Biography

Melissa K. Melby, CPGS, MPhil, Ph.D., is a professor with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Delaware. She is a medical anthropologist with degrees in chemistry, environment and development, and biological and medical anthropology, and training in public health and nutritional epidemiology. She lived and worked in Japan for over 10 years, including at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition at Shokuiku (Food and Nutrition Education) Project Leader, before joining UD.

Melby's research examines the ways in which environmental factors, broadly conceived to include physical, biological, and sociocultural influences, interact with human development to result in health outcomes. She has conducted research in Japan for over 20 years on topics ranging from aging and menopause and maternal child health to understandings about nutrition and food education and complementary and alternative medicine. She is currently conducting research on the microbiome, as well as factors influencing symptoms related to aging and menopause.

In recent years, Melby's most frequent course offerings have included:

• Medical Anthropology
• Nutritional Anthropology
• Biological/Medical Anthropology Tutorial
• Introduction to Anthropology of Health
• Culture, Health & Environment
• Farm to Table

From 2016-19, Melby served as Coordinator for Population Health Initiatives in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Delaware from 2016-19, spearheading the launch of the MPH program.​ From 2019-24, Melby served as co-director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Humans & Microbiome (HMB) Program. In 2025, she directed the launch of CIFAR’s HMB Public Health Microbiome Curriculum. Also in 2025, she published a book entitled Reframing Aging (see below).

Select Publications

MK Melby. (2025) Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese. Routledge.

MK Melby, et al. (2025) “Public Health Microbiome Curriculum: Looking below the tip of the iceberg for approaches to population health. Microbial Biotechnology.

MK Melby, E Zent, S Ariste, R Shoukat, M Nichter. (2025). “The Littlest Creatures that Live Inside Us”: Public Understandings Influencing Microbiome-Related Behaviors. Social Science and Medicine. 376:117864

TCG Bosch, … and MK Melby. (2024) The potential importance of the built-environment microbiome and its impact on human health. PNAS. 121 (20) e2313971121

M.J. Blaser, MK Melby, M. Lock, M. Nichter. (2021) Accounting for Variation in and Overuse of Antibiotics among Humans. Bioessays. 

B.B. Finlay … MK Melby, et al. (2021) The Hygiene Hypothesis, the COVID Pandemic, and Consequences for the Human Microbiome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

MK Melby, G. Yamada, D. Schwartz, P. Surkan. (2019) One Size Does Not Fit All: Examining Ethnicity in Gestational Weight Gain Guidelines. Health Care for Women International. 

MK Melby, L. Loh, J. Evert, C. Prater, H. Lin, and O. Khan. (2016) Beyond 'Medical Missions' to Impact-Driven Short-Term Experiences in Global Health (STEGH): Principles and Recommendations for Learners and Practitioners. Academic Medicine.

MK Melby and M Lampl. (2011) Menopause: A Bio-Cultural Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 40:53-70. Available at http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145641

MK Melby. (2005) Vasomotor Symptom Prevalence and Language of Menopause in Japan."With associated editorial by M. Lock. "Cross-Cultural Vasomotor Symptom Reporting: Conceptual and Methodological Issues." Menopause.