Dr. Marilena Melas is an Assistant Director in Molecular Diagnostics (Oncology) at New York Genome Center since August of 2021. Dr. Melas holds an integrated BS-MSc in Applied Biology & Biotechnology from the University of Ioannina in Greece and two master’s degrees — the first one in Molecular Medicine at the University of Crete, Greece, and the second one in Genetics of Human Diseases at the University College London, UK. Dr. Melas completed her PhD in Cancer Biology and Genomics at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center/University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. During her doctoral studies, she received the Order of Arete Award, the highest honor accorded to graduate students for academic excellence and leadership roles.
After her PhD, she completed an ABMGG Clinical Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) fellowship at the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, which is affiliated with the Ohio State University. She is an active candidate of the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics and eligible for her LGG certification.
In her current role as a laboratory geneticist, Dr. Melas specializes in cancer genome diagnostics focusing on the analysis, evaluation, interpretation, and reporting of clinical molecular test results for Oncology Genome and Transcriptome sequencing assays. Outside her clinical lab responsibilities, she currently serves as a junior member of the Board of Directors of the Cancer Genomics Consortium (CGC), and volunteers as a Communications Committee and Program Committee member at CGC. She also serves as a communications liaison of the Compendium of Cancer Genome Aberrations (CCGA) and participates in the Molecular Pathology Competency Working Group of the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP). Her research interests broadly include the translation of genomic discoveries into clinical and therapeutic applications in the field of personalized medicine, to provide high-quality and state-of-the-art patient care.