Tuulia Vallius, MD, PhD

Dr. Vallius' publications

Education
Dr. Vallius received her degree of M.D. in University of Turku, Finland, in 2012. After graduation, she joined the MUPET research group (Epithelial Ovarian Cancer- staging and response to chemotherapy evaluated by PET/CT (MUPET), PI professor, emerita Seija Grenman, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Finland) in 2013. Her dissertation study focused on the use of the novel clinical biomarkers in neoadjuvant treatment response evaluation in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. In January 2018, she defended her thesis entitled “Novel Predictors of Response and Outcome in Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer”, supervised by Dr. Annika Auranen, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. Marko Seppanen, M.D., Ph. D. and Dr. Johanna Hynninen, M.D., Ph.D., opponent professor Claus Hoegdall, M.D., Ph.D. (University of Copenhagen, Denmark).

Besides research activities, Dr. Vallius has been working as a Resident in Clinical Oncology, at the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Turku University Hospital, Finland, since 2014, and is currently finishing her specialization under supervision of professor Heikki Minn.

Research Interests
In August 2019, Dr. Vallius started her postdoctoral training as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, under Dr. Peter Sorger, Ph.D. (Otto Krayer Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, Head of the Harvard Program in Therapeutic Sciences (HiTS) and Director of the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology), and is working in close collaboration with Breast Tumor Immunology Laboratory, under supervision of Drs. Mittendorf and Guerriero. Tuulia is currently working on profiling the breast cancer immune microenvironment with highly multiplexed immunofluorescence imaging (CyCIF), in order to study the resistance mechanisms for immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Interests Outside of Lab
Apart from research, Tuulia spends her leisure time with her husband Juha, and their two children Sofia (3 years) and Anton (4 months). In addition, she loves to get outdoors and explore the New England region. She enjoys running, hiking, cross-country skiing, orienteering, reading and playing the cello.