Melissa Starkey

Melissa Starkey currently serves as the Marketing and Communications Manager and Educator at Mt. Cuba Center, specializing in interpretation and public programming focused on native plants, ecology, and naturalistic gardening. Previously, Melissa held various roles at the American College of Physicians, including Senior Clinical Associate, responsible for developing clinical practice guidelines and leading methodology training. In addition, Melissa has experience as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School - Massachusetts General Hospital, where research on cell-cell signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa was conducted, and as a Visiting Lecturer at Wellesley College teaching biotechnology. Melissa holds an MSc in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants from The University of Edinburgh, a PhD in Biology from Northwestern University, and a BS in Biotechnology from Rutgers University.