Hopkins on the Hill 2025 Alumni Networking

Denis Wirtz, PhD Vice Provost for Research and Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is known for his studies of the molecular and biophysical mechanisms of cell motility and adhesion and nuclear dynamics in health and disease, with a special focus on aging, cancer, and progeria. Wirtz directs the Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences-Oncology Center and co-directs the Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center, both National Cancer Institute-funded entities. He is a co-founder and former associate director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology. Wirtz earned a bachelor’s degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium (1988) and master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from Stanford University (1993). He did postdoctoral research at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI) in Paris, France.

As assistant vice president for federal strategy, Melisa Lindamood leads Johns Hopkins University and Medicine’s legislative and regulatory advocacy related to health care. Since joining Johns Hopkins in 2007, Melisa has worked on a wide range of issues important to academic medical centers and the communities they serve, including telehealth, health equity, graduate medical education, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, provider reimbursement, and workforce. She guides the institutions’ response to various investigations and congressional inquiries and frequently prepares expert witnesses for testimony.

Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Melisa led the government affairs and communications office at the American Medical Women’s Association, where she worked to advance women in medicine and improve women’s health. Subsequently, she directed legislative affairs for the Baltimore City Health Department, advancing public health, implementing the department’s legislative agenda, and engaging in early implementation of then Mayor Martin O’Malley’s nationally renowned CitiStat.

Melisa received her bachelor’s degree from the University of San Francisco and her master’s in policy studies from Johns Hopkins University. She hails from Marin County, just north of the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a volunteer member on the Y of Central Maryland’s Advocacy Committee and has remained an avid cyclist since crossing America by bicycle in her 20s.