Monique Armelle Dacanay

Monique Armelle Zulueta Dacanay is a senior Cheatham-White Scholar at

North Carolina Central University, where she majors in Biomedical Sciences and minors

in Spanish. She serves as the president of the Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society, organizing

enrichment activities such as faculty research talks, tours of biopharma and medical schools, and a mentorship program with her team. Additionally, she

volunteers to tutor children in underserved communities and assists at a local primary and

urgent care practice.

She is the first recipient of the Michelle P. Winn Award at the Duke Molecular

Physiology Institute. She also recently participated in the Great Minds in

STEM Zone Competition, focused on root cause analysis, and secured 2nd place.

Moreover, she presented her research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference

for Minoritized Scientists, where she won in the Cancer Biology category.

Monique has conducted research with the ASSIST Program at NC State, the MIT Summer

Research Program, the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical and Biotechnology Research

Institute, the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Vanderbilt Medical

Center. She is passionate about helping people from diverse backgrounds by developing

new ways to more effectively diagnose and treat cancer to reduce health

disparities. Inspired by her mother's struggle with cancer, she plans to pursue

surgical oncology in medical school.