Melissa Dechellis Email & Phone Number

Beverly, Ma, Us

Beverly, Massachusetts, United States

-Founded and directed all aspects of Adaptively Abled Amputees (www.adaptivelyabled.org), a support, social, and activity group for those living with physical disabilities in the New England area.-Founded and directed all aspects of Adaptively Abled Fitness (www.adaptivelyabled.org), an adaptive functional fitness and holistic health program for those living with physical disabilities in the Boston area.

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

• Founder, Director, and Head Trainer of Adaptively Abled, a 501©3 that runs Boston's very first comprehensive support, social, fitness, and wellness program for persons with physical disabilities, partnered with The Phoenix to run adaptive and inclusive fitness and wellness programs within the facility. • Head trainer for the Phoenix’s weekly Inclusive Bootcamp which is tailored to all ability levels and modified for persons with disabilities, focusing on building community through fitness and wellness. Created and executed programming for a wide range of trauma-sensitive and adaptive athletes. • Volunteer Level 1 CrossFit Trainer for The Phoenix CrossFit classes.

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

• Selected as Lululemon’s very first plus-sized amputee Ambassador.• Planned and facilitated the first adaptive fitness event at The Newbury Street Lululemon Experiential Studio as well as was a special guest speaker on Lululemon’s Inclusivity Series.

Providence, Ri

As the Community Resource Director, I improve the lives of those living with limb loss/limb difference by connecting them with community resources. I built out and help foster and promote The Liner Wand's online community. I host The Liner Wand's monthly CommuniTEE Socials, bringing on and interviewing leaders in the limb loss/limb difference community. I created one of the most comprehensive lists of resources for the limb loss community.

300 First Street, Charlestown, Ma 02215

• Served on the Disability Advocacy Coalition, and the Community Disability Awareness Committee. • Assisted with project entitled, “Spaulding-Harvard SCI (SH-SCI) Model Systems Project: Contributions to the National Database,” and “Development and Evaluation of the SCI-FI/AT Inpatient Short Forms.” • Screened the electronic medical records of all new spinal cord injury patients admitted to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, entered all relevant clinical trial data into our RedCap database, and analyzed data. • Completed all SCIMS Form II follow-up phone interviews of traumatic spinal cord injury patients at year 1 and year 5 post-injury, and entered relevant data into our RedCap and National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center Database. • Assisted with all aspects of running our quarterly Knowledge in Motion Educational Series for the spinal cord injury community.

Cambridge, Ma

• Assisted with projects entitled “Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Biorepository,” “Effects of Breathing Mild Bouts of Low Oxygen on Limb mobility After Spinal Injury,” “Effects of Caffeine and Intermittent Hypoxia on Leg Function in Human Spinal Cord Injury,” “Acute Intermittent Hypoxia on Leg Function Following Spinal Cord Injury,” “AIH induced Walking Recovery After Subacute SCI,” and “Brain Changes After Spinal Cord Injury, A Quantitative Meta Analysis.” • Reviewed current patient recruitment methods of five active government and foundation funded clinical trials and devised an updated comprehensive list of recruiting methods and assisted with all aspects of patient recruiting. • Maintained all study and regulatory documentation, as well the study RedCap database for all five clinical trials. • Created and organized all aspects of Spaulding Hospital Cambridge’s very first biorepository for clinicians and clinical researchers across the Mass General Brigham hospital system. • Trained and supervised all new hires and five laboratory interns. • Advised Principal Investigators on decisions such as trial acquisition, advertising, and patient interactions.

Charlestown, Massachusetts

• Assisted with project entitled, “Optimizing Rehabilitation for Phantom Limb Pain Using Mirror Therapy and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS).” • Devised and executed updated comprehensive recruiting methods. • Advised Principal Investigators on decisions such as trial acquisition, advertising, and patient interactions.

Boston, Ma

• Provided Pre- and Post-award support to investigators for clinical research awards including federal grants and subcontracts, foundation grants, and clinical trial agreements. • Designed and implemented a new template that is still used to create a Clinical Billing Grid for each clinical research study. This Clinical Billing Grid mapped out a clinical research study’s aim by visit to determine which procedures will be performed, services that will be utilized, and supplies that will be needed to successfully run the study. The Clinical Billing Grid was used to track grant expenses and predict if the study is on budget at each milestone. • Managed the non-scientific and budgetary development of proposals, as well as the review, negotiation, and execution of subcontract and clinical trial agreements.

Boston, Ma