Kristen M. Hege MD

Dr. Kristen M. Hege, M.D., has been Medical Lead for Translational Development at Celgene Corporation since 2010 and serves as its as Corporate Vice President. Dr. Hege is responsible for early phase development of its significant oncology and hematology pipeline at Celgene Corporation. Dr. Hege has more than two decades of oncology clinical leadership experience to Mersana’s board. She is also a critical member of Celgene’s business development efforts and serves as a key interface on multiple partnerships. She is also a professor of Hematology/Oncology and an attending physician at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She served as an Acting Chief Medical Officer of Theraclone Sciences, Inc. since March 2009.

Dr. Hege served as Vice President of Clinical Research at Cell Genesys, Inc. from July 2004 to October 30, 2008. She joined Cell Genesys in January 1994 as a medical post-doctoral research fellow, working on preclinical studies of hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Hege served as a Senior Medical Advisor to development-stage biotech companies including Aragon and Theraclone. A pioneer in immuno-oncology, she began her career at Cell Genesys Inc. where she spent 14 years in various roles of increasing responsibility. For eight years, she worked in the clinical research department and served as Senior Director of Clinical Research.

She has been Director of Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. since August 2016. She served a clinical faculty appointment at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) since 1997 in the adult leukemia and bone marrow transplant program. Dr. Hege is board-certified in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology. She was also a visiting bone marrow transplant fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Hege received a B.A. in biochemistry from Dartmouth College, an M.D. from UCSF.