NGBi Podcasts

NGBideas S4.E3 - Dr. Kullervo Hynynen

NGBi Podcasts

Show Notes

Dr. Kullervo Hynynen is Vice President of Research and Innovation at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and a global leader in focused ultrasound technology. His decades of work have helped transform how the medical community approaches treatment for some of the most challenging neurological and oncological conditions. Join host Jim Wilson as he speaks with Dr. Hynynen about his remarkable journey that began on a small farm in rural Finland and lead to one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of neuroscience. What started as a rejected NIH grant proposal became the foundation for a technology that can now open the blood-brain barrier non-invasively, potentially unlocking treatment for conditions like Alzheimer's and brain cancer. Kullervo also reflects on the personal losses that shaped his commitment to cancer research, and how a series of serendipitous career decisions, from Aberdeen to Arizona to Boston to Toronto, brought him to Sunnybrook. This conversation covers the stubbornness required to push through years of failed experiments, the challenge of commercializing science in Canada, and why Kullervo believes the next frontier is a focused ultrasound helmet that patients could one day use at home.

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