Melverta Bender, MLS, MPH

Background

Melverta Bender has more than seventeen years’ experience in STD/HIV administration, project management, prevention and education, community health, and capacity building, including six years in STD/HIV/AIDS research administration. Before joining MSDH in 2020, she worked for Brigham and Women’s Hospital as project manager for the Multicenter NIH Clinical Genomics Research Study. Prior to that, she served as Research Director of the STI Working Group and Project Manager in both the Division of Infectious Diseases and the School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She has also worked as the Research Support Manager and Data Coordinating Center Program Manager, respectively, at the Jackson Heart Study.

Melverta holds a Master of Liberal Studies degree from Millsaps College and a Master of Public Health degree from Jackson State University. She is a member of the Project Management Institute, American Public Health Association, and the Mississippi Public Health Association.