Melissa Gilliam

Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam, MD, MPH, became the eleventh president of Boston University on July 1, 2024. As a physician in the field of Medicine, she is an esteemed interdisciplinary researcher focused on adolescent health and well-being. Gilliam earned her Bachelor of Arts cum laude in 1987, her MD from Harvard Medical School, and an MPH. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Prior to her presidency, she served as Executive Vice President and Provost at The Ohio State University from 2021 to 2023, the first Black person to hold that position. Previously, over 16 years at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, she was Vice Provost for Academic and Research Programs, Ellen H. Block Distinguished Service Professor of Health Justice, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Chief of Family Planning and Contraceptive Research, head of the Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology section, and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health (Ci3).

Gilliam's academic interests center on integrating medicine, public health, social sciences, and technology to improve reproductive health outcomes for adolescents, including contraceptive access, counseling innovations, and the effects of community violence on pregnancy. Her key publications include "Development and testing of an iOS waiting room 'app' for contraceptive counseling in a Title X family planning clinic" (American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2014), "Three-year efficacy and safety of a new 52-mg levonorgestrel intrauterine system" (Contraception, 2016), "Meeting Contraceptive Preferences Among Low-Income Postpartum Women" (Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2009), and "Community Violence Exposure and Adolescent Pregnancy in Chicago" (Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020). She received the Senior Faculty Scholar award from the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence at the University of Chicago (2013-2014). Gilliam has delivered invited lectures, such as on professional development at the Chicago Academic Medicine Program (2007), and her leadership has advanced health justice, diversity in academia, and innovative interventions in adolescent medicine.