Melissa Thompson is the Executive Director of the Office of Integrity and Responsible Conduct (OIRC) at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) and serves as the Deciding Official for cases involving research/scholarly or professional misconduct. Melissa previously held the position of UMD's Research Integrity Officer (RIO) and returned in the summer of 2024 to stand up OIRC after serving as the Executive Director of the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance at the George Washington University.

Melissa has extensive experience with handling misconduct matters and coordinating efforts to broadly foster integrity and compliance — particularly through the creation of associated education and resources, collaboration with related institutional offices and committees, identification of associated policy and program needs, and engagement with federal partners in funding and regulatory oversight agencies. She has been active in related professional associations and organizations, regularly presented on topics relevant to integrity and responsible conduct, and served as a consultant on revising policies and procedures. 

Prior to her time at UMD, Melissa served as the Director of Research Integrity at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, handling cases of both research and professional misconduct and overseeing the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) program, as well as the Assistant Director of Outside Interests, working on issues related to conflicts of interest in research and conflicts of commitment. Before joining JHU, she practiced law with a general litigation firm in Maryland. Melissa also previously served as the Assistant Managing Editor of a national political magazine based in Washington, D.C.

Melissa received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, along with a certificate in health law, and her B.A. in political science from Salisbury University.