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Melissa L. Gilliam

Melissa Lynn Gilliam is an American pediatric and adolescent gynecologist. She is the first black woman to serve as provostofOhio State University, having previously served as a Professor of Health Justice at the University of Chicago. On the 4th of October 2023, she was announced as the incoming president of Boston University.^[1]

On July 1, 2024 Gilliam started her post as president of Boston University.^[2]

Gilliam was born in Washington, D.C., to journalist Dorothy Butler Gilliam and abstract painter Sam Gilliam.^[3] Her mother was the first African-American journalist for The Washington Post.^[4]

She earned her Bachelor's degree in English literature from Yale University, a Master of Arts degree in philosophy and politics from the University of Oxford, a medical degree from Harvard University, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Illinois Chicago.^[5]

Gilliam joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in 2005.^[6] She eventually became the chief of family planning and contraceptive research and head of the program in gynecology for children, adolescents, and young women at the University of Chicago Medical Center. In this role, her research team followed African American teenage mothers to see how their education, housing, exercise, weight gain, emotional state, and relationships influence their risk of a repeat pregnancy.^[7]

Gilliam's research covers adolescent health and education, domestically and internationally, through methods including narrative, technology, and design. As of 2023, this work had received funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.^[8]

As a result of her research, Gilliam was named a Faculty Fellow of the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence for the 2013–14 academic year.^[9] During this time, she founded the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health (Ci3), which used games, narrative, and design to understand and address the social and structural determinants of adolescent sexual and reproductive health.^[10] The Ci3's three labs are divided between focuses on game design, storytelling, and design thinking.^[11]

In the game design lab, Gilliam used video games and digital storytelling to discuss sexual violence prevention in a "safe risk taking" manner. In 2015, the lab developed a game called A Day in the Life to teach teenagers about HIV, bullying, teen pregnancy, healthy relationships, and intersections between home and school life.^[12]

She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine for being "an authority on contraception and adolescent health."^[13]

In 2016, Gilliam was appointed as the University of Chicago's Vice Provost for Academic Leadership, Advancement, and Diversity and was named as the Ellen H. Block Professor in Health and Justice.^[6][14] In 2020, she was named as a Distinguished Service Professor in recognition of her work supporting faculty as Vice Provost.^[15]

In August 2021, Gilliam joined Ohio State University as Executive Vice President and Provost, and joined the faculty as professor of obstetrics and gynecology.^[16][17] She became the first woman of color to serve as OSU's Provost.^[18] Also in 2021, she joined the board of directors at Talis Biomedical.^[19]

In October 2023, it was announced that Gilliam will become President at Boston University in July 2024, succeeding Kenneth Freeman.^[20][21]

Gilliam currently serves on the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory and previously advised the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).^[22]

Gilliam has published a range of research and policy papers on reproductive health, including:

• The likelihood of placenta previa with greater number of cesarean deliveries and higher parity (2002)^[23]
• Cesarean delivery on request: reproductive consequences (2006)^[24]
• Interventions using new digital media to improve adolescent sexual health (2012)^[25]

Gilliam is married to physician-researcher William Grobman. They have two children, a son and a daughter.^[20]