Melissa J. Lopes serves as a Senior Research Compliance Officer within the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.  In this capacity, Ms. Lopes works to support and facilitate the conduct of research through the review, development and implementation of rational University-wide research policies.  Ms. Lopes supports and manages several University-wide committees on research policy, including the University Lab Safety Committee, the Export Controls Council, and the Research Records and Data Retention Committee.  Additionally, Ms. Lopes advises researchers and department administrators on compliance issues across the University with a specific focus on stem cell research, lab safety, data privacy and retention, and export controls. Further, Ms. Lopes directs the operations of the ESCRO Committee, which provides ethical oversight and review of stem cell research protocols.

Prior to joining Harvard, Ms. Lopes served as Deputy General Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health where she was heavily engaged in stem cell regulatory oversight, drafting the Massachusetts Stem Cell Regulations and a significant Advisory Ruling interpreting the meaning of “Valuable Consideration” as it applies to donations to hESC research, served as Co-Chair to the Interstate Alliance on Stem Cell Research, participated as a member of the UMASS Stem Cell Advisory Committee and advised the statewide Biomedical Research Advisory Council.  Additionally, Ms. Lopes provided legal advice and guidance to the Clinical Laboratories Program and on matters including conflict of interest, tissue banking and genetic testing in the Commonwealth.  Prior to her work with the Department of Public Health, Ms. Lopes was a Kellogg Fellow with Community Catalyst, a national healthcare advocacy organization and practiced as a healthcare attorney with the law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart.  Ms. Lopes is a graduate of Boston College and Boston University School of Law, where she was an editor of the American Journal of Law and Medicine. Ms. Lopes is also a 2013-2014 Research Fellow in Bioethics with the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine.