Melissa Thompson

Melissa Thompson is a national health advocate and strategist. She was the founder and CEO of TalkSession, Inc., a healthcare technology company that develops web-based platforms to enable remote therapy sessions between mental healthcare providers and patients. In 2013, Melissa was selected as a “Healthcare Transformer” for the StartUp Health Academy Entrepreneurship Program, in partnership with GE and is also a part of Springboard Enterprises’ Life Sciences Accelerator. TalkSession was featured at the White House in September 2013 as a technology that would change the future of mental healthcare, sponsored by the Executive Office of the President, ONC, SAMHSA, and the ONDCP. Previously, Melissa was an analyst at Goldman Sachs. She worked in digital marketing and technology strategy for clients, including the United Nations, G2 Investments, Forbes Magazine, The Weinstein Company, Publicis, and the New York Stock Exchange. Melissa is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, and she and her company were profiled for healthcare innovation in publications including The Financial Times, Mashable, CBS SmarterPlanet, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Business Week, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mashable, and Wired Melissa is a proud member of 37Angels, a community of women angel investors; a Board Advisor to the Flawless Foundation, an organization committed to enhancing education about neurodevelopment and behavioral challenges; a Technology Advisor to Newport Academy, a treatment program for teens suffering from mental health, behavioral health, and substance abuse issues; and is on the Board of Directors of the Center for Health Innovation, Women in Healthcare & Life Sciences. Melissa holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, with a focus on social entrepreneurship, a BA in Economics from Barnard College, and studied international business and Chinese at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China. She resides in New York City.