Melissa Thompson is the Executive Director of the Office of Integrity and Responsible Conduct at the University of Maryland, College Park and serves as the Deciding Official for cases involving research/scholarly or faculty professional misconduct. She previously held the positions of UMD's Research Integrity Officer, Executive Director of the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance at the George Washington University, and both Director of Research Integrity and Assistant Director of Outside Interests at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Before joining the research integrity field, Melissa practiced law with a general litigation firm. She 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.