Melissa Dettmer, MPA, PMP

Melissa serves as a senior director for finance and administration in the Yale School of Medicine, providing strategic, financial, and administrative leadership for the Child Study Center, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Psychiatry. In this capacity, Melissa works with the department chairs to facilitate business and departmental growth, strategic planning, and program development. As the leader of the integrated business office (IBO) for these departments, she works with the IBO team to integrate business operation and financial functions to encourage quality, efficiency, and standardization. The IBO scope of responsibilities includes clinical finance and administration, research finance and administration, faculty affairs, and staff affairs.

Prior to joining Yale, Melissa served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh where she led the university's strategic planning, performance measurement, and project management from 2019 to 2024. Before beginning her work in higher education, Melissa spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. federal government serving in strategy, performance measurement, and budgeting leadership roles in the national security sphere, working at the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House Office of Management and Budget. She began her career as a policy analyst in the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles. Melissa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California (USC). She is a Distinguished Graduate of the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School in Washington, D.C., where she earned a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy. Melissa has been a certified project management professional (PMP) since 2008.