About Melissa King
Melissa King MBA, COO and Founding Board Member of the Healthspan Action Coalition, is a passionate advocate for patients of chronic illness and disease as well as the medical research that can help reduce their suffering.
Melissa served as a senior member of the campaign for California’s Proposition 71, which created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) with $3 billion in funding and the California stem cell program. Later, as Executive Director of Americans for Cures and Head of Field Operations for the Prop 14 campaign, she built and led the coalition that secured an additional $5.5 billion for CIRM.
Melissa played a central role in the formation of CIRM over its first seven years of existence, working hand-in-hand with the agency Chair and its founding Board to set the strategic vision for the agency, as well as developing the processes and policies by which CIRM still operates. Her contributions included guiding CIRM’s Board through its first 1500+ hours of public meetings, the sale of the first bonds to fund the agency, as well as the development and awarding of the first billion dollars in grants, including the Facilities Grant Program that leveraged $271 million of CIRM’s funds to attract $880 million in other support.
Melissa is now focused on the vision of longevity and improved healthspan for all. She works to support the continued success of the research, ensuring that access and affordability of treatments is fully addressed, and promote the need for more diversity in science, medical research and clinical trials.
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