Vanessa Morales-Tirado, PhD
Vanessa Morales-Tirado, PhD, is an enthusiastic and driven immunologist with over 15 years of experience spanning academic and pharmaceutical research. She currently serves as a Principal Research Scientist at AbbVie Bioresearch Center, where she focuses on dermatological diseases, applying her immunology expertise to drug discovery, mechanistic studies, and translational research for small molecules and multispecifics. In addition to her research, Vanessa leads scientific and technical external partnerships in dermatology, leveraging her combined industry and academic experience to support strategic collaborations and specimen procurement for pre-clinical and translational studies.
Born and raised in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Vanessa is the first in her family to earn a doctoral degree. Passionate about equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EED&I), she has championed safe and supportive environments in the workplace, co-leading AbbVie’s Hispanic/Latino ERG chapter and initiatives to promote recognition and advancement of underrepresented minorities. She inspires her colleagues to be authentic, resilient and to be the best they can be.
Vanessa completed a M.S. degree in Virology and Vaccine Development under the supervision of Dr. Robert Rose, pioneer of using virus-like particles in vaccine development, at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. She continued her graduate studies and completed a M.S./Ph.D. Program in Immunology with strong emphasis in primary immunodeficiencies under the mentorship of Dr. Deborah Fowell, a leader in spatiotemporal regulation of T cell immunity at tissue sites of infection and inflammation. Her Ph.D. research on the Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein (WASp) revealed critical mechanisms in T cell polarization and Th2 differentiation. Her graduate work took her to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she completed two fellowships: first, in Human Immunology and secondly, in Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, in Dr. Janice Riberdy's and Dr. Asha Pillai's Labs, respectively. Her postdoctoral work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital provided a unique opportunity to do research and to develop novel treatment options for pediatric immunodeficiencies and malignancies. At St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Vanessa made key discoveries in regulatory T cell biology and immune modulation.
Vanessa transitioned into a faculty position at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, leading the Ocular Immunology and Oncology Translational Research Unit. Her laboratory focused on Ocular Melanoma and Retinoblastoma, covering the two most common intraocular malignancies in adults and children, respectively. She focused on immunomodulation of the tumor microenvironment for the identification of novel drug targets and was part of the team of investigators in several Clinical Studies. Vanessa's academic career was very fruitful, producing over 25 peer-reviewed publications, a patent, and presenting at national and international conferences.
After a career in Academia, Vanessa transitioned to AbbVie over seven years ago. Vanessa and her team apply their immunology background for the expansion of the Discovery Dermatology portfolio to understand the pathobiology of dermatological diseases, including Atopic Dermatitis, and Hidradenitis Suppurativa, to generate transformative therapies. She leads internal initiatives and participates actively in external collaborations. Here, she combines her love for research, mentoring, and her passion of helping improve people's quality of life.
• University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez - BS
• University of Rochester - MS
• University of Rochester - PhD
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Post Doctoral
• Alcon Research Institute Young Investigator Award - 2015
• Gerwin Fellow Award - 2015
• The American Association of Immunologist Minority Scientist Travel Award - 2007
• Melville A. Hare Award for excellence in Teaching Assistance in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology - 2004
• American Association of Immunologists (AAI)
• Society for Investigative Dermatology
• Education and Skill-sharing initiatives by mentoring college students for grad school applications, AbbVie's mentoring program; community support at The Mustard Seed soup kitchen.
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to several factors. At the personal level I am resilient with a strong mindset. I am driven and work hard and focus on my core values. Professionally, I am fortunate to have a group of mentors who helped me focusing on drug targeting specifics, clinical trials, and gaining business acumen to better understand the different areas of our organization. Working on ambitious and challenging projects, without forgetting that this is to transform patients' lives, has allowed me to make a meaningful impact in the field. Equally important to my professional growth is helping people and being an advocate for those who need it. Mentorship, advocacy, and creating opportunities for others have been central to my journey and continue to drive my dedication every day.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was to take ownership of your career, be your own advocate. How can I do this? To accomplish this you need to cultivate a strong and supportive network of mentors, embrace learning and also discomforts, as it is important to grow outside of your comfort zone. Build and earn trust, people like to work with those who they trust. Listen to others' opinions, be empathetic and remember that diversity brings creativity and innovation.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering the industry is to develop resilience to overcome challenges, be passionate, build self-confidence, and maintain a healthy work life balance. You will make mistakes, there will be bumps on the road, learn from failures and do not take criticism personally. You are far more capable than you think, so trust yourself and stand your ground.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There are many challenges and opportunities in the research field. Researchers are facing pressure to publish, securing funding, work overload. Additionally, I consider managing a work-life balance and overcoming imposter syndrome among the top challenges. From the scientific standpoint we are generating today the drugs of tomorrow. Science and technology are always evolving, you need to adopt new technologies, which come with their own set of challenges, for instance AI. Rapid technological advances do not correlate with evolving regulations, research and development costs and operational complexities to name a few. Nowadays there are more opportunities to build strategic partnerships between larger pharma companies with smaller biotech and academic centers. We have the opportunity to drive the transformation of technological innovations, accelerating drug discovery, enabling more personalized therapies and new therapeutic modalities that we could not see happening a decade ago. The use of AI and complex algorithms allow use to analyze real world data and molecular information accelerating drug repurposing and faster drug discoveries. Collectively, these are creating key opportunities to develop more medicines and reach out to more patients.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Helping others and improving people's lives is a core value to me, guiding me and part of the Why? in my life. I highly value honesty, integrity, accountability, respect, empathy, adaptability, drive, and teamwork at work, as these provide a positive, collaborative, inspiring, and supportive work environment. However, these are not limited to the work environment, as these are values for personal growth too.