It started with a brain.
Someone else’s, even.
A brain Mel held in her hands, in a human biology lab as her classmates solemnly passed around the spare. It could’ve been preserved for decades. It felt impossible that the mere football-sized, sterile-smelling specimen once contained an entire universe: someone’s days, dreams, and drives. If only she could see inside to explore the magic beyond the physical remainder (and reminder) of the entire human experience.
Years later, she’d done just that as she graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. She always thought it could use a simpler major title—even in first drafts of life, she enjoyed the puzzle of being precise yet concise. For the time, she’d decided her “formal” education should start with a supposedly concrete science instead the seemingly contrast study of language. She continued her own writing through travel blogs and essay edits, often invoking neuroscience for grounded perspectives while reaching for the sense of wonder that makes us human in the first place.
Melissa M. Madden, M.A., alliteration enthusiast
Today, Mel has blended her curiosity and diligent science background into a technical communications career.
Through several years in health care marketing and pharmaceutical PR, Mel steeped her editorial skills in brand strategy, client relations, and digital media. She has since consulted for NIH clients as a lead copyeditor, often adapting her well-trained attention to detail to scout efficiencies in project management. She applies art to science and science to art, such as word smithing via SEO data or approaching (and creating) style guides with the same technical interpretation skills that translate research journals into real stories.
In 2023, Mel graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Master’s in Science Writing, where she refined storytelling and journalism techniques. She balanced a thesis on oceanography while daylighting a fulfilling copyediting role in cancer research.
When she’s not pitching her own stories, Mel likes to read about coastal environments, the history of science, sci-fi, and evolutionary biology.
“Working with you has been such a pleasure; you have brought so much to the team with your eagle eyes and eagerness to help with any and all editing tasks….[you’re] an integral part of our success.”