the most money across categories related to TV shows, alliteration, archaeologist&#8217;s glossary, and more, he won the game, but came in second place in the following episode on Monday, September 29.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Earning a spot on the show is a feat in itself. The selection process involves multiple rounds of qualifications, including individual and proctored tests on the <em>Jeopardy! <\/em>website, followed by a Zoom audition, before advancing to a pool of potential contestants who the show can call on anytime within a two-year window to compete on set. After completing this process three times over the last seven years, Patil was officially selected last spring to participate in a live studio taping, which took place in August in Los Angeles, where <em>Jeopardy!<\/em> is based.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He says participating in the show was an unforgettable experience that felt surreal when he watched the episodes air on television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was very cool to be on the show, but also weird to watch myself on TV,\u201d says Patil. With limited editing and short breaks only for commercials, the format is as fast-paced during the taping as it is for the viewers at home, but he says he managed to perform well under pressure. \u201cWhen I watched the episodes on TV, there were actually a couple of answers that I didn\u2019t know\u2014but on the show, I buzzed in and got them correct. Somehow I knew them at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since joining SPH in 2019, Patil has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2021\/professor-student-named-hariri-institute-of-computing-fellows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">studied<\/a> machine learning applications and statistical methods focused on improving the generalizability of predictive models, with research interests in tuberculosis, air pollution exposure through airplane activity, and opioid overdoses among incarcerated populations. He\u2019s well versed in health, science, and math, as well as movies, TV shows, pop culture, and sports, but when he found out he was going to be a contestant, he brushed up on other topics, including art history and geography.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By sheer coincidence, all three participants on the September 26 episode worked in the medical or health science fields, making the <em>Final Jeopardy!<\/em> clue about Pasteur even more fitting (the final clue in the September 29 episode focused on medieval names).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patil says the most important preparation for the show was not about broadening knowledge base, but about improving his reaction time with the buzzer and learning how to develop betting strategies for the game\u2019s <em>Daily Double<\/em> and <em>Final Jeopardy!<\/em> segments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEveryone who plays on <em>Jeopardy!<\/em> is brilliant, so the key to winning the game is learning how to buzz in fast enough when you have an answer, which you can practice with online tools and digital USB buzzers that mimic the actual device.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another highlight of this experience, he says, is the congratulatory emails, texts, and calls he\u2019s received from friends and colleagues from different phases of his life, as well as people he\u2019s never met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI even had a high school student email me and say they were interested in learning more about my research,\u201d Patil says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Final score: a win for Patil and for public health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Known as the \u201cFather of Microbiology,\u201d Louis Pasteur paved the way for modern medicine and public health, with groundbreaking discoveries of the pasteurization process, the rabies vaccine, and the principles behind disease spread.&nbsp; And as the answer to the final clue on a recent episode of Jeopardy!, Pasteur\u2014albeit indirectly and posthumously\u2014helped pave the way for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":258156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[1986],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3521,3531],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[3299],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/258133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258133"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/258133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258214,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/258133\/revisions\/258214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258133"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=258133"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=258133"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=258133"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=258133"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=258133"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=258133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}