Senior Director of Community Affairs & Global Head of STEAM Education, Vertex

Melodie Knowlton, Senior Director of Community Affairs & Global Head of STEAM Education at Vertex, is a strategic thinker, dynamic speaker and visionary leader who moves with excellence, creativity, urgency and purpose. She uses her background as a scientist, educator, people leader and community partner to maximize the benefit of corporate social responsibility initiatives and corporate giving for both the community and industry stakeholders. Melodie currently leads Vertex’s STEAM Education function and drives the strategy and execution of the outreach activities. Since joining Vertex in 2016, Melodie has transformed the Learning Lab into a global outreach program that impacts the communities in Boston, San Diego and Oxford through the creation and expansion of STEM opportunities to students who have not always had access to hands-on and paid science experiences. Prior to Vertex, Melodie was a teacher and department chair at The Cambridge School of Weston. She also was an instructor at Harvard’s Extension School and did postdoctoral research at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Melodie earned her PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard University and holds a BS in Biology from The Ohio State University.