Dedication to Giving Back
Dr. Melton graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, and completed her internal medicine training at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. As part of the Army scholarship program, she and her husband, a nephrologist, completed a utilization tour in South Korea. She then did a rheumatology fellowship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Upon completion of her military obligation, she joined the Lafayette Clinic of Fayetteville, N.C.
Volunteering has been a strong through-line for her, with teaching and mentoring younger students as a vital part of that. “What’s fascinating to me is if you have been given much, you should be able to give back,” she says. Her love for the specialty motivates her continuing volunteerism with rheumatology.
Dr. Melton has other volunteering interests as well. She served on the board of the Lafayette Society, a community organization in Fayetteville, for 12 years and is currently president. She was initially piqued by the Marquis de Lafayette’s forward-thinking ideals, and volunteering with the society helps her continue giving to her community. “He was one of the first folks to talk to George Washington about abolishing slavery and granting equal opportunity for everyone—he had these amazing ideals that we are still striving to achieve,” she says.
A native of New Orleans, Dr. Melton is also helping the next generations achieve their potential by serving as a board member for KID smART, a New Orleans-based educational foundation that provides K-12 children access to high-quality arts education. Her leisure time is spent tracking walking tours of Europe, cruising on small ships, photographing structures and people or finding new dance moves. Family time is shared with her husband, a grown daughter, son-in-law and grandson.
Gretchen Henkel is a health and medical journalist based in California.
