The following story originally appeared on the W&M Alumni Magazine website. - Ed.
When people ask what Melissa J. Moore ’84 does for a living, she often says, “I work for you.”
That was literally true when the biochemist and molecular biologist received federal funding for her academic research. And in an important way, it still is. As the chief scientific officer of platform research at Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc., Moore is a key part of the biotech company’s effort to produce 200 million COVID-19 vaccines for the U.S. government to distribute to Americans across the country.
“It’s a way to draw people in,” Moore says of her response to the question. “It’s so important for scientists to be out there communicating with the public. We are in it for the public good.”