{"id":18570,"date":"2026-02-10T12:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/?post_type=ud_entry&#038;p=18570"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:04:30","slug":"melissa-walsh-phd","status":"publish","type":"ud_entry","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Melissa Walsh, PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">My research vision is to characterize how menopausal hormonal changes shape cognitive and brain vulnerability\/resilience in women with and without risk factors for Alzheimer\u2019s disease, with a particular emphasis on hormonal mechanisms that contribute to synaptic loss. This work is motivated by evidence that synaptic integrity supports cognitive resilience by buffering against neuropathology propagation and is sensitive to reproductive hormones. Using complementary observational studies and experimental hormone manipulation, my research integrates multimodal molecular neuroimaging\u2014including synaptic density PET\u2014with mass spectrometry-based hormone assays to characterize synaptic loss and its hormonal determinants across the menopause transition. My long-term goal is to establish an evidence-based framework for understanding brain adaptation to menopause, identify mechanisms that confer resilience or vulnerability to Alzheimer\u2019s disease pathogenesis, and develop precision medicine approaches to preserve cognitive and brain health in aging women. My research is supported by a growing portfolio of intramural and extramural funding, including the Foundation of Hope, Duke-UNC Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center, and the Simons Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18571,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"ud_division":[79,80,85],"class_list":["post-18570","ud_entry","type-ud_entry","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ud_division-faculty","ud_division-researcher","ud_division-womens-mood-disorders","odd"],"acf":[],"ud_entry_custom_fields":{"ud_last_name":"Walsh","ud_first_name":"Melissa","ud_gallery_summary":"","ud_telephone":[{"ud_location":"Medical School Wing B 224","ud_number":"9194456874"}],"ud_email":"","ud_positions":[{"ud_title":"Research Instructor"},{"ud_title":"Simon\u2019s Foundation Fellow"}],"ud_options":[],"ud_sort_order":""},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh-298x300.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh-768x772.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh-150x150.jpg","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Melissa Walsh, PhD | Department of Psychiatry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Melissa Walsh, PhD | Department of Psychiatry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My research vision is to characterize how menopausal hormonal changes shape cognitive and brain vulnerability\/resilience in women with and without risk factors for Alzheimer\u2019s disease, with a particular emphasis on hormonal mechanisms that contribute to synaptic loss. This work is motivated by evidence that synaptic integrity supports cognitive resilience by buffering against neuropathology propagation and &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Psychiatry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"955\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/\",\"name\":\"Melissa Walsh, PhD | Department of Psychiatry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-10T17:04:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2026\/02\/Melissa-Walsh.jpg\",\"width\":950,\"height\":955,\"caption\":\"Evoto\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Directory Entries\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Melissa Walsh, PhD\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Psychiatry\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UNC Chapel Hill Department of Psychiatry\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2017\/06\/Psychiatry_logo_rgb_h.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/839\/2017\/06\/Psychiatry_logo_rgb_h.png\",\"width\":982,\"height\":151,\"caption\":\"UNC Chapel Hill Department of Psychiatry\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Melissa Walsh, PhD | Department of Psychiatry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/people\/melissa-walsh-phd\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Melissa Walsh, PhD | Department of Psychiatry","og_description":"My research vision is to characterize how menopausal hormonal changes shape cognitive and brain vulnerability\/resilience in women with and without risk factors for Alzheimer\u2019s disease, with a particular emphasis on hormonal mechanisms that contribute to synaptic loss. 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