Melissa Stevens is executive vice president of philanthropy at the Milken Institute, leading its work with individual and family philanthropists and foundations seeking to deploy resources to make a transformative, sustainable impact. Since co-founding the Center for Strategic Philanthropy in 2015, she has overseen the creation and execution of strategies that have influenced $1.7 billion in philanthropic capital and managed the development of programs and organizations including the Melanoma Research Alliance, the largest private funder of melanoma research. Under her leadership, the Center for Strategic Philanthropy has more than tripled in size, expanding its areas of expertise to include education and environmental conservation philanthropy, as well as health and medical research. Previously, Stevens was the deputy executive director of the Milken Institute’s FasterCures center, leading its growth and expanding its programmatic scope to include the development of a novel financing mechanism for early-stage drug development and building a global resource for large-scale, cross-sector collaboration. She also directed FasterCures’ Philanthropic Advisory Service, which aimed to deploy philanthropic capital effectively to advance medical solutions. This ultimately led to the creation of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy. Prior to joining the Institute, Stevens worked in the health sciences practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising commercial and federal clients such as the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. Stevens received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and an MBA from The Pennsylvania State University. She is based at the Institute's Washington, DC office.