Melissa L. Russo is a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine and clinical genetics.  She currently works at Women and Infants Hospital, an affiliate of Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.  She pursued her residency in obstetrics and gynecology and fellowship training in maternal fetal medicine and clinical genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.  Her research on pregnancy in individuals with aortopathy, funded by the Marfan Foundation, is centered on pregnant persons with connective tissue disorders and aortic disease including Marfan, Loeys-Dietz and vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndromes. This research is focused on the effects of pregnancy on the risk for aortic dissection, determining the risk factors for aortic dissection in pregnancy, and better characterizing obstetrical and cardiovascular outcomes for the mom and fetus during pregnancy.
Her other research interests are focused on patient education in prenatal genetics. Her leadership roles include serving on the Professional Advisory Board for the Marfan Foundation, member of the ACOG Clinical Consensus for Obstetrics and membership of numerous research consortiums surrounding her field of interest.