Mellissa Withers, PhD, MHS

Dr. Mellissa Withers is Professor (clinical) in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences (DPPHS). She is Director of the Global Health Program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a non-profit network of 60+ universities in the region. She is also director of pedagogical enrichment and training for the DPHHS. Dr Withers holds the distinction of “educational scholar” and is the Academic Integrity Coordinator for Keck School of Medicine.

She earned a PhD in community health sciences from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health with a minor in cultural anthropology. She also holds a Master’s in Health Systems (International Health) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BA in international development from UC Berkeley.

Her primary research interests lie in community participatory research, immigrant health, mental health, maternal health, gender-based violence, and global sexual and reproductive health.

She teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in global health, leadership, ethics, culture and health, and research methodology. She has visited more than 80 countries and has lived in Latin America and Asia.

• Gruskin, Sofia
• Unger, Jennifer
• Klausner, Jeffrey
• Leventhal, Adam
• Oh, Hans
• Pedersen, Eric