Bently Doonan, M.D., M.S.

Bently Doonan, M.D., M.S., is a Senior Associate Consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. Dr. Doonan specializes in the treatment of advanced cutaneous malignancies with a focus on the design, development, and application of novel immunotherapies for advanced skin cancers. He is a talented physician scientist who has been researching how to apply immunotherapy for melanoma and advanced cancers since 2008. His research focus is taking discoveries made at the bench top and developing them first in human clinical trials and aims to advance the translation of Mayo discoveries into therapies for our patients. His clinical and research interests focus on melanoma, immunotherapy development and design, brain metastases and identification of microenvironment targets to induce an immunogenic response in advanced metastatic disease.

Dr. Doonan received both his Master of Biomedical Sciences in cancer immunology, and his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Following medical school, he completed an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Florida and stayed on as faculty as an Assistant Professor in Medicine. During his time at UF, he took on multiple leadership roles, including chief resident of internal medicine, research leader for the cutaneous disease site group, Assistant Director for Translational Research for the UF Health Cancer Center, and Vice Chair of the Scientific Review and Monitoring Committee.

As a physician, his goal is to improve the lives of patients with advanced skin cancer and brain metastases through novel treatment approaches using immunotherapy to minimize toxicity and maximize potential benefits. He is also passionate about cancer research and actively designs and develops clinical trials for patients with unmet needs in cancer.