Melinda completed her undergraduate dental training at the University of Western Australia in 1995, specialist training in periodontics in Melbourne (2006), was awarded the ANZAP medallion in 2007 and gained fellowship to the Academy of Dentistry International in 2017.

Melinda has been in private periodontal practice for 15 years, is the consultant periodontist at the Alfred Hospital and holds teaching positions at the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University, Bendigo. Being a periodontist in both public hospital and private practice settings has provided valuable opportunities for Melinda to explore her interests in the periodontal rehabilitation of medically compromised patients, soft tissue and dental implant aesthetics and the management of peri-implantitis.