Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH

Joined CPSTF: 2022

Dr. Joy Melnikow is a professor emeritus of family and community medicine at the University of California, Davis. She directed the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research from 2009 – 2021. Her research focuses on cancer screening and prevention in women, mental health services, access to care, cost effectiveness and value in healthcare, outcomes in behavioral health care, and how evidence is used to formulate policy.

Dr. Melnikow led a post-doctoral training program in quality, safety, and comparative effectiveness research methods that was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality from 2013 to 2019. She was a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force from 2009 to 2012 and was appointed by Governor Edmund Gerald Brown to the Let’s Get Healthy California Task Force in 2012. Dr. Melnikow was awarded the UC Davis School of Medicine Dean’s Prize for Excellence in Research Teams in 2012 and the UC Davis Academic Senate Award for Distinguished Scholarly Public Service in 2013. She is vice-chair for public health and medical effectiveness for the California Health Benefits Review Program, a member of the California Technology Assessment Forum expert panel, and a member of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee.

Dr. Melnikow received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, San Francisco and a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from UC Berkeley. She completed her family practice residency training at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Melnikow worked for the Indian Health Service on the Navajo reservation and was on the faculty at MetroHealth/Case Western Reserve University for four years before joining the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC Davis in 1992.