Dr Melissa Gilbert is a Teaching and Research Fellow at the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC). She has lived experience of disability and neurodiversity. Her main research interests are autism, disability, and women's health and wellbeing. She is currently working on studies examining the experiences of Australian Autistic women and non-binary people's access to diagnosis and supports, and the barriers and enablers to diagnosis for Australia self-identified Autistic women. Melissa is the subject coordinator of "Understanding and Support for Autism" (PSY3ASD) for the School of Psychology and Public Health (2023-current).

Melissa was involved with testing the feasibility and acceptability of a telehealth version of the SACS-R tool, a trial for the early detection of autism within general practice, and the training of the Victorian maternal and child health nurse workforce in early autism identification. Previously she was study coordinator of the Women's Healthy Ageing Program in the Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital) at the University of Melbourne. Melissa was also part of the Family Law and Family Violence team at the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). She completed her PhD on women's transition back to work after maternity leave at La Trobe University in 2013.