Melissa Ghim, Ph.D.

Melissa Ghim, Ph.D., joins NIDCR as director of the Neuroscience of Orofacial Pain and Temporomandibular Disorders program, part of the Integrative Biology and Infectious Diseases Branch in the Division of Extramural Research. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Integrative Neuroscience Program and was a postdoctoral associate at State University of New York Upstate Medical University in the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Ghim comes to NIDCR from the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), where she served as a senior program director on content related to gender diversity and the underrepresentation of women in the biomedical research workforce. She led and coordinated various programs and projects at ORWH, including the NIH Prize for Enhancing Faculty Gender Diversity, the career development goal of the Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Research on Women’s Health, and the early development of the NIH Sex as a Biological Variable Primer. She was also the NIH task lead on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study and report ”Promising Practices for Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.” Prior to joining ORWH, Dr. Ghim served as the training director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In this role, she directed NIDA’s research training and career development grant programs, including policy development and implementation, and coordination of program activities across NIDA divisions and offices. She also served as the Careers Team co-chair for the BRAIN Initiative, which developed the Research Career Enhancement Award for Investigators to Build Skills in a Cross-Disciplinary Area.