Melissa Ashlock, MD
Vice President of Drug Discovery
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics

Melissa Ashlock, M.D. (formerly Melissa Rosenfeld, M.D.), is Vice President of Drug Discovery for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) Therapeutics, the drug discovery and development affiliate of the CFF. Her role includes overseeing projects directed toward: 1) discovering and developing drugs that treat cystic fibrosis, including those that modulate CFTR, the mutant protein responsible for CF; and 2) using genetics and genomics-based approaches to discover novel cystic fibrosis (CF) drug targets and therapeutic strategies. She has held this position since November 1999.

Prior to this, she worked for 5 years as an Investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the NIH, where she was Acting Chief of the Vector Development Section. There she focused on: 1) genetics approaches to study the regulation of CFTR gene expression; and 2) the use of artificial chromosomes as gene transfer vectors, particularly for CF gene expression studies and for complementation cloning of genes responsible for other autosomal recessive disorders genes such as Niemann-Pick Type C. Prior to that she was a scientist and Medical Staff Fellow in the Pulmonary Branch of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH, where she focused on the development of gene therapy strategies for pulmonary diseases including cystic fibrosis and alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, using adenoviral and other non-viral vector systems.

Dr. Ashlock received her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Purdue University in 1980. She received her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College (CUMC) in Manhattan in 1985 and completed her Internship at New York Hospital-CUMC in 1986. Dr. Ashlock, who is board certified in Internal Medicine, completed her Residency in Internal Medicine at Mary Hitchcock Hospital, Dartmouth College in 1988.