Steven Melnick, PhD., MD
Medical Director, Nicklaus Children’s Biobank
Dr. Melnick, serves as the Medical Director of the Nicklaus Children’s Biobank (NCB) with responsibility for oversight of all aspects of this project and for assuring compliance with all policies and procedures by NCB staff.
Dr. Melnick received a B.Sc. degree in Physics at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Later he pursued a doctoral research in Chemical Physics and earned a Ph.D., at McGill University, Department of Chemistry in the field of nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy. Following a Post-doctoral Fellowship in the same field, he began Medical School at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and subsequently, residency training in Pathology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida. He continued his career in medicine as an attending Pathologist at Miami Children’s Hospital (now Nicklaus Children’s Hospital). In addition to his clinical activities, he established a research program in cell and molecular biology, with a particular focus on cancer research including ethnobotanical drug discovery. Currently, Dr. Melnick serves as Chief, Department of Pathology and Clinical laboratories at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
Paula S. Espinal, MD., MPH
Manager, Personalized Medicine Research Program and Principal Investigator, Nicklaus Children’s Biobank
Dr. Espinal serves as the Principal Investigator of the Nicklaus Children’s Biobank (NCB), and participates in the design and conduct of implementation science, biobanking and genomics at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Personalized Medicine Initiative. Dr. Espinal leads the operational component and management for the Nicklaus Children’s Biobank, and is responsible for its strategic development and sustainability. She oversees scientific operations and coordination with scientific committees, as well as day-to-day technical process, and the implementation of policies, procedures, and protocols for acquisition and storage of Biobank samples.
Dr. Espinal is certified by the American Association of Tissue Banks, as well as Biospecimen Research Methods by International Society for Biological and Environmental Repository (ISBER). She also received training on Fundamentals of Clinical and Translational Research Certificate by The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center. She has seven plus years of experience in a broad range of research infrastructure, covering clinical trials, translational sciences and genomic medicine. She received her medical degree from Santo Domingo Institute of Technology (INTEC), and her Mater of Public Health from the University of Miami.