This bilingual pathobiologist makes research relatable with social media, old-school news, and a children’ s book.
BY PHOEBE HALL
W
When catastrophes upend people’ s lives, it’ s usually not for the better. But Melanie Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa, PhD, was lucky enough to find a silver lining— twice.
In 2017 Ortiz Alvarez was one of almost 50 University of Puerto Rico students who transferred to Brown University after Hurricane Maria devastated the island so they could continue their education. Ortiz Alvarez, who had been pre-med at UPR, returned home after their sophomore year with a new career plan.
“ Growing up, I thought I was going to be like‘ Bones’ on TV,” Ortiz Alvarez says, referring to the 2000s police forensics show.“ That was my dream job. But then I came [ to Brown ] and I did research for the first time. Like everyone says, it just kind of stuck.”
Working in the lab of Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Peter Belenky, PhD, in Providence, Ortiz Alvarez discovered a natural affinity for research.“ I’ ve always been naturally curious, and I’ ve loved asking questions and working with people, so pursuing research seemed like the best of both worlds,” they say.
“ Mel was very intuitive. They had really good science intuition,” Belenky recalls.“ They could figure out what was the key in a specific result, which is fairly unusual.”
COVID-19 brought about another pivotal moment in Ortiz Alvarez’ s life.“ I’ ve naturally always had a bigger interest for writing and art,” they say, but thought they had to separate those interests from their undergraduate biology studies. Then, during the pandemic lockdown, Ortiz Alvarez and some likeminded UPR classmates saw an opportunity.
“ It became very, very obvious that it was necessary for scientists to communicate with the public,” Ortiz Alvarez recalls. In August 2020 they created an Instagram account, Ciencia Pa’ Todes( Science for All), to explain the science behind the virus, mRNA vaccines, and more, using illustrations, social-justice frameworks, and“ colloquial Spanish— the way that people speak to us outside of the classroom,” they say.
“ We got so much interest, and people flooding our DMs and our comments” to suggest other topics to cover, Ortiz Alvarez says.“ We realized, hey, there’ s some actual need here, and people are responding to it positively. Let’ s use that to keep growing.”
In September 2021 Ortiz Alvarez returned to Providence to begin graduate studies in pathobiology. Back in Belenky’ s lab, they investigated how early-life stress could impact the gut microbiome and the development of anxiety later in life. They manipulated the microbiomes of mice to see how that might change behavior; their findings could someday help identify a bacterial or molecular source for anxiety, which in turn could be a target for treatment.
“ They really challenged me,” says Belenky, whose research focuses more on how the microbiome responds to antibiotics.“ This was a very unusual experience, studying something that I wasn’ t super familiar with. … I learned so much.”
As they pursued their PhD, Ortiz Alvarez remained dedicated to science communication. With Ciencia Pa’ Todes, they created a docuseries about intersex people, and participated in events when they were in Puerto Rico—
FALL 2026 l HEALTH DISCOVERIES @ BROWN 21