Melissa Glim

Melissa Glim, M.P.H., is a science writer and healthcare communications professional working with NIH’s Intramural Research Program to promote the innovative research being done at the NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers and the scientists who are making it happen. Melissa has written about topics from Alzheimer’s disease to women’s health, covering basic science to patient education to policy and advocacy.

She supports a variety of clients from government, non-profit, and industry in strategic communications planning and implementation, coalition and partnership building, stakeholder education and outreach, and health and science writing and materials development. She has developed and led grassroots programs for Hadassah and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, spoken on stem cell research and cancer survivorship advocacy at numerous conferences, created a web-based advocacy training program, and contributed a chapter to the Oncology Nursing Society’s textbook, Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Personalized Care. Melissa has won three National Health Information awards for her articles. She received her Master of Public Health in Community Health Education from Hunter College School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Science in Science Communication from Cornell University.

In her spare time, Melissa loves making hats and jewelry, swing dancing, and writing the occasional children’s book, although most of the time, she’s waiting upon her beloved fox terrier, Tilly.

Posts By This Author

Decoding Cancer’s Genetic Blueprint

IRP’s Stephen Chanock Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Dr. Stephen Chanock

IRP senior investigator Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., grew up on the NIH campus, spending many weekends hanging around his father’s lab. Robert M. Chanock, M.D., worked at NIH for 50 years, during which he identified the human respiratory syncytial virus and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) for his discoveries. Now, following in his dad’s footsteps, the younger Dr. Chanock has been elected to the NAM for his contributions to our understanding of how inherited genetic variation and environmental factors contribute to the risk of developing cancer.

Targeting Tuberculosis

IRP’s Clifton Barry Seeks Novel Therapies for an Ancient Foe

Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day, a day to remember that a preventable and curable disease still kills more than a million people each year. Despite every effort to eradicate it, the disease-causing bug, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, keeps coming back stronger and more ready for a fight. As varieties of the bacteria grow more and more resistant to treatment, an evolutionary war is raging between the bacterium and researchers like IRP senior investigator Clifton Barry, Ph.D., who has been seeking solutions for the past 33 years.

Working Out the Chemistry of Exercise Endurance

IRP’s Paul Hwang Discovers How Muscle Cells Gear Up for Training

joggers

As the weather warms up in March, which is National Athletic Training Month, many of us come out of hibernation and finally fulfill that new year’s resolution to start exercising. Deep down in our cells, our mitochondria, the tiny power stations that turn oxygen into energy, start getting a workout, too.

IRP senior investigator Paul Hwang, M.D., Ph.D., studies how mitochondria and cellular energy production affect human health and disease, with a particular focus on cardiovascular health and cancer. However, March’s many new fitness enthusiasts might be most interested in a recent finding from his laboratory that seems to explain how muscles build endurance as we train them through exercise. His team’s insights also explain why muscles revert back to couch potato mode so quickly when we stop regular exercise. 

Unlocking the Genetic Mysteries of Rare Autoinflammatory Diseases

IRP Researcher Finds Explanations and Hope

child getting her cheek swabbed for DNA analysis

Rare Disease Day, celebrated on or near February 29 — the rarest day on the calendar — calls attention to the 300 million people in the world who have some sort of rare disease. For children born with one of those diseases, speedy diagnosis and treatment may be necessary to ward off long-term complications, but that’s much easier said than done. This is especially true for pediatric autoinflammatory diseases, in which the immune system attacks the child’s own body. IRP senior investigator Raphaela T. Goldbach-Mansky, M.D., M.H.S., has made it her mission to discover and define these diseases and the genes that cause them, and then find a way to provide treatment. 

Helping the Heart Stand Up to Sepsis

NIH Researcher Explores Why Some Survive Infection-Induced Organ Damage

human body with heart highlighted surrounded by bacteria

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” That line from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes can be applied to mysteries of all sorts, including the ones scientists toil away in their labs to solve. When it comes to solving the many mysteries of sepsis — a life-threatening immune over-reaction to an uncontrolled infection — the process of elimination is leading us closer to answers, thanks to researchers at the NIH Clinical Center.

Sepsis — also known as septic shock in its most severe form — occurs when the body’s immune system kicks into overdrive to fight a severe infection. Unfortunately, rather than just attacking the harmful invaders, the immune system releases chemicals that, when present in excess, cause intense, tissue-damaging inflammation and impair organ function. In recognition of Sepsis Survivors Week, we spoke with IRP Senior Investigator Charles Natanson, M.D., about two of the great mysteries of sepsis: how does sepsis cause organ failure in the first place, and why do some people survive it while so many others die?

