Dr. Melanie Johnson is an exceptional visionary and change agent for education-focused entities. She currently serves as the President and CEO for The Health Museum (THM) in Houston, TX. She comes to The Health Museum as the first African-American to hold a senior position in the history of the museum district in Houston. She previously served as the Director of Education for NASA’s Space Center Houston, where she managed a staff of up to 50 educators, counselors and exhibit staff since her arrival in 2008. She is a strong fiscal and programmatic leader who oversees net assets of more than $24 million by developing effective programs with researched-based methodologies. Dr. Johnson’s effectiveness was recently recognized by the largest association for museums when she was awarded the esteemed Nancy Hanks Award for Professional Excellence out of 5000 annual museum participants representing 50 countries, including the Smithsonian. She was recently interviewed for an upcoming episode of the Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum,” as she presented facts about the Faith 7 Mercury capsule. She was featured on Radio Disney’s “Backyard” segment and Forbes Magazine. She was selected for the Center for Houston’s Leadership Think Tank (2014). Further, she is the 2015 recipient of the Pierre and Marie Curie Award for Humanities and the Ivy League Charitable Education Foundation Award for one of the City of Houston’s Best Educators.
She has been employed as a senior executive for various types of educational institutions. Prior to arriving at Space Center Houston, Dr. Johnson held the position as Director of Faculty Development for the Art Institute of Houston. In this position, she trained faculty from various disciplines to employ best practices in teaching and to implement strategies to help first year college students to persist in college enrollment.
As head of the Department for Developmental Education at Galveston College, Dr. Johnson’s leadership was the catalyst that launched the department into a synchronized division that was fully funded and staffed with the college’s first ever, developmental education learning community under the Title V – Hispanic-Serving Institutions Grant. She served on the President’s Task Force for Wage Equality, developed the college’s first Associate for Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree program in conjunction with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and organized the gulf coast region’s first Developmental Education Conference.
Her education credentials include a Bachelor’s degree in International Business/French from Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama), followed by a Masters of Hospitality Management (MHM), and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction (Ed. D.). Hence, she has served in a leadership capacity for informal education, pre-K thru high school, post-secondary and remedial education, and she has impacted thousands of lives in the state of Texas.
Dr. Johnson is a recipient of the 2015 d-mars.com Trailblazer HMWP award. Dr. Johnson is married to Bruce Johnson, her spouse for 23 years, and they have two sons.
Melanie Johnson, Ed.D.
President and CEO
The Health Museum: John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science
1515 Hermann Drive, Houston, Texas 77004
713-337-8444
