Vanessa Almendro Navarro, Ph.D., M.B.A.

[email protected]
Vanessa Almendro Navarro, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Chief Commercialization Officer

Vanessa Almendro Navarro, Ph.D., M.B.A., is the chief commercialization officer at City of Hope®, where she leads enterprise-wide efforts to translate research breakthroughs into impactful patient solutions. A seasoned life sciences executive, she operates at the intersection of innovation, artificial intelligence-enabled research, development and commercialization. Her expertise spans innovation strategy, venture origination, IP strategy, translational development, partnerships and business development and capability building in diagnostics and therapeutics. She also serves on the boards of the Brain Tumor Investment Fund and MIT Sandbox and is a member of the ARM CEO Advisory Council, the Termeer Institute and the Harvard Initiative for mRNA Medicine.

Prior to joining City of Hope, she was vice president and head of science and technology innovation at Danaher Corporation, where she led innovation strategies and modernized operating models across a global portfolio of operating companies. She launched and scaled the Danaher Beacon program in collaboration with leading academic partners, launched the Danaher Nexus intrapreneurship program, established the Danaher Antibody Capability Center and created the Danaher Summits to accelerate domain knowledge exchange.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Almendro Navarro co-founded and led the Brain Tumor Investment Fund and held senior leadership roles, including head of strategy and external innovation at Eisai and head of strategy and operations at Repertoire Immune Medicines, in addition to scientific and commercial positions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in her career, she was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and an Executive M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Education & Experience

Degrees

  • 2019, Executive M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
  • 2004, Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Barcelona, Spain
  • 2000, Master of Science, Biology and Genetics, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

Fellowship

  • 2014, Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Awards & Memberships

Awards

  • 2014, Technology Hunters Innovative Award, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
  • 2015, VOICE Winner, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
  • 2017, Women in Leadership Award, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management

Publications

  • Stevens LE, Peluffo G, Qiu X, Temko D, Fassl A, Li Z, Trinh A, Seehawer M, Jovanović B, Alečković M, Wilde CM, Geck RC, Shu S, Kingston NL, Harper NW, Almendro V, Pyke AL, Egri SB, Papanastasiou M, Clement K, Zhou N, Walker S, Salas J, Park SY, Frank DA, Meissner A, Jaffe JD, Sicinski P, Toker A, Michor F, Long HW, Overmoyer BA, Polyak K. JAK-STAT Signaling in Inflammatory Breast Cancer Enables Chemotherapy-Resistant Cell States. Cancer Res. (2023) 18;83(2):264-284.
  • Fernández-Nogueira P, Mancino M, Fuster G, López-Plana A, Jauregui P, Almendro V, Enreig E, Menéndez S, Rojo F, Noguera-Castells A, Bill A, Gaither LA, Serrano L, Recalde-Percaz L, Moragas N, Alonso R, Ametller E, Rovira A, Lluch A, Albanell J, Gascon P, Bragado P. Tumor-Associated Fibroblasts Promote HER2-Targeted Therapy Resistance through FGFR2 Activation. Clin Cancer Res. (2020) 15;26(6):1432-1448
  • Rye IH, Trinh A, Saetersdal AB, Nebdal D, Lingjaerde OC, Almendro V, Polyak K, Børresen-Dale AL, Helland Å, Markowetz F, Russnes HG. Intra-tumor heterogeneity defines treatment-resistant HER2+ breast tumors. Mol Oncol. (2018) 12(11):1838-1855
  • Zubeldia-Plazaola A, Recalde-Percaz L, Moragas N, Alcaraz M, Chen X, Mancino M, Fernández-Nogueira P, Prats de Puig M, Guzman F, Noguera-Castells A, López-Plana A, Enreig E, Carbó N, Almendro V, Gascón P, Bragado P, Fuster G. Glucocorticoids promote transition of ductal carcinoma in situ to invasive ductal carcinoma by inducing myoepithelial cell apoptosis. Breast Cancer Res. (2018) 20(1):65.
  • Fernández-Nogueira P, Noguera-Castells A, Fuster G, Recalde-Percaz L, Moragas N, López-Plana A, Enreig E, Jauregui P, Carbó N, Almendro V, Gascón P, Bragado P, Mancino M. Histamine receptor 1 inhibition enhances antitumor therapeutic responses through extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation in breast cancer. Cancer Lett. (2018) 424:70-83.
  • Huh SJ, Oh H, Peterson MA, Almendro V, Hu R, Bowden M, Lis RL, Cotter MB, Loda M, Barry WT, Polyak K, Tamimi RM. The Proliferative Activity of Mammary Epithelial Cells in Normal Tissue Predicts Breast Cancer Risk in Premenopausal Women. Cancer Res.(2016) 76(7):1926-34.
  • Fernández-Nogueira P, Bragado P, Almendro V, Ametller E, Rios J, Choudhury S, Mancino M, Gascón P. Differential expression of neurogenes among breast cancer subtypes identifies high risk patients. Oncotarget. (2016) 7(5):5313-26.
  • Janiszewska M, Liu L, Almendro V, Kuang Y, Paweletz C, Sakr RA, Weigelt B, Hanker AB, Chandarlapaty S, King TA, Reis-Filho JS, Arteaga CL, Park SY, Michor F, Polyak K In situ single-cell analysis identifies heterogeneity for PIK3CA mutation and HER2 amplification in HER2-positive breast cancer. Nat Genet. (2015) 47(10):1212-9.
  • Garcia-Recio S, Pastor-Arroyo EM, Marín-Aguilera M, Almendro V, Gascón P. The Transmodulation of HER2 and EGFR by Substance P in Breast Cancer Cells Requires c-Src and Metalloproteinase Activation. PLoS One. (2015) 10(6):e0129661.
  • Zubeldia-Plazaola A, Ametller E, Mancino M, Prats de Puig M, López-Plana A, Guzman F, Vinyals L, Pastor-Arroyo EM, Almendro V, Fuster G, Gascón P. Comparison of methods for the isolation of human breast epithelial and myoepithelial cells. Front Cell Dev Biol. (2015) May 21;3:32.