Leveraging AI To Combat Cervical Cancer

IRP Researcher Identifies Precise Disease Biomarkers

doctor holding an electronic tablet

Over the last few decades, advances in cervical cancer screening and prevention have fundamentally changed the approach to dealing with one of the most common forms of cancer in younger women. While doctors have been able to detect cancerous and pre-cancerous cells with a Pap smear since the 1940s, the more recent discovery that the human papillomavirus (HPV) causes more than 90 percent of cervical cancers now affords greater accuracy to regular screening tests. What’s more, IRP researchers truly changed the game by developing a vaccine against HPV, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006. 

Still, despite these extremely positive developments, much work remains to be done, as cervical cancer continues to kill about 4,000 American women each year. In honor of World Cervical Cancer Awareness Month this January, we spoke with IRP Senior Investigator Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D., about his efforts to bring that number as close to zero as possible.

IRP’s Lindsey Criswell Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Researcher Seeks Risk Factors for Autoimmune Disease

Dr. Lindsey Criswell

During the winter months, we all rely on our immune systems to keep us from catching a cold or the flu, or help us recover quickly if we do fall ill. However, sometimes the immune system itself is the source of our problems, producing one of dozens of ‘autoimmune’ conditions, some affecting specific organs and others affecting the entire body, with symptoms that range from irritating and uncomfortable to deadly. Even more alarming, while these ailments already affect as many as 50 million Americans, their prevalence is rising for reasons that remain unclear.

Lindsey A. Criswell, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., has spent her career investigating this mystery and tracking down the culprits behind autoimmune ailments, likely a complex network of genes and harmful environmental influences. Dr. Criswell, who is Director of NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and an adjunct investigator in the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2024 for her accomplishments in this area of research. Her work has identified dozens of genes involved in autoimmune diseases, as well as critical environmental factors that influence their risk and severity.

Attacking HIV At Its Core

IRP Researchers are Developing Vaccines Targeting the ‘Achilles Heel’ of a Wiley Infectious Threat

DNA molecule surrounded by viruses

In the 40 years since HIV, the virus behind AIDS, was first definitively identified, treatments have changed the disease from a sure death to a long-term chronic illness. Yet, as we passed the 36th annual commemoration of World AIDS Day on December 1, it remains a dangerous health threat. Consequently, many researchers are attempting to develop vaccines to prevent or treat HIV, including IRP senior investigator Barbara K. Felber, Ph.D. Dr. Felber has been pursuing an effective vaccine since the discovery of HIV in the early 1980s using a unique approach that is not only making headway toward that important goal, but also offering insights into other infectious diseases, as well as cancer immunotherapy.

Rooting Out Genetic Risks for Gum Disease

IRP’s Oral Health Experts Explore Why It’s Not Always About Brushing and Flossing

illustration of inflammation in the gums

When you dig into that bowl of candy this Halloween, you may want to keep in mind that those sweets are not only fueling your sweet tooth, but also an army of creepy crawlies living in your mouth, busily forming a sticky film of plaque and attacking your gums.

As Dental Hygiene Month comes to a close this October, we spoke with IRP Clinical Research Specialist Laurie Brenchley, R.D.H., a dental hygienist and clinical study coordinator in the laboratory of IRP senior investigator Niki Moutsopoulos, D.D.S., Ph.D. Together, Brenchley and Dr. Moutsopoulos are studying the link between oral health and the immune system, with a specific focus on cases in which genetic factors increase susceptibility to severe gum disease, more formally known as periodontitis.

Inside the NIH Brain Bank

IRP Group Supports Neuropsychiatric Research

gloved hands holding a brain

More than half of Americans are registered organ donors, signed up to gift organs like kidneys and livers to patients in need of a transplant when they die. However, far fewer people have signed up to donate their brains to biomedical research upon their deaths. At NIH, the Human Brain Collection Core (HBCC) acts as a steadfast steward of this precious and scarce scientific resource, giving the brains of deceased donors a second life as a key driver of life-changing neuropsychiatric research.

Nearly 60 million adults in the U.S. suffer from a psychiatric disorder, and examining the brains of these individuals is indispensable for determining the molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases. Consequently, the HBCC provides invaluable assistance to scientists seeking to improve our understanding and treatment of such conditions. In recognition of World Mental Health Day today, let’s take a glimpse into how the Core is accelerating investigations into the mass of gray and white matter that makes each of us who we are. 

This page was last updated on Wednesday, March 15, 2023