As a biomedical scientist, Dr. Doug Mahoney daily investigates how to learn from evolution to treat profound health issues. Using this as a foundation, he explores the provocative question of whether similar principles can be applied to solving bigger global problems. Dr. Mahoney is a translational scientist at Cumming School of Medicine in the University of Calgary with 20+ years of experience studying human health and disease.

Over the past 15 years, his research has made important contributions to the development of numerous cancer immunotherapies that have been commercialized and/or tested in human clinical trials. Currently his lab is focused on engineering “designer cells and viruses” to treat various forms of cancer in children, adolescents, and adults.

Dr. Mahoney is the founder and Scientific Director of a research initiative called ACTION (Alberta Cellular Therapy and Immune Oncology), which seeks to develop innovative next generation engineered immune cell therapies and deliver them to cancer patients in Alberta and beyond.

Outside the lab, Doug spends his time with his wife and three children, mostly enjoying the Alberta/BC wilderness. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx