Thomas A. Mellman, M.D. received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve, School of Medicine in 1982. After his residency in Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Dr. Mellman received training in clinical research at the National Institute of Mental Health, Anxiety Disorder Section where he worked with Thomas W. Uhde and Robert M. Post for three years.

Dr. Mellman joined the faculty of the University of Miami, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 1988. During his eleven years at the University of Miami he progressed from Assistant to Full Professor and led the development of a VAMC and University based clinical-research program focused on anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He also collaborated with the Department of Neurology in developing the Sleep Disorders Program. Dr. Mellman co-chaired the committee that had oversight of research training experiences for psychiatric residents. In 1999, Dr. Mellman joined the faculty of Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Psychiatry. He has continued his research on PTSD and sleep and has oversight of research and education in psychopharmacology. He provides consultation to the State of New Hampshire’s Department of Behavioral Health regarding the use of psychotropic medication. In January of 2004 Dr. Mellman returned to the DC area and assumed his current position as Professor and Vice Chair for Research for Howard University Department of Psychiatry and Research Director for the collaborative Howard based Mood and Anxiety Research Program with the National Institute of Mental Health.   

Dr. Mellman has been the principal investigator on five federal grants, including a Mid-career Investigator Award in Patient Oriented Research. He has received minority supplement research training funds with both of his RO-1 grants. He has been an investigator in a number of federal and industry sponsored, multi-site studies. Much of his research and publications have addressed the role of sleep disturbance in the pathogenesis and treatment of PTSD. His current RO-1 research studies patients who are being treated for traumatic injuries and includes early sleep recordings and longitudinal assessment of PTSD. This work has led to several recent publications of sleep-related and other predictors of the early development of PTSD. This includes a recent lead article in the American Journal of Psychiatry that reports and discusses the implications of a relationship between fragmented patterns of rapid eye movement sleep and the development of PTSD. His work at Dartmouth has also extended to evaluations and recommendations for the use of psychotropic medications in the public sector. Dr. Mellman has a consistent track record of supervising, mentoring or consulting on research activity of advanced trainees and junior faculty that has resulted in meeting presentations, and published abstracts and manuscripts. 

Dr. Mellman contributed to the recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, 4th Edition, Text Revision and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Treatment Guidelines. He recently completed service as a member of the National Institute of Mental Health, Interventions, Initial Review Group and prior to that served on the Violence and Traumatic Stress Review Committee.