Milan Gambhir Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
Professor, by Courtesy, of Neurosurgery, of Pediatrics, Pathology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University
Dr. Michelle Monje received her M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford and completed her residency training in neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School Partners program. She then returned to Stanford for a clinical fellowship in pediatric neuro-oncology. Her research program focuses at the intersection of neuroscience, immunology and brain cancer biology with an emphasis on neuron-glial interactions in health and oncological disease.
The Monje lab studies how neuronal activity regulates healthy glial precursor cell proliferation, new oligodendrocyte generation, and adaptive myelination; this plasticity of myelin contributes to healthy cognitive function, while disruption of myelin plasticity contributes to cognitive impairment in disease states like cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment. Her lab discovered that neuronal activity similarly promotes the progression of malignant gliomas, driving glioma growth through both paracrine factors and through electrophysiologically functional neuron-to-glioma synapses. Dr. Monje has led several of her discoveries from basic molecular work to clinical trials. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Richard Lounsbery Award from the National Academy of Sciences and election to the National Academy of Medicine.
