Melissa is Head of Policy and Growth at Tinycode, an AI evaluation startup. She also serves as Emerging Tech Advisor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, where she previously served as Senior Policy Advisor leading several policy initiatives in the convergence of AI and biotechnology (AIxBio). Melissa also serves as a Non-Resident Affiliate at the CSIS AI Wadhwani Center and Multi-Agent Risks Advisor at the Institute for Security & Technology. Melissa brings years of experience working in D.C. on AI, tech, and national security policy, including as a legislative tech fellow specializing in AI and biotech for a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, conducting investigations for the House Oversight Committee, and serving as legal and policy counsel on national security issues in the executive branch and for a technology trade association. She is a Council on Strategic Risks AI & National Security Convergence Fellow and an alum of UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy Tech Policy Fellowship and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security's Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative (ELBI) fellowship. Melissa graduated from the George Washington University Law School, where she specialized in administrative law and legislation with a national security focus. Before that, she was a Davies Jackson scholar at the University of Cambridge and graduated summa cum laude from Bucknell University. In her spare time, Melissa organizes several monthly emerging technology and national security events in DC, including a biosecurity meetup and several AI policy meetups, including serving as Co-lead for the Women in AI Safety & Ethics (WISE) DC Chapter.