Dr. Melissa Green Parker

Dr. Melissa C. Green Parker is an accomplished public health professional who currently works for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a Scientific Advisor within its Office of Disease Prevention (ODP). In this capacity, she provides critical leadership to two NIH-wide research initiatives that address unmet prevention research needs, the Prevention Scientific Interest Groups (SIGs) and ODP’s signature Pathways to Prevention (P2P) Program. Prior to joining the ODP, Dr. Green Parker spent years excelling as a leader in various capacities, including Program Director in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Health Sciences Program Manager for the Department of Defense (DoD), and Division Director at the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation.

In the late 1990’s, the Silver Spring, Maryland native earned her Ph.D. from the Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis, IN) and became the school’s first African American student to receive
a doctorate from its Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department. The tenacity and motivation to pursue her doctorate was borne through her interactions with HBCU faculty, staff, and students at her esteemed alma mater, Claflin College (now, Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC). As a result of Claflin’s professors and administrators taking a sincere interest in both her educational and personal growth, she graduated summa cum laude from Claflin as the valedictorian of her class with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry.