About Melissa
Melissa Schenkman, MPH, MSJ, is an award-winning health and medical writer and journalist known for her creativity in explaining complex concepts and bringing stories to life. She has a wealth of experience creating content for both lay and professional audiences. With a portfolio spanning various topics, she excels at developing content strategy and bringing innovation to organization's work and brand image.
Her experience includes successful projects like leading her team in crafting an abstract that was published by the British Society of Haematology and getting the Patient-Centered Research Outcomes Institute feature stories re-published by nonprofit organizations with a combined audience of more than 20,000 people.
My Services
Website Content
Crafting compelling website content based on original research, writing, and an eye for complementary visual design, all tailored to your brand and target audiences.
Blog Posts & Feature Stories
Creating engaging, well-researched stories that blend personal perspectives with evidence-based insights. Original interviews with everyday people and experts included.
Social Media Content Generation
Creating targeted social content with strategic wording paired with graphics produced in Canva and Adobe Premiere Pro/Express or Riverside edits of video reels to boost engagement and growth.
SEO Optimization
Optimizing content for search engines to improve visibility and ranking using programs like Moz and the AI technologies of ChatGPT and Claude.
Editing Services
Refining content for clarity, connection, accuracy, and style—across everything from annual reports and research papers to blogs and feature stories. Specializes in making sure content adheres to in-house style guides.
Content Strategy
Strategizing and planning for the development of content that takes on distinct, unique formats that align with your organization's goals and target audiences to promote engagement.
Testimonials
"Melissa Schenkman is a great journalist. I have worked with her on the development of several health care features at Stanford, and she has a rare gift for breaking down complex topics into an everyday understanding. In addition, Melissa is a wonderful collaborator who brings ideas to every story or project, and makes those around her (like me!) look better. Truly a professional, versatile in her ability to disparate assignments, and very easy to work with. Highly recommend."
Robert Dicks,
Senior Director, Media Relations, Content Development
Stanford Children's Health,
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
"Melissa brings a natural inquisitiveness to a deep interest in collaboration. During our time working together, she demonstrated notable writing abilities, telling the story of the organization through elevating the stories of people central to our success.
In our context as a funder of clinical research, that meant gaining trust and building partnerships with investigators, clinicians, and, especially, patients to bring forward the depth and richness of their contributions to science. Adding to those technical and soft skills, she's simply a pleasure to have on the team."
Greg Martin,
Chief Officer, Engagement, Dissemination, and Implementation
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
"Melissa is a serious writer and editor who is a strong believer in allowing people to tell their stories in a powerful way. She conducts thoughtful interviews and performs substantive research on each subject she tackles."
JoAnn Sperber
Associate Director, Content Development
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
"Melissa is a skilled writer who has an impressive ability to development engaging content and messages that really resonate with the patient audience. Not only is she a great writer but she also has strong skills in research. I had the great pleasure of working alongside Melissa on a systematic literature review that focused on the psychological impacts of patients with blood cancer. During this time, she wrote an engaging abstract that was accepted for presentations of the British Society of Haemotology."
Ella Graham-Rowe
Behavioural Scientist, OPEN Health Evidence & Access
Lecturer, University of Brighton, United Kingdom