Health Scientist Administrator
Dr. Melissa Green Parker joined the ODP as a Health Scientist Administrator in June 2020. In this role, Dr. Green Parker provides leadership to trans-NIH Scientific Interest Groups, as well as develops, coordinates, and facilitates partnerships and collaborative projects within prevention research across NIH, and beyond with external stakeholders. She also provides scientific leadership and guidance for the ODP’s Pathways to Prevention workshops.
Before joining the ODP, Dr. Green Parker was a Program Director for the Health Inequities and Global Health Branch within the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). In this capacity, she led various efforts to develop new scientific initiatives in community-based implementation science that address health inequities for heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders and diseases, including the Disparities Elimination through Coordinated Interventions to Prevent and Control Heart and Lung Disease Risk initiative (DECIPHeR), which aims to eliminate disparities in heart and lung disease risk though coordinated interventions. She also applied her expertise to advance training and mentoring activities for the next generation of investigators who develop and deliver evidence-based strategies to improve overall health and prevent disease.
Prior to the NHLBI, Dr. Green Parker was a Health Sciences Program Manager for the Department of Defense (Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs), and led two programs—the Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program, and the Military Burn Research Program. With annual program budgets totaling approximately $40 million, she supported aggressive efforts to fund innovative research projects that produced outcomes relevant to the health care needs of U.S. Service member and Veteran populations. Prior to embarking on a career of biomedical research management, she spent several years as an effective leader of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and training. As the Science and Technology Division Director for the United Negro College Fund Special Programs (UNCFSP) Corporation, she and her team members excelled at executing government-funded programs aimed at recruiting and retaining talent from scholars who are traditionally under-represented in the STEM workforce.
Dr. Green Parker received a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis, IN) and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC).