Dewy van der Valk ’13 Works to Transform the Future of Heart Valve Replacement
SCIENCE | 3 MIN READ
By Kim Donaldson | Images by Dewy van der Valk
For Dewy van der Valk ’13, the path from ľϸӰ College Utrecht to a research lab in Eindhoven has been marked by a consistent goal: finding practical solutions to clinical problems. Now completing her PhD in biomedical engineering at Eindhoven ľϸӰ of Technology, van der Valk is part of a national research effort to develop heart valves that can grow and adapt within the body, offering an alternative to mechanical and biological valves currently used in surgery.
After UCU, van der Valk entered the highly selective SUMMA medical master’s program in Utrecht, where she focused on the intersection of clinical practice and medical technology. A thesis project in Boston introduced her to the role of calcification in cardiovascular disease. The topic continues to shape her research today.
At Eindhoven ľϸӰ of Technology, van der Valk is part of a collaborative project with Utrecht and Maastricht Universities focused on material tissue regeneration. The are produced using a biodegradable polymer scaffold designed to be implanted in the body and replaced over time by the patient’s own tissue. The approach could prove especially valuable for pediatric patients, who often face multiple surgeries as they outgrow implanted valves, and for patients in low-resource settings, where consistent access to anticoagulation therapy is limited.
In her own research, van der Valk investigates why some of these scaffolds develop calcified nodules once implanted. Her work regularly involves material science, cell culture, microscopy, and data analysis. “I like being involved in the entire process—from designing the experiment to analyzing the results and figuring out what they mean,” she says.
Van der Valk is now based in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and hopes to continue combining clinical practice with translational research. Whether through surgery, biomedical development, or startup work, she plans to remain focused on solutions that can make it into the clinic—and stay there.
The full conversation with Dewy van der Valk is now available on the After UCU podcast.
About Dewy
Dewy van der Valk is a medical doctor and PhD candidate in biomedical engineering based in the Netherlands. She combines clinical training in cardiothoracic surgery at Leiden UMC with cutting-edge research on tissue-engineered heart valves at Eindhoven ľϸӰ of Technology and Harvard-affiliated cardiovascular centers. Her work focuses on mechanobiology and biomaterials science—developing and analyzing 3D-bioprinted models, hydrogels, and electrospun scaffolds to study calcification and regeneration in aortic and pulmonary valves. Highlights include a high-impact meta-analysis on calcification rates in pulmonary valve tissue engineering and 3D-printed valve models mimicking human valve biomechanics