Melissa received her B.Sc. in cellular biology from the University of Georgia. She joined the van den Brink lab in 2014 as a graduate student to pursue a PhD in the Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program through Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Melissa is studying how aspects of the microbial flora, such as metabolites secreted by the microbiota and interactions between certain bacteria can impact on intestinal GVHD.