Valerie Vanhooren

Valerie co-founded ONA Therapeutics, where she serves as CEO. She has held previous positions as R&D Director at ProteoDesign (a spin-off from Princeton University, developing biologics within the immuno-oncology space) and Ablynx (acquired by Sanofi), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies® (proprietary therapeutic proteins). At Ablynx, she led drug development projects from early stage discovery till clinical trials in collaboration with big pharma (Merck, Abbvie etc.). Valerie is Doctor in Science by the University of Ghent, Belgium, and carried out postdoctoral studies at the VIB-Ghent University. She has extensive expertise in immuno-oncology, inflammation and aging research and has published widely in these fields.