Melissa has a BA in Biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a master’s degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Florida.  Her master’s thesis documented the historical development of direct-entry midwifery in Florida and was published in Robbie Davis-Floyd’s book, Mainstreaming Midwives:  The Politics of Change (2006).  After graduate school, Melissa attended the Seattle Midwifery School and was licensed as a midwife in Washington state in 2004.  From 2006 to 2021 Melissa worked as a community midwife in a home birth-based private practice.  In 2016, she became the Program Coordinator for the Smooth Transitions Quality Improvement program and works to build bridges between community midwives and the hospitals with which they interact.