Melissa King is co-founder and COO of the Healthspan Action Coalition and a leading advocate for patients living with chronic illness, and for the research that can transform their lives.
As Executive Director of Americans for Cures, she built and led the coalition that passed California Proposition 14 in 2020, securing $5.5 billion in renewed funding for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). That victory followed her earlier work as a senior member of the 2004 Proposition 71 campaign, which created CIRM and launched California's landmark stem cell program.

Melissa didn't just help build the institution, she ran its operations in its earliest years. Serving as CIRM's first Executive Director, she guided its founding 29-member Board through more than 1,500 hours of public meetings, overseeing the agency's first state bond sales, and stewarding the award of its first billion dollars in grants. Few people can claim to have shaped a $10 billion public science institution from the ground up; Melissa is one of them.

Today, her focus has expanded from funding research to ensuring its benefits reach people. She works at the intersection of scientific innovation and equitable access, championing a future of improved healthspan for all, not just for some.

Beyond her policy work, Melissa has mentored a young scholar from Liberia through SHE-CAN, who has since completed both undergraduate and graduate studies in the United States. She serves on the boards of the Summit for Stem Cell Foundation and ShelterTech, and is a member and past Chair of the Wellesley Business Leadership Council.

Melissa holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is an MPH candidate at Brown University, with expected completion in fall 2026. She is a member of the Delta Omega honorary society.