Monique Verhaegen is currently a Research Investigator in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She received her
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Biochemistry, as well as her Master of Science (M.Sc) in Clinical Chemistry and her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Biochemistry from the University of Windsor in Windsor Canada. She originally joined the University of Michigan in 2002 as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. James Mule in the Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program of the Surgery Department. Upon his departure in 2003, she joined the Melanoma Program in the Department of Dermatology where she studied melanoma chemoresistance in the laboratory of Dr. Maria S. Soengas and was promoted to Research Investigator in 2007
Dr. Verhaegen now carries out research in the laboratory of Dr. Andrzej Dlugosz, where she focuses on understanding signaling pathways involved in the development and maintenance of skin cancers. A key research area she investigates is the interplay between the Hedgehog and Wnt embryonic signaling pathways in skin tumor development and maintenance, as well as growth and regeneration of hair follicles. Additionally, Dr. Verhaegen is developing a comprehensive research program focusing on the pathogenesis of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare but aggressive skin cancer now linked to a novel polyomavirus.
