Monique Armelle Dacanay

Monique Armelle Zulueta Dacanay is a third-year Cheatham-White Scholar at North Carolina Central University, majoring in Biomedical Sciences and minoring in Spanish. She is the president of Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society where she and her team organize enrichment opportunities including research faculty talks, biopharma company and medical school tours, and a mentorship program between upperclassmen and their younger peers. In addition, she volunteers to tutor underserved children with math and English.

She is the Inaugural Michelle P. Winn Award Recipient at Duke Molecular Physiology Institute, where she conducts research in the Olabisi lab on APOL1 Mediated Kidney disease. This past semester, she received a travel award to the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS)for her research on the role of EphA2 in the PDAC Mesenchymal Phenotype. In the past, she has done research with the Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) Young Scholars Program at NC State, the MIT Summer Research Program, the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Institute, and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Monique has passion for helping people of all backgrounds by finding new methods to more effectively diagnose and treat cancer to lessen health disparities. Inspired by her mother’s battle with cancer, she intends to pursue surgical oncology in medical school.