Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, is the Milan Gambhir Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology and the Chambers-Okamura Endowed Director for Pediatric Neuro-Immuno-Oncology at Stanford University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Her research program focuses at the intersection of neuroscience, immunology and brain cancer biology with an emphasis on childhood gliomas. In addition to her fundamental neuroscience work on brain development and plasticity, she is widely credited for pioneering the field of Cancer Neuroscience. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the 2023 Paul Marks Prize, 2023 Richard Lounsbery Award, 2024 Ross Prize, 2025 Brain Prize, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine.
Why is brain cancer so hard to treat?
A pioneer of cancer neuroscience explains how brain cancer develops, the role of the nervous system, and what might lead to new treatments.