Melissa Moore, PhD, is a distinguished professor and industry executive with extensive expertise in post-transcriptional regulation of mammalian gene expression. After 23 years running an academic research laboratory at UMass Chan Medical School (19 of them as an HHMI Investigator), Moore moved to industry in 2016 to become the chief scientific officer of Platform Research at Moderna. After six-and-a-half years at Moderna, she retired in March 2023. She currently holds multiple board seats and engages in the creation and growth of new companies in the bioinformatics and mRNA medicine space. Moore is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a recipient of the RNA Society Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been named one of the 100 Fiercest Women in Biotech, to the PharmaVoice 100, and one of the 100 people transforming business by Business Insider.