Valerie Malyvanh Jansen, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist who brings over 10 years of experience in medicine and oncology drug development. Prior to joining Elevation Oncology, Valerie was Executive Medical Director at Mersana Therapeutics, serving as the medical lead for the clinical development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Prior to that, she was Senior Medical Advisor at Eli Lilly, where she led global translational science for abemaciclib and served as the lead Clinical Research Physician on early and late phase clinical trials. Through her scientific and clinical expertise, she impacted multiple early and late stage clinical programs as well as preclinical R&D and corporate business development.
Valerie started her career in academia as a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, with a translational research program focused on understanding mechanisms of resistance to cancer targeted therapies. She also cared for patients with breast cancer in the clinic, exemplifying the bench-to-bedside model. She co-authored numerous peer-reviewed research articles and received numerous awards for her research endeavors including a Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship, ASCO Young Investigator Award, AACR Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award, and SABCS Clinical Scholars Award.
Valerie received her MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and her PhD in Molecular Sciences from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Medical Oncology through the ABIM Physician-Scientist Research Pathway at Vanderbilt. Valerie is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.