Melanie Pearson received her bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and her graduate degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She began working as an environmental scientist at Emory University, managing two longitudinal environmental exposures studies, publishing scholarly articles, and working with a local community to address environmental concerns and implement an alternative approach to pesticide applications for their municipal sports fields. Through this work, Dr. Pearson developed a strong interest in community-engaged research, playing a primary role in implementing and conducting community-based initiatives for three NIH-funded research centers. Dr. Pearson leads the Community Engagement Core of the Emory HERCULES Exposome Research Center for which she has developed strategies to engage the local Atlanta community with the dual-purpose of strengthening the Atlanta community in its capacity to address its environmental health concerns and to create a feedback system so that the community’s concerns and ideas are shared with the scientists and integrated into the exposome concept.