Mark my words

Clinical trial results have sparked real excitement about the potential of mRNA) vaccines to revolutionize cancer treatment – even in cancers that resist conventional therapies. Will these personalized vaccines be a gamechanger in cancer care? We sit down with Professor Thomas Duchaine and Dr. Ramy Saleh to talk about how mRNA cancer vaccines differ from existing cancer treatments, when they might become available to the wider public, and the leading research role that McGill University plays in this field.

Featuring: 

Thomas Duchaine
Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University  Full member, Goodman Cancer Institute

Dr. Ramy Saleh, MedResident’18, MSc’20
Medical Director of Oncology Clinical Trials, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

Recommendations: 

Want to dig deeper? Here are a few suggestions from our guests:

Follow the media coverage of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress being held in Madrid from October 23-27, 2026.

Breaking Through: My Life in Science by Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó 
To stream previous episodes and learn more about McGill, visit the McGill News website: https://mcgillnews.mcgill.ca/tag/podcasts/?utm_source=apple-spotify-pocketcasts&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=mark-my-words&utm_content=s2-e3-cancer-podcast

The hallmarks of liberal democracy are in decline as autocrats gain popularity and power. How did this happen – and what can we do about it? We sit down with Gerald Butts and Prof. Dietlind Stolle to talk about the biggest threats to democracy today and how we can defend against them. 
Featuring: 
Gerald Butts, BA’93, MA’96, Chairman, Eurasia Group 
Dietlind Stolle , James McGill Professor of Political Science at McGill University  
 
Recommendations: 
Want to dig deeper? We asked our guests to recommend some of their favourite resources on this topic. 

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder 
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt 
The Lives of Others dir. by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt  
Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know by Erica Chenoweth

To stream previous episodes and learn more about McGill, visit the McGill News website.

As sustainability challenges grow more complex and urgent, who will lead the search for solutions? In our season opener, we explore why meaningful progress requires collaboration across sectors, and how the future McGill Sustainability Park is poised to help lead the way.

Featuring:
Grégoire Baillargeon, BCL/ LLB’98, President, BMO Quebec
Rees Kassen, PhD’01, Academic Director, McGill Sustainability Park

Recommended Reading: Want to dig deeper? We asked our guests to recommend some of their favourite resources on this topic:
Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now_ by John Doerr
Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet_ by Hannah Ritchie
What We Owe the Future_ by William MacAskill
The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future_ by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway

To stream previous episodes and learn more about McGill, visit the McGill News website.

Health policy expert Amélie Quésnel-Vallée explains why health care in Canada feels like it is eroding, how we can make it more accessible and equitable, and why we should still be proud of our national health care system despite its challenges.

Political Science professor Catherine Lu explores how we might reimagine foundational concepts such as freedom, human rights and global justice in an era marked by deepening political polarization and global unrest.