Melissa Grafe

Melissa Grafe is the Head of the Medical Historical Library and John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History at Yale School of Medicine, affiliated with the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library. She oversees a collection of over 100,000 medical volumes and digital assets, manages digitization projects, curates exhibitions, and collaborates with researchers and faculty. Since joining Yale in 2011, she has led strategic initiatives including grants, donations, and educational outreach.

Education:

• PhD in History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University (1999)

Research Interests: Focus on Early American medical practices, disease history, medical education ethics, and material/visual culture. Her work bridges historical scholarship with modern curation and digital preservation.

Professional Leadership:

• President, Medical Heritage Library (2018-2020)
• President, Librarians, Archivists, and Museum Professionals in the History of the Health Sciences (2018-2020)
• Treasurer, Medical Heritage Library (2021-Present)

Grants & Teams: Leads teams executing major grants for digitization and exhibitions. Manages institutional partnerships for donations and collaborative research programs.