Dr. Adeel Khan’s journey into regenerative medicine started with a question: What other options exist when it comes to health care? Watching his mother navigate chronic illness, he saw first-hand the limits of conventional approaches. “The medical system could only offer so much,” he says from Dubai, where he’s expanding his groundbreaking practice.
“I was always curious about what else was out there.”

That curiosity evolved into a career spent pioneering non-invasive therapies that aim to heal the body at its core. As a specialist in regenerative medicine and a graduate of the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine, Dr. Khan is revolutionizing how we think about personal health—transforming perceptions of longevity, well-being and vitality along the way. His clients range from elite athletes and ultra-high-net-worth individuals to veterans struggling with trauma and patients suffering from chronic disease.

Under his company, Eterna Health, he has already established clinics in Los Cabos, Mexico and Dubai, and recently brought his expertise to Mississauga, where he believes that increasing access to these treatments could play a crucial role in easing strain on the nation’s overburdened health care system.

The culprit? Outdated regulatory frameworks limiting access to regenerative treatments. “Canada has been one of the leaders in research, but real-world applications are restricted by regulations,” he explains. “We’re at a point where regenerative medicine can transform health care, but we need policies that allow it to scale.”

At its core, regenerative medicine challenges the traditional health care model by addressing the root causes of disease— cell dysfunction and aging—rather than just treating symptoms. “Instead of cutting something out or prescribing drugs to suppress symptoms, regenerative medicine is about giving the body the right tools, signals or environment to heal itself,” Dr. Khan says. This approach integrates cell therapy, gene editing and tissue engineering to repair damaged tissues and reverse disease progression.

It’s a field still in its infancy. “Wellness tourism” has ballooned into an industry that earns US$651 billion annually, and according to a 2023 market analysis by the San Francisco–based market research and consulting agency Grand View Research, the global regenerative medicine market was valued at at least US$14.5 billion in 2022. According to the World Health Organization, in 2015, people over the age of 60 made up 12 per cent of the population, and by 2050, that number will rise to 22 per cent. With an aging global population and rising rates of chronic disease, the demand for innovative medical solutions is only growing.

One of the most promising areas of regenerative medicine is stem cell therapy. “Very simply, stem cells are the body’s repair guys,” Dr. Khan says. “They regenerate tissue, repair damage and even turn into different types of cells as needed. But as we age, our bodies have fewer of them, and they don’t work as well.” The idea behind stem cell therapy is intuitive—if the body
has more stem cells, it should heal more effectively. But the real-world application is far more complex. “In a petri dish, they behave one way, but inside the body, it’s different. The challenge is getting them to behave the way we want.”

Stem cell research began in the 1960s when Canadian scientists Dr. James Till and Ernest McCulloch discovered the regenerative potential of bone marrow cells, a breakthrough
that laid the foundation for using stem cells to treat blood disorders. In 2016, advances in scientific knowledge about the similarities between embryonic cells and pluripotent cells—which are a particular category of cell that can be reprogrammed to develop into any cell
type in the body—further revolutionized the field, reducing ethical concerns and expanding therapeutic potential. Today, stem cell research continues to push the boundaries of medicine, offering hope for conditions once thought incurable.

The potential of regenerative medicine is already evident in Dr. Khan’s work. “We’ve
treated patients who were completely disabled—people with long COVID who couldn’t function, who were basically bedridden. These treatments gave them their life back.”

One of his most popular procedures involves the vagus nerve, a crucial pathway linking the brain to major organs. In this treatment, Dr. Khan injects exosomes, tiny “packages” containing genetic material, lipids, proteins and growth factors that can speed up healing and reduce inflammation, and peptides, strings of amino acids that can also have anti inflammatory benefits, directly into the nerve, which is located close to the carotid artery. The treatment, he says, can help regulate both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. “A dysregulated nervous system is at the root of many chronic diseases, from
obesity to mental health conditions,” he says. “We’ve seen veterans in Canada, people who were suicidal and had no hope, experience an instant change after treatment. Their whole nervous system resets. It’s profound.”

For Dr. Khan, these moments underscore the urgency of making regenerative
medicine more widely available. “People have lost hope in traditional health care.
We need to accept we have a health-care crisis and act now.”

Dr. Khan believes Canada is falling behind in integrating regenerative medicine. Our health care system is known for its universal access, but when it comes to cutting-edge treatments, regulation has become a roadblock. The regulatory framework is particularly restrictive when it comes to stem cells. In contrast, Japan has pioneered an expedited approval process for regenerative treatments, allowing new therapies to reach patients faster. According to research by the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, a Toronto-based
non-profit, Canada’s restrictive policies have hindered investment in the sector

“We need to rethink how we regulate regenerative medicine. Many countries are
moving faster on approvals, which means Canadians who need these treatments are
forced to go elsewhere. Right now, stem cell treatments will take another 10 to 20 years before they’re accessible and affordable in Canada,” Dr. Khan says. “But insurance companies will eventually see the benefits— it reduces health care costs long-term.”

Despite these regulatory hurdles, progress is happening fast. “We’re moving toward standardized cell therapy—where you have specific cell lines for specific conditions,” he says. “Imagine a cell therapy that works incredibly well for diabetes or Alzheimer’s. That’s the future.”

Speaking with Dr. Khan, it’s clear he believes this future isn’t just about breakthroughs in the lab—it’s about ensuring those breakthroughs reach the people who need them. Canada has long been a leader in medical research, but staying at the forefront will require modernizing regulations, embracing regenerative therapies and allowing innovation to thrive.

The promise of longevity has never been more alluring—or more scrutinized. In an era defined by aging populations, rising health care costs and increasing disparities in access to care, the appeal of regenerative medicine lies not just in extending lifespan but in improving the overall quality of life. If Canada takes that approach, the next era of medicine could be one where chronic disease, injury and aging-related decline are no longer seen as inevitable, but as problems we have the tools to fix.

“Where we are in regenerative medicine today is where Tesla was in 2010,” Dr. Khan says. “People were skeptical, but over the next decade, we’ll see a major shift from fragmented medicine to systems biology, where we’re treating underlying causes rather than just managing conditions.”