Melissa Tice, PhD, recently joined the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) as the director of the Regulatory Affairs Program. Tice comes to GW after serving as the vice president of Global Regulatory Affairs at Immunomedics Inc.
Throughout her career, which she describes as “a path full of twists and turns,” Tice said she has always been drawn to education and mentorship. Early in her career she spent nights teaching a course on molecular biology to graduate students at Montclair State, and years later also spent time leading an online international regulatory affairs course for Rutgers University.
SMHS offers two degrees in regulatory affairs: an online master of science in regulatory affairs and a graduate certificate, both of which are available online. The programs at GW have been developed through collaborations with regulatory affairs professionals from the health care industry and governmental agencies.
Now at GW, Tice said she’s excited for the role of program director because it will allow her to use her decades of experience in a new way.
“I really get to share my knowledge … almost 30 years of work in science and regulatory affairs, and use my hands-on industry experience to help future professionals,” Tice said. “It’s going to give me a chance to teach the students how to apply all they learn in the real world.”
She added that she hopes to take advantage of GW’s location in the nation’s capital by seeking out ways to set up internships or fellowships for students close to the D.C. area at places like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and area pharmaceutical companies.
“GW has a wonderful reputation and I wanted to go a school that’s well-respected and supports the growth of education in regulatory affairs,” she added. “I think it’s an exciting time with the increase in communication and harmonization of regulations across the global community that will lead to growth of regulatory affairs career paths to apply these learnings and increase opportunity to earn advanced degrees. I thought this would be an exciting time to make a change in my career path.”
Prior to joining Immunomedics Inc., Tice spent 28 years in the pharmaceutical industry in various roles, including as a distinguished scientist at Merck in Global Regulatory Affairs in the Vaccines and Infectious Disease Regulatory Affairs group, where she had the opportunity to work on various vaccines, including the one for the Ebola virus, and in the field of oncology obtained the first approval for Keytruda. Tice also led the Gene Therapy and Biotechnology Group in Worldwide Regulatory Affairs at the Schering-Plough Research Institute.
Tice received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from the Douglass College at Rutgers University in New Jersey and earned a doctorate in biological chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